PCM or Auto [rookie setup help]

[$plash]

i just got a new player, Sony BDP-S3100. questions regarding setting up the audio.
If set to "PCM", watching DTSMA movie it just displays PCM on the reciver (Yamaha); watching TruHD i think its displays Dolby Pro logic2? The cinemaDSP also works when only set to "PCM".
If i set it to "Auto" i cannot apply cinemaDSP and it says the full audio name, DTSMA5.1 and/or DolbTrueHD. which option would i want???


heres the options
[Digital Output]....Auto or PCM
-[BD Audio Mix Setting]....On or Off
-[DTS Neo:6]...Cinemea/Music or Off
-[Audio DRC]....Auto or On or Off
-[Downmix]....Surround or Stereo.

[BIslander]

Digital = Auto and Mix = Off. Those two set the player to bitstream the lossless tracks to the receiver for decoding. The others don't matter because they only affect tracks decoded by the player.

[kevinokev]

Well put. The mix option really threw me for a loop a while back as it was critical in impeding the feature audio to properly be fed to a receiver as it's original track not PCM. I think the Mix function also pertains to the BD menu audio sound fxs. By having the setting right for the feature, you should not be hearing any menu sound fx.

[Tech-UK]

Originally Posted by kevinokev

Well put. The mix option really threw me for a loop a while back as it was critical in impeding the feature audio to properly be fed to a receiver as it's original track not PCM. I think the Mix function also pertains to the BD menu audio sound fxs. By having the setting right for the feature, you should not be hearing any menu sound fx.

Kevin, I am not sure what you mean by this.

Decoding within the player will produce the same sound as bitstreaming.

In actual fact, bitstreaming wasn't introduced until HDMI version 1.3, initially decoding could only be done in the player, thus output PCM, which is why secondary audio, menu sounds etc. were mixed with the primary audio.

[BIslander]

kevinokev - PCM is actually the original soundtrack. Codecs like TrueHD are just zip files. Their sole purpose is saving space on a disc. The soundtrack is mastered as PCM, which gets fed into an encoder to zip it up. It must be decoded (unzipped), turning it back into PCM, in order to get processed by a receiver. It doesn't matter whether the file is unzipped by the player or receiver. You get the exact same PCM either way.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by BIslander

kevinokev - PCM is actually the original soundtrack. Codecs like TrueHD are just zip files. Their sole purpose is saving space on a disc. The soundtrack is mastered as PCM, which gets fed into an encoder to zip it up. It must be decoded (unzipped), turning it back into PCM, in order to get processed by a receiver. It doesn't matter whether the file is unzipped by the player or receiver. You get the exact same PCM either way.

Unless, of course, you're dealing with the difference between....oh...never mind.

I better not risk discussing this topic with BIslander around. Dude gets pretty worked up about it.

[BIslander]

Never mind. Good idea.

[maperez1987]

I have a Sony 1000W 3D Blu Ray Home Theater in a box system connected to a region free blu ray player and I was wondering if someone could help me with the audio settings where they should be? Over a year ago I was playing with the home theater that was connected to a PS3, I put in The Dark Knight on blu ray and those click and hiss sound effects on the menu weren't playing I don't know if it was the settings of the PS3 but I don't have it anymore but I just want everything to be where it is supposed to. Also when I'm watching a blu ray movie on the region free player and I hit display on the home theater remote it says on the screen, HDMI1 LPCM 5.1ch 48kHz 576 Kbps, but the audio of the movie is English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1ch 48kHz, shouldn't it say that on the home theater display?

Setup: Audio Settings: BD Audio Mix Setting Set whether to mix interactive audio and output. On or Off?

Audio DRC: Auto, On or Off?

Attenuate-Audio: On or Off?

Audio Output: Speaker, Speaker+ HDMI, or HDMI?

Sound Effect: Sound Mode On, Dolby Pro Logic, DTS Neo:6 Cinema, DTS Neo:6 Music, or Off?

Setup Audio Settings for the region free blu ray player:

Digital Audio Output: Auto or PCM?

