How to get D-HD DTS-HD sound

JZsFinest

Hello, so I am looking at getting a blu-ray player. I was wondering what kind of audio outputs does a blu-ray player have to have to output the HD audio signals? Do Coaxial and Optical outputs work? Or is there something else you have to use. I have an Onkyo TX-SR805 so I think either way my receiver can connect it on that side, but I wanted to know before I bought a blu-ray player that cant output those formats.

cstmar01

Blue rays are either decoded and sent via HDMI if they can internally decode on the unit or if they have 7.1 analog outs it can decode and pass the audio onto the reciever. I am not sure of your reciever or the unit your looking at for blue ray but what I have is my blue ray send the info to my AVR and have the AVR decode it via usage of HDMI.

Opitcal and digital coaxial do not do DTS master ect they will strip the signal down to just DTS and send that through.

JZsFinest

This is probably a stupid question, but I thought HDMI cables didn't send audio signals?

cstmar01

HDMI sends audio and video via 1 cable connection, that is why a lot of people like them. However if your AVR does not have HDMI but your display does you can run HDMI to the display and then 7.1 or digital to the avr to get sound. If you wanted the DTS master you would have to then run the 7.1 to get the lossless.

billbillw

If you have the SR805, you want to find a BD player that can "bit-stream" the TrueHD and DTS-HD-MA signals. With early BD models, that was rare, but I think it is now pretty much ubiquitous. Any of the current Panasonic models do it.

BTW, the HD audio bitstream is only transferred over HDMI. Coax or Optical will only send the basic Dolby Digital and DTS signals. Same goes for the PCM Lossless signal, only over HDMI.

Basically, with the right BD player, you will only have a single HDMI cable from it to the AVR.

grif32

billbillw wrote: »

If you have the SR805, you want to find a BD player that can "bit-stream" the TrueHD and DTS-HD-MA signals. With early BD models, that was rare, but I think it is now pretty much ubiquitous. Any of the current Panasonic models do it.

BTW, the HD audio bitstream is only transferred over HDMI. Coax or Optical will only send the basic Dolby Digital and DTS signals. Same goes for the PCM Lossless signal, only over HDMI.

Basically, with the right BD player, you will only have a single HDMI cable from it to the AVR.

You can with 7.1 analogs as well as HDMI. HDMI is not the only way.

sir_lagzalot

I thought the only way to get Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master audio was through HDMI.

Ok I looked it up, you can also use Multichannel Analog to get it, I was thinking optical or coax.

billbillw

grif32 wrote: »

You can with 7.1 analogs as well as HDMI. HDMI is not the only way.

Actually, if you read, I said the bitstream is only over HDMI. Obviously, the 7.1 analog is not bitstream, and he would also have to have a bluray player that actually had internal decoding and 7.1 analog output, and more cables.

IMO, there is no good reason to use 7.1 analog for bluray output when you have a receiver like the SR805. Those inputs should be saved for something like SACD multi-channel output, but hey, some of the newer players send SACD over HDMI as well...

But the real reason is that with the 7.1 inputs on the SR805, you loose the Audyssey room correction, bass management, and the signal is probably being converted by a DSP and DACs that are not as good as what is inside the SR805.

cheddar

To sum up, TrueHD and DTS-HD MA can get to your receiver in the following ways:

1. Bitstream via at least hdmi 1.3 from bitstream capable player to bitstream capable AVR. Decode in the AVR to PCM and then via the AVR's DAC chips to analog for the analog speaker signals. Probably the simplest solution with the OP's equipment.

2. Decode in the player and send decoded PCM via hdmi 1.1 and above from a decoding capable player to the AVR. AVR uses its own DAC chips to convert the PCM to analog for the analog speaker signals.

3. Decode in the player, use the player's DAC chips to convert the decoded PCM to analog, and send via analog outs to the AVR. The AVR can then send these analog signals directly to the speakers or apply additional processing if needed.

#2 and #3 require more fussing with the AVR and player to get proper playback in many cases. #2 is required to listen to the often overlooked third 'lossless' format contained on many blu-rays, uncompressed LPCM. So it is worth the time to get #2 working in any case if you want to listen to all the available lossless options.

wutadumsn23

I use HDMI and send it LPCM to my Onkyo TX-SR806 from my PS3 with very good results. I don't get the fancy lights on my AVR, but it sounds good enough to me.

-Jeff