Sound options on blue-ray and hd-dvd....

Systems

Hello

Was wondering what the new high def dvds output for sound? I see alot of the new receivers do 7.1 now. Do you have an option at the setup menu to choose? Or is it the programmers decision what their going to put on them?

Systems

Okay maybe I should just ask this. Those of you have that have some blue-ray and hd-dvd discs, what sound options do they give you?

I looked on Amazon at them but they don't show what sound is encoded in them for some reason.

And one other reason I'm asking is I'm thinking about building a home theater over at my Dads house in the basement. Theres a perfect spot for it there and of course I need to decide if I want to go the 7.1 route or not.....

Thanks!!

lanion

OK, They support new versions of Dolby and DTS that are bit for bit identical to the studio master tapes in 7.1 sound. These new formats, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD can output via HDMI 1.3, or via analog outputs on the HD-DVD / Bluray player itself. These new formats cannot be sent over optical digital cables. That being said, the Dolby Digital and DTS mixes that are on the new high def DVDs are encoded at much higher bitrates, so even if you use an optical cable your sound quality will improve.

As for 7.1, it is not supported much. However, the consensus is that 6.1 material, which is becoming more common, sounds better in a 7.1 setup. The reason for this is that it is difficult to localize sounds that are directly behind you. So, if you have two speakers behind you playing the same audio track, the sound field will be improved.

Systems

Hello

Thanks for the info. So you also need to be sure that the Receiver does Dolby true-hd and DTS-HD to get the 7.1 then?

I'm not to clear on your statements about 7.1 though....

Here you say its supported:
They support new versions of Dolby and DTS that are bit for bit identical to the studio master tapes in 7.1 sound.

But here you say:
As for 7.1, it is not supported much.

I haven't kept up on this new technology lately so am in a new learning curve. Sorry if some of these questions have been gone over before.....

millerman 3732

I don't think that you will be able to find a recevier that will decode DD trueHD or DTS-HD until sometime next year, and if I had to guess I don't figure that they will be cheap. and what lanion said is true they new formats will be capable of 7.1 but none of the players or HD movie titles that I've seen support it yet.

Systems

Okay I understand what he meant now.

I was looking on crutchfield and Sonys new blue-ray supports it, but I guess thats pointless unless the receiver will process it.

I see on the King Kong title it shows Dolby digital plus, is that just another name for DD true hd.

Man it seems like they aren't thinking things through very well as far as the sound options go........

wingnut4772

If you get a receiver capable of processing multichannel audio via HDMI, your player will decode the HD audio and it will sound terrific...Or you can wait until they make receivers that will decode it.

Systems

Yes its pretty much the same old story.....

Jump in, in midstream, or wait. I guess just get a nice 7.1 Denon hook it up and not worry about it.....

millerman 3732

Sartori wrote:

Okay I understand what he meant now.

I was looking on crutchfield and Sonys new blue-ray supports it, but I guess thats pointless unless the receiver will process it.

I see on the King Kong title it shows Dolby digital plus, is that just another name for DD true hd.

Man it seems like they aren't thinking things through very well as far as the sound options go........

No true hd and DD+ are two differnt formats, I think that DD+ is just a better version of DD but True HD I'm pretty sure is Dolby's version of a loss-less sound track.

Ron-P

DD+ is lossy (better then DD), TrueHD is lossless. The (first gen.) A1 and XA1 can do TrueHD over the 5.1 analog connection. The new (second gen.) XA2 as well. The new A2 has to have an HDMI connection, no analog outs on that player.

Toshiba is working on a firmware update for the players to allow for DTS-HD, although no HD-DVD has that format that I am aware of yet.

Can't help ya with Blu-ray, haven't invested in that format...yet.

Systems

I need to find a different hobby....

Or just eliminate this one.....

millerman 3732

I was checking out a few BR disc at BB earlier today and all the ones I looked at only had a standard DD sound track, no DD+ or true HD.