I'm new :-) Home Theatre newbie with questions on new audio setup

[CartaX2]

Hey everyone!

I am brand new to registering on this site, but have been using it for quite some time for reviews on blu-rays and equipment. I have had hi def gear for the past two years now, but only yesteday did I finally get myself audio equipment capable of decoding hi-def audio. However, where I am a newb when it comes to anything remotely complex when it comes to this kind of thing, I wanted to ask you fine people some questions.

Here is the equipment I am using

Samsung BP-1500 blu-ray player
Denon AVR 790 reciever
Samsung 40" LCD
Klipsch 300 HD speakers

I only just installed the audio stuff last night with a friend. Here is my dilemma. I am aware that both my player and reciever are capable of streaming hi def codecs, but I have no idea on how to make this happen. I am running hdmi from the player to the reciever, then from the reciever to my tv. However, the display on the reciever does not light up the "HD Audio" indicator when I am playing any blu-ray discs. I have only used "Taken" as a test subject. The visual display automatically shows PCM when the movie is playing. I have no idea what to do in order for it to decode and read the HD codec included on the disc. My players audio settings has three options. 1. PCM 2. Bitstream (re-encode) 3. Bitstream (audiophile). I have it set currently to PCM.

So, anyone have any ideas? Keep in mind, I am very new to this reciever and really don't know much about what it is capable of, but all I am really concerned with is listening to high def audio. If you can offer any suggestions, that would be great.

Thanks a bunch!

[azereus]

Change it to bitstream; force the AVR to do the decoding.

Edit: I'm not familiar with that particluar Blu-Ray player do I don't know the difference in the 2 Bitstream options. Either way, no harm in trying both.

[Sith]

Originally Posted by CartaX2

Hey everyone!

I am brand new to registering on this site, but have been using it for quite some time for reviews on blu-rays and equipment. I have had hi def gear for the past two years now, but only yesteday did I finally get myself audio equipment capable of decoding hi-def audio. However, where I am a newb when it comes to anything remotely complex when it comes to this kind of thing, I wanted to ask you fine people some questions.

Here is the equipment I am using

Samsung BP-1500 blu-ray player
Denon AVR 790 reciever
Samsung 40" LCD
Klipsch 300 HD speakers

I only just installed the audio stuff last night with a friend. Here is my dilemma. I am aware that both my player and reciever are capable of streaming hi def codecs, but I have no idea on how to make this happen. I am running hdmi from the player to the reciever, then from the reciever to my tv. However, the display on the reciever does not light up the "HD Audio" indicator when I am playing any blu-ray discs. I have only used "Taken" as a test subject. The visual display automatically shows PCM when the movie is playing. I have no idea what to do in order for it to decode and read the HD codec included on the disc. My players audio settings has three options. 1. PCM 2. Bitstream (re-encode) 3. Bitstream (audiophile). I have it set currently to PCM.

So, anyone have any ideas? Keep in mind, I am very new to this reciever and really don't know much about what it is capable of, but all I am really concerned with is listening to high def audio. If you can offer any suggestions, that would be great.

Thanks a bunch!

Consider a ps3, it makes everything super simple...

[CartaX2]

Originally Posted by azereus

Change it to bitstream; force the AVR to do the decoding.

Keep in mind, there won't be much (if any) difference in the sound.

Bitstream re-encode? or bitstream audiophile?

I am also curious to what you mean by what you mean by not noticing much difference in the sound. Is this to impy that there isnt much difference between PCM and the high def audio?

[blujacket]

Originally Posted by CartaX2

Bitstream re-encode? or bitstream audiophile?

I am also curious to what you mean by what you mean by not noticing much difference in the sound. Is this to impy that there isnt much difference between PCM and the high def audio?

Bitstream Audiophile

[azereus]

Originally Posted by CartaX2

Bitstream re-encode? or bitstream audiophile?

I am also curious to what you mean by what you mean by not noticing much difference in the sound. Is this to impy that there isnt much difference between PCM and the high def audio?

I just deleted that "no difference" comment as I read your original post too quickly so please disregard that part.

I'm not sure what the difference in the 2 different bitstream options are so my recommednation is to try both. Perhaps someone more familiar with that BR player can comment.

[Lucy Diamond]

Welcome to the BluWorldOrder!!!

[azereus]

Originally Posted by blujacket

Bitstream Audiophile

Yeah, do what he said.

[CartaX2]

Thanks so far!


Does anyone have any suggestions that has the blu-ray player in question or the reciever? I really want to hear what hi-def audio is like.

[azereus]

Sorry I'm not really sure what you mean?

[Shanester]

Originally Posted by Lucy Diamond

Welcome to the BluWorldOrder!!!

+1

[CartaX2]

Hey guys!


I got it working. Once the movie loaded into the first sequence, it looked like my reciever picked up the codec automatically and starting playing in DTS-HDMA. Light came on, and I got high def audio! Awesome! Thanks for all the help! Looking forward to watching my movies with an actual system.

[azereus]

Originally Posted by CartaX2

Hey guys!


I got it working. Once the movie loaded into the first sequence, it looked like my reciever picked up the codec automatically and starting playing in DTS-HDMA. Light came on, and I got high def audio! Awesome! Thanks for all the help! Looking forward to watching my movies with an actual system.

Good to hear. Enjoy!

[solarrdadd]

welcome aboard, my first suggestion to you and to anyone starting out (and those of us already deep into it too) in this a/v lifestyle is to is do research on what is a/v, HT and such; get an understanding of it don't wait for us to tell you what it is. research the components your interested in. go to the site of the maker and download the manuals (pdf's are almost always available) most of your answers are right there in the manual (like the question) you asked about which audio setting to use via HDMI for bitstreaming)
keep a pen and paper handy and write down the settings as they are and then what you have changed them to so you can easily put them back if things sound or look funny afterwards. keep looking at sites like this one and other forums for info to help you keep up to date on all things a/v & HT.

i'm not trying to get on your case or make you feel bad so i hope that is not the end result. i'm trying to help you to learn to first try to help yourself. you'd be surprised that most of the time the answer is in a manual that users have but don't read or that they have purchased something that will never do what they now want it to do because they havent researched it and are frustrated and asking for help. lots of time could be saved by reading and doing your homework. once all of that's done and your still having trouble after following those instructions, well, that's different, that's when you search the post to see if someone has had trouble similar to yours and if not then you start a post.

we all want to help you and yes, that includes me but, you've got to be willing to do some of it yourself first; that is how you truely learn! Oh yeah, on page 35 of your manual, it states that you should use "bitstream audiophile" if your receiver is capable of decoding the HD Audio codec(s) this will give you either DTS-HD-MA or Dolby TrueHD codec light displayed on your receiver since the receiver will be doing the decoding.

i see from your posting you got it going, cool and again welcome onboard and again, don't take my post the wrong way, we all want to help each other but we must first start to learn to help ourselves. enjoy your HT stuff!

[CartaX2]

Thanks Solardadd,

I appreciate the heads up. I do plan to do more research myself, as I want to become more knowledgable so I can calibrate any systems to my liking. I asked the question today as I don't have the time to really do any in-depth research, and to be honest, that thing in the manual you found is awesome. I plan on reading that soon. Thanks again!

[BIslander]

Bitstream Re-encode means the player decodes the True-HD or dts-MA track to produce PCM, then it mixes in secondary audio, and re-encodes the new mix as standard DTS, which gets bitstreamed to a processor for decoding. The new DTS bitstream is not lossless. (Secondary audio is the sound associated with PIP commentary or menu clicks.)