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A couple basic Questions on Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD


MichaelHans

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I have a couple of basic questions.

When running an optical cable from your Bluray player to a reciever are you getting the same signal or is it being down converted? You can only only get Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD through a HDM connection correct? I ask because my older receiver pre new codec plays them back through an Optical cable.

Also I have heard of people saying you can play the new codec through older Preamp/Processors via the 5.1 analog setup or with modifications? Is this correct?

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I understand that in surround, the HDMI is better due to higher bandwidth. Not sure about this but I think digital optical is limited to 5.1 surround.

HDMI is also superior I know because it allows intelligent communication between compliant devices. For instance, I have a TV connected to a receiver through HDMI, and when I hit the volume on the TV, it makes the receiver volume go up and down. Also, when using digital optical for the sound, you are faced with using the component inputs for the video, which are analog. Huge difference when your digital TV doesn't have to do an ADC.

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I have a couple of basic questions.

When running an optical cable from your Bluray player to a reciever are you getting the same signal or is it being down converted? You can only only get Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD through a HDM connection correct? I ask because my older receiver pre new codec plays them back through an Optical cable.

Also I have heard of people saying you can play the new codec through older Preamp/Processors via the 5.1 analog setup or with modifications? Is this correct?

Hdmi is needed for the hd sound formats

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Optical will only allow you to play up to Dolby Digital and DTS. For DTS-Master and Dolby TrueHD formats, you will either need HDMI or if your receiver and bluray player has analog outputs/inputs then you can use that.

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Also I have heard of people saying you can play the new codec through older Preamp/Processors via the 5.1 analog setup or with modifications? Is this correct?

That is correct. Your BD player(if capable) will handle the decoding of DTHD an DTS-MA and send it analog through 5.1 or 7.1 outputs to the multichannel imputs of your older receiver. Bass management is handled by the player and the .1 LFE channel is output at approximately 10dB lower. You must boost the level in your receiver to compensate for that.

Here is a great article that explains it all.

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/How_To_Set_up_a_Blu-ray_Player_Using_Multi-Channel_Analog_Outputs_And_Why.shtml

My Oppo BDP-83 and NAD T-773 receiver sound wonderful together outputting these new codecs.

Bill

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Bass management is handled by the player and the .1 LFE channel is output at approximately 10dB lower. You must boost the level in your receiver to compensate for that.

Which is the huge downside, and why I never plays SACDs through my analog inputs very often. Too much effort to turn up the gain on the sub by 10 dB, and it's likely more than that with speakers set to small... and I don't know how much it really is, and I probably don't have that much gain left to play with anyway unless I turn all the other channel down to compensate as well...

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Too much effort to turn up the gain on the sub by 10 dB

With my NAD T-773 receiver, all I have to do is add (10) clicks to the volume control for my sub on my NAD remote. The remote has a cool feature where there are (3) buttons located at the bottom, right above the NAD logo, one for surrounds, one for center, one for sub. It takes me about 2 seconds for the adjustment. HDMI is definitely more convenient, but for the new HD codecs, multichannel analog works flawlessly with my Oppo and NAD.

1104nad.3.jpg

I am currently watching/listening to Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City Music Hall on BD in Dolby TrueHD in analog. The sound is absolutely incredible compared to just plain vanilla Dolby Digital.

Bill

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I am currently watching/listening to Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City Music Hall on BD in Dolby TrueHD in analog. The sound is absolutely incredible compared to just plain vanilla Dolby Digital.

Bill

Yeah, that's one of my favorite Blue Ray disks.

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