More Questions: My Onkyo '605 & 1080p PassThrough, Multichannel PCM...

Mike LoManaco

Hello Again Fellas,

As I await more answers on my questions in the other Onkyo thread of mine (and thank you Curt and everyone else who has been assisting), some other "issues" regarding the receiver's connection to my display and Blu-ray player have been plaguing my mind to share...

My system is configured as such: A Panasonic DMP-BD10A Blu-ray player is running HDMI OUT ONLY (no other connections from this player for audio OR video) to the Onkyo '605's HDMI IN 1 port...from there, a second HDMI cable is going from the '605's HDMI OUT to my Sony SXRD rear projection display's HDMI IN (Video 6)...THAT'S IT...no other connections -- aside from speaker cables -- are being made for audio or video; I have ALL audio and video coming from the Panasonic player over HDMI to the receiver, where the video is supposed to be passed through the '605 straight to the display...but while I DO get "1080p" when pressing my display's remote to confirm incoming resolution, I am just wondering if the TX-SR605 is supposed to pass HDMI video straight through to a display with NO degredation or loss.

All I have set in this regard is the HDMI MONITOR to YES; is this all I need to leave the Onkyo on in order for it to pass the 1080p video straight through to my display? Does anything else need to be in a "Pass Through" mode or does the HDMI IN just go HDMI OUT? Under "Immediate Display" of the receiver, I have this set to OFF as well, because I was told this could soften the video going through this receiver...is this true? Futhermore, my Blu-ray player is set to AUTO for HDMI RESOLUTION, meaning the player searches for the best output to match your display; using the AUTO setting, my display claims "1080p" IS being sent from the player...

Now, also: My Panasonic 'BD10A was a first generation player, so it does not bitstream any of the new surround codecs, nor does it even support DTS Master Audio. Because of this, I have to set its "Dolby TrueHD" Digital Audio Output setting to "PCM" so the player internally decodes these tracks and sends them as multichannel PCM to my receiver -- DTS Master Audio is another story altogether, and because the player falls back to standard DTS on Master Audio tracks, I have the player's "DTS-HD" Audio Out set to BITSTREAM because this setting seems to control the Master Audio tracks "sensed" at the player, and then sends its "core" DTS track out via bitstream, which sounds fine for the most part. Anyway, the question I have is regarding the MULTI CHANNEL SPEAKER SETTINGS at the Panasonic player, and how these affect MULTI CHANNEL TRUEHD PCM SIGNALS...

Under the "SPEAKER SETUP" menu of the Panasonic, I have "MULTI-CHANNEL" selected, because I was told this is correct if you're using the player with three or more channels in a surround system; but I was also told that this menu DIRECTLY CONTROLS how decoded TrueHD tracks in multichannel PCM get handled by the player and sent to a receiver or processor...so, in this menu, I have all speakers set to LARGE and their values ALL set to "0.0"...I was told this should send the multichannel PCM of TrueHD tracks over to my Onkyo "unaltered" and "unprocessed" so the receiver can handle calibration levels, distances, crossovers, etc...is this true? In other words, the DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT setup of the player is set as follows:

PCM Down Conversion: Off
Dolby Digital: Bitstream
Dolby Digital Plus/TrueHD: PCM
DTS: Bitstream
DTS-HD: Bitstream

Now, with "TrueHD" set to "PCM," this should be telling the player to internally decode the TrueHD tracks (which it could) and send them as multichannel PCM, correct? So then in the player's SPEAKER SETUP menu, how do I set all those so that these TrueHD PCM tracks are passing correctly to the Onkyo for playback? Should all the speaker graphics be on LARGE, as was suggested to me, with calibration levels/values set all to ZERO? Will this pass the tracks "correctly" to my receiver?

I apologize for the lengthy queries; if anyone can lend any insight, it would be greatly appreciated!

Mike LoManaco

Anyone?

sandworms

hold on, still reading

Mike LoManaco

sandworms wrote: »

hold on, still reading

Did you finish?

sandworms

sorry, had to do that!. honestly mike, you sound like you know what your doing and by looking at your set up I would say you couldn't be dialed in much better.my 605 is set up the same way and although i don't know if "immediate display" has any effect on resolution you have probably experimented anyway so you can see if it makes a difference. i am not familiar with your bdp but i would say that multi channel setting is for its speaker output when connected to multiple rca outs in the rear of the panel. you say the player will not decode hd codecs and then ask if it will internally decode them. so i would summize if it does not decode dolby tru than sending it out in pcm is your best bet since the 605 will decode for you. again, the speaker settings in the bdp are probably for rca outs and not the hdmi route you went so these settings should have no effect. i don't belive the player can bitstream one hd codec and not the other so dts may have to be pcm also

Mike LoManaco

sandworms wrote: »

sorry, had to do that!. honestly mike, you sound like you know what your doing and by looking at your set up I would say you couldn't be dialed in much better.my 605 is set up the same way and although i don't know if "immediate display" has any effect on resolution you have probably experimented anyway so you can see if it makes a difference. i am not familiar with your bdp but i would say that multi channel setting is for its speaker output when connected to multiple rca outs in the rear of the panel. you say the player will not decode hd codecs and then ask if it will internally decode them. so i would summize if it does not decode dolby tru than sending it out in pcm is your best bet since the 605 will decode for you. again, the speaker settings in the bdp are probably for rca outs and not the hdmi route you went so these settings should have no effect. i don't belive the player can bitstream one hd codec and not the other so dts may have to be pcm also

Thanks Worms,

The problem with the "Multi Channel" selection on my Blu-ray player is that it's not ONLY for when you're hooked up in the back with multiple RCA cables; it also controls PCM output from the player over HDMI as I understand it.

