5.1 Uncompressed vs 5.1 Dolby Digital

szeh · July 2009

Rented Wild Hogs in blu-ray last night...O.K. it was a waste of 2 hours I'll never get back, but my question is this.

For audio it listed 5.1 Uncompressed and 5.1 Dolby Digital as a choice. I've never seen 5.1 Uncompressed before. Is uncompressed better that dolby digital? I'm running a Yamaha RX-V663 and a Samsung 1500 blu-ray player. While in the uncompressed mode the PCM light was light on the front of the receiver, so I decided just to use the dolby digital setting.

I'm not sure which is the best format, or even if my equipment is capable of taking advantage of the uncompressed setting if this in fact better.

Looking for a little help here.

Thanks,

Scott

wutadumsn23 · July 2009

Yeah, I saw hogs as well, not bad but not great either, lol. As for the uncompressed 5.1, not sure of the exact specs. on that but it should be better than just DD. Your AVR has the newer codecs in it (Dolby TrueHD and DTS HDMA) so you should be able to enjoy the lossless codecs via PCM as I do on my PS3. Do you have it hooked up via HDMI? Usually the Blu-Rays are DD TrueHD or DTS HDMA, so not sure on the uncompressed 5.1, the real experts will be on the way with a better answer.

-Jeff

mutelight · July 2009

Uncompressed PCM is vastly better than Dolby Digital which is around 448kbps-640kbps lossy compression. Technically Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA are identical since they are both lossless compression and once they are decoded you are essentially hearing a 1:1 version of the Uncompressed PCM of layback audio from the mastering session.

To put it simply, think of Dolby Digital being a MP3 or AAC file and Uncompressed PCM being redbook audio (Audio CD) if not better since the bit depth can be better and the sample rate is consistently higher.

szeh · July 2009

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

Do you have it hooked up via HDMI?

-Jeff

Jeff...yup, I have it running through HDMI.

mutelight wrote: »

To put it simply, think of Dolby Digital being a MP3 or AAC file and Uncompressed PCM being redbook audio (Audio CD) if not better since the bit depth can be better and the sample rate is consistently higher

mutelight...thanks for dumbing it down for me. Makes perfect sense. I don't think I missed much not using the 5.1 uncompressed with Wild Hogs. I think an AM radio would have been fine for this flick.

Scott

CaligulaPolk · July 2009

Whats wrong with Wild hogs? Yes its not that great but i enjoyed this movie and it was my first blu-ray movie i bought 2 years ago. I didnt think it was too awful to watch

szeh · July 2009

CaligulaPolk...sorry, but I thought it was just plain silly. Although the movie used some pretty great actors I thought everyone just really over acted which just came across as silly. Also, a pretty weak story line which in fact could have been pretty cool if written better. Believe me...I've seen a lot worse, but this just wasn't what I was expecting.

However, I really did enjoy and own Madagascar, The Little Meremaid and A Sharks Tale just so you know I'm not pure evil!

Scott

wutadumsn23 · July 2009

I would rent a Blu-Ray like Dark Knight or a newer action movie and really see what TruHD and DTS HDMA have to offer, you will be amazed.

danz1906 · August 2009

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

I would rent a Blu-Ray like Dark Knight or a newer action movie and really see what TruHD and DTS HDMA have to offer, you will be amazed.

Agreed, the Hi-Rez audio is Awesome-Try the Movie Valkyrie(DTS MA):D

unclepauly · August 2009

Yes if you have the speakers to reveal all the detail the high res formats bring they are definitely worth it. My energy take satellites didn't reveal much but the polk rti's do.

5.1 Uncompressed vs 5.1 Dolby Digital

Comments