DSD Output Mode: On or Off?

BD Audio Mix Setting: On or Off?

DTS Neo:6: Cinema, Music, or Off?

Audio DRC: Auto, On, or Off?

Downmix: Surround, Stereo, or Off?

If anyone can help I would really appreciate it

Thanks.

[BIslander]

Well, the settings depend on which device you have doing the decoding. For example, if you set the player output to Auto, it is likely the player will bitstream the encoded track to the sound system for decoding. In that case you would need to set Mix to Off in order to get the lossless bitstream and you will not have menu sound effects. On the other hand, with a player PCM setting, you likely can get lossless decoding in the player and menu sound effects. The same goes for many of the other settings - they depend on where the decoding in being done.

[bulldog_426]

I have the Sony BDP-S5100. It replaced a none 3D Toshiba bdx1200 (tray wouldn't open anymore). Anyways I had my Toshiba to output PCM audio through HDMI and worked like a charm. Now that I have my Sony, movies that are in Dolby True HD come out in PCM 2.0 channel. The movies that have DTS Master HD play in PCM 5.1 and 7.1. Also noticed in my DVD collection it does the same thing, Dobly D movies in PCM 2.0 and DTS movies in PCM 5.1. I have the the player set to PCM and BD mix is off. When I set the player to "Auto" I get all movies in their perspective loss less formats. Any suggestions to get it to play the Dolby True HD movies in PCM 5.1 and 7.1?

Going through a Yamaha RX-V571 Reciever

[BIslander]

Unfortunately, these Sony players downmix Dolby tracks to stereo. You must bitstream them to a receiver for decoding if you want multichannel playback from Dolby tracks.

[bulldog_426]

Thanks...I was afraid of that.

[Nishe11]

I've read the discussion here but im not sure if my case applies to what has already been mentioned.
My soundbar is plugged directly to the tv through an HDMI ARC, Blu ray player is through a separate HDMI connection.
Should i still choose bit-stream over PCM? and set mix to off?
Any help would be really appreciated

[BIslander]

If your soundbar decodes lossless, then bitstream. And mix should be off.

[Nishe11]

Thanks, im not sure i would know if it does that (novice here!) but it says Dolby Digital and DTS surround the soundbar
My options from the blu ray player are:

Audio: PCM or Auto (think that is bitsteam)
DSD output: On or off
Dolby Digital: Downmix PCM or Dolby Digital
DTS: Downmix PCM or DTS
DTS neo:6: Cinema or Music
Audio DRC: On or Off
Downmix: Surround or Stereo

I wasn't too sure if i should be using Dolby settings instead of Downmix PCM as my soundbar can decode this. On the subject what is downmix PCM? I've heard of normal PCM, is downmix a worse version?
thanks again

[c1nn1c]

Just an FYI - you may not want to use bitstream if you are running 7.1. The problem I ran into was the it would dupe the rears of a DTS 5.1 mix instead of faux-decoding them to 7.1 if you are using Dolby to decode from 5 to 7. Using PCM fixes that.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by Nishe11

Thanks, im not sure i would know if it does that (novice here!) but it says Dolby Digital and DTS surround the soundbar

Sounds like your soundbar is only processing lossy tracks. They're 5.1, but not the highest quality. If your soundbar can accept 5.1 PCM, you will get better quality by having the player decode the track itself, although I don't know that you would be able to tell the difference.

My options from the blu ray player are:

Audio: PCM or Auto (think that is bitsteam)
DSD output: On or off
Dolby Digital: Downmix PCM or Dolby Digital
DTS: Downmix PCM or DTS
DTS neo:6: Cinema or Music
Audio DRC: On or Off
Downmix: Surround or Stereo

I wasn't too sure if i should be using Dolby settings instead of Downmix PCM as my soundbar can decode this. On the subject what is downmix PCM? I've heard of normal PCM, is downmix a worse version?
thanks again

Look back at the first few posts in this thread for explanations of PCM and data compression codecs that simply serve to save space. All encoded tracks must be decoded back into PCM before your soundbar can process them to produce sound. The decoding can happen in either device - the player or the soundbar.