BECAUSE this Panasonic player can't BITSTREAM TrueHD signals from it, I MUST choose PCM output so the player can decode it internally...from there, it sends the DECODED PCM MULTICHANNEL SIGNAL over HDMI to my '605, where it reads "MULTICH" on the display...so the RECEIVER isn't decoding the TrueHD, the PLAYER is...

Now, I just want to make sure that the PLAYER is correctly configured in that Multi Channel speaker setup menu so that decoded TrueHD PCM signals are passing correctly to the Onkyo for playback...I was told to leave all speaker settings in this menu to LARGE and set all values to 0.0 so the receiver sees an unaltered signal, but I'm not positive if this is correct.

mufsoman

Hey Mike, I don't think I'm enough of an expert to comment on the hook up issues, but you mentioned that you have an SXRD rear projection, which I have also. When you look close at your screen, do you see the edge of a red ghost image on the top of lettering (such as in a menu screen) and green on the bottom? I have recently noticed this with my set. I'm thinking something ain't right suddenly with the convergence Thanks

Mike LoManaco

mufsoman wrote: »

Hey Mike, I don't think I'm enough of an expert to comment on the hook up issues, but you mentioned that you have an SXRD rear projection, which I have also. When you look close at your screen, do you see the edge of a red ghost image on the top of lettering (such as in a menu screen) and green on the bottom? I have recently noticed this with my set. I'm thinking something ain't right suddenly with the convergence Thanks

No, I'm not experiencing that kind of anamoly; if anything, I get the "SSE" (Silk Screen Effect) that plagues these rear pro SXRD, and standard DVDs look terrible upconverted from my Panasonic Blu-ray player to this display.

sandworms

Mike LoManaco wrote: »

Thanks Worms,


BECAUSE this Panasonic player can't BITSTREAM TrueHD signals from it, I MUST choose PCM output so the player can decode it internally...from there, it sends the DECODED PCM MULTICHANNEL SIGNAL over HDMI to my '605, where it reads "MULTICH" on the display...so the RECEIVER isn't decoding the TrueHD, the PLAYER is...

Now, I just want to make sure that the PLAYER is correctly configured in that Multi Channel speaker setup menu so that decoded TrueHD PCM signals are passing correctly to the Onkyo for playback...I was told to leave all speaker settings in this menu to LARGE and set all values to 0.0 so the receiver sees an unaltered signal, but I'm not positive if this is correct.

like i was saying mike, i am not familiar with your player so i am not sure about those speaker settings. but, i need to say that if your player will not send bitstream than it is not decoding the hd codecs. sending the signal over hdmi in pcm allows the RECEIVER to decode and a good setting for pcm is multich. but you can use dolby tru or plIIx or whatever setting you want in the surround formats. it all depends on experimenting and seeing what sounds best. you wont be losing any of the data i believe, and i doubt you will hear any difference imho

Hoopnoop

I have the 605 and used to have the Panny BD10A. For the Panny, I would check the AVSforum suggested settings.

For the passthrough, I believe I have the same settings as you on the 605 but we need to check to make sure.

Mike LoManaco

sandworms wrote: »

like i was saying mike, i am not familiar with your player so i am not sure about those speaker settings. but, i need to say that if your player will not send bitstream than it is not decoding the hd codecs. sending the signal over hdmi in pcm allows the RECEIVER to decode and a good setting for pcm is multich. but you can use dolby tru or plIIx or whatever setting you want in the surround formats. it all depends on experimenting and seeing what sounds best. you wont be losing any of the data i believe, and i doubt you will hear any difference imho

No, Worms, that's not so...I know for a FACT that this Panasonic Blu-ray player I have DOES have an onboard TrueHD decoder which activates when I put the TrueHD audio output to "PCM" in the player...so the decoded TrueHD tracks ARE coming through to my receiver over HDMI as multichannel PCM...

Mike LoManaco

Hoopnoop wrote: »

I have the 605 and used to have the Panny BD10A. For the Panny, I would check the AVSforum suggested settings.

For the passthrough, I believe I have the same settings as you on the 605 but we need to check to make sure.

I've checked the AVS site and the replies about configuring this player were horriffically clouded; what did you have set on your BD10A when you had it?

I wish I could know if just hooking up HDMI IN/HDMI OUT through the '605 is all that's needed to send video straight through to the display without any other settings that need to be made at the '605 (except for HDMI MONITOR: YES).

Mike LoManaco

Can anyone with a similar setup to mine (Panasonic Blu-ray player/Onkyo '605 receiver) confirm if my hookup is correct for sending multichannel PCM TrueHD signals from the player to the receiver, and if everything is connected right to pass video straight out to the display through the '605?

sandworms

Mike LoManaco wrote: »

No, Worms, that's not so...I know for a FACT that this Panasonic Blu-ray player I have DOES have an onboard TrueHD decoder which activates when I put the TrueHD audio output to "PCM" in the player...so the decoded TrueHD tracks ARE coming through to my receiver over HDMI as multichannel PCM...

then why not send it out as bitstream?

Mike LoManaco

sandworms wrote: »

then why not send it out as bitstream?

Because my PLAYER CANNOT SEND TRUEHD AS BITSTREAM...it is a first generation Blu-ray player and it doesn't have the capability to do that -- I HAVE to send the signal as decoded multichannel PCM...