If you "bitstream" (send) the encoded DD or DTS track to the soundbar, then none of those player settings do anything. They only come into play after the track has been converted back into PCM, which would be done by the soundbar, not the player, if you use a bitstream output.

Downmix refers to a reduction in the number of channels. In order to play a 5.1 track on a stereo system it must be downmixed to two channels. So, that's not of concern to you in your situation. The player is simply asking if you want to play Dolby and DTS sources as is or downmix mix them to stereo PCM. Leave those settings on Dolby and DTS.

DSD is the non PCM format Sony uses with its high res SACD discs. So, not a concern for you as you aren't playing SACDs.

DTS Neo:6 is a mode to expand stereo to 5.1. It is applied to stereo PCM.

DRC - dynamic range control - can be applied to PCM to lower the loudest parts and boost the quietest parts of a track. Sometimes useful for late night viewing to avoid waking others in the house, but not normally a good idea.

I think it best for you to use Auto to feed Dolby and DTS to your soundbar for decoding and processing. If you do that, you can ignore those player settings.

[Nishe11]

Originally Posted by BIslander

Sounds like your soundbar is only processing lossy tracks. They're 5.1, but not the highest quality.

Is there any way i could find that out for sure? Soundbar supports LPCM, dont know if that makes a difference.

I know this is a stupid question but is 7.1 the highest? if so when i played a disc on my blu ray under the disc settings it was playing under DTS-HD MA 7.1, does this mean my soundbar was reducing it to 5.1? Thought 5.1 could only be processed by a 5.1 system

Originally Posted by BIslander

If your soundbar can accept 5.1 PCM, you will get better quality by having the player decode the track itself, although I don't know that you would be able to tell the difference.

I've tried playing a couple movies with the player settings to PCM and it worked. Unfortunately my blu ray player only has 1 HDMI so i can't connect it to the soundbar and TV (for the picture) simultaneously.

[BIslander]

What specific equipment do you have and how is everything connected? In general, it is best to connect all your devices to the audio processor and make a single HDMI connection from the soundbar to the TV for video.

If you use an optical or coax connection for audio, the best you will get is DD 5.1, DTS, and stereo PCM. A dts-MA track is "lossless", meaning it's been zipped up to save space on the disc and when unzipped (decoded), is bit for bit identical to the PCM original. 7.1 means there are 8 tracks of sound.

However, if the playback equipment doesn't support lossless or 7.1, then the player or the processor will adjust accordingly. If you are using an optical cable, the player will send DTS instead of dts-MA, because that's all the cable will allow. If you are using HDMI, but only have a 5.1system, then the decoding device will downmix 7.1 to 5.1 so that you don't lose any content. The quality is the same. It just matches the number of channels to the equipment configuration, folding the rear channels into the surrounds.

With a soundbar, I can't imagine there's any difference between 7.1 and 5.1 source material since you don't have speakers on the sides or in the back. And, since the lossy DTS and DD 5.1 outputs run at higher bitrates on Blu-ray than on DVD, there's no audible difference in quality. But, running everything through the TV can be a problem since few sets pass though DD 5.1 and almost none pass DTS from external inputs.

[Nishe11]

Ah i see, thanks BIslander its all finally starting to make sense

Equipment:

LG LAS455H- soundbar + subwoofer
Sony BDP-S480- Blu ray player
Samsung UE46F6670-TV

Connections:

Soundbar- 1 HDMI ARC out, 1 HDMI in, 1 Optical in

Blu ray player- 1 HDMI out, 1 digital out which says; PCM/DOLBY DIGITAL/DTS Coaxial

TV- 4 HDMI (including 1 ARC), Optical connection

Configuration:

HDMI cable connecting soundbar (ARC out) to TV ARC
Blu Ray player HDMI to TV HDMI

That's how i connect it, i cant see another way without the use of an optical cable.