dumb question

[zor]

If I get a 7.1 receiver and have lossless 7.1 audio coming in from a blu-ray disc but only have a 5.1 speaker set up, how would that turn out? Will the receiver reprocess the 7.1 down to 5.1 while keeping it lossless? Or will the blu-ray disc player (I'm getting a PS3), not output the lossless 7.1 if I have a 7.1 receiver but only a 5.1 speaker set up?

Please educate me

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by zor

If I get a 7.1 receiver and have lossless 7.1 audio coming in from a blu-ray disc but only have a 5.1 speaker set up, how would that turn out? Will the receiver reprocess the 7.1 down to 5.1 while keeping it lossless? Or will the blu-ray disc player (I'm getting a PS3), not output the lossless 7.1 if I have a 7.1 receiver but only a 5.1 speaker set up?

Please educate me

Your receiver should only allow itself to allow for 5.1 speaker playback if you only have 5 speakers and a subwoofer connected. In that case, your receiver will be smart enough to cut out the extra two channels and/or mix them with the rear speakers. I do believe that it just cuts out the other two channels though. This failsafe process keeps the wattage balanced and keeps the receiver from blowing your speakers up!

My Onkyo 805 won't even let me add in a 6th or 7th speaker because there is no wire attached to their connections on the back of the receiver.

[zor]

Thanks so much!

One more question.

I currently have my profile 1.0 player hooked up to the TV via a 5 meter HDMI 1.3 Category 2 cable and it works fine.

When I get the receiver, could I use two 5 meter HDMI 1.3 Category 2 cables (one from the PS3 to the receiver and the other from the receiver to the TV for a total of 10 meters)? Or would that be too long?

I would use a shorter one from the PS3 to the receiver except that I have some spare 5 meter ones that are just laying around.

[nbxfan]

This cabling shouldn't matter. I have 4 HDMI inputs at 6 feet and, another 6 foot out to the TV. I believe this only really starts being a problem if you are talking 25 foot plus cables. Also, don't go buy overly expensive cables. Use monoprice.com. HDMI cables aren't anything special and, a $5 HDMI will be just as good as an $80 cable.

As to the 7.1 receiver for a 5.1 setup. As previously mentioned, your receiver will have instructions for how to set it up properly and, there will be a way to let your receiver know what kind of hook up you are using. I have a 6.1 setup and, from the older receiver to my newest, the connections were a bit different but still easy to set up if you follow the instructions.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by nbxfan

This cabling shouldn't matter. I have 4 HDMI inputs at 6 feet and, another 6 foot out to the TV. I believe this only really starts being a problem if you are talking 25 foot plus cables. Also, don't go buy overly expensive cables. Use monoprice.com. HDMI cables aren't anything special and, a $5 HDMI will be just as good as an $80 cable.

As to the 7.1 receiver for a 5.1 setup. As previously mentioned, your receiver will have instructions for how to set it up properly and, there will be a way to let your receiver know what kind of hook up you are using. I have a 6.1 setup and, from the older receiver to my newest, the connections were a bit different but still easy to set up if you follow the instructions.

What he said, I double it.

[zor]

Originally Posted by nbxfan

This cabling shouldn't matter. I have 4 HDMI inputs at 6 feet and, another 6 foot out to the TV. I believe this only really starts being a problem if you are talking 25 foot plus cables. Also, don't go buy overly expensive cables. Use monoprice.com. HDMI cables aren't anything special and, a $5 HDMI will be just as good as an $80 cable.

As to the 7.1 receiver for a 5.1 setup. As previously mentioned, your receiver will have instructions for how to set it up properly and, there will be a way to let your receiver know what kind of hook up you are using. I have a 6.1 setup and, from the older receiver to my newest, the connections were a bit different but still easy to set up if you follow the instructions.

My two 5 meter cables would add up to just shy of 33 feet. Is that still OK? (I wasn't positive whether when you mentioned 25 feet as a limit, that was for each cable or for the combined length).

Thanks again to both of you.

[nbxfan]

There you are going to get me. I should have read a little clearer that you said meters and not feet. I would recommend going to the monoprice.com website and contact them unless someone here can give you an answer. I know there is another section about cables here...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=33168

maybe they can help you too. Sorry, I just know that when you start getting up there in length, you need a better quality cable. It can be done, but then it starts actually meaning something with the cable. When it is split in half, it is still a pretty good size at about 16-17 feet so, you should be okay but, I don't have the experience outside of computer cables. In that case, the larger the cable, the more noise I would get.

[zor]

Thanks so much.

One last question

So if I have a 7.1 receiver with a 5.1 speaker set up and let's say the receiver will drop the extra two channels instead of mixing them in and the lossless audio on a particular BD is in 7.1 (i.e. not in 5.1) and the other choice is say just lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital. Would it be better to listen to this disc with the 7.1 lossless tract with the two channels dropped by the receiver or with the lossy 5.1 track where no actual content is lost? I just have no idea what would be dropped. I mean, could dialogue be dropped? Or is it extra content that's not present in the 5.1 track anyway.

I hope my question is clear

[nbxfan]

You will definitely not loose voice. Talking comes from your center speaker. The sound you would be missing is additional sound for say a fly over from left to right where it would be a bit smoother going across. If you think about your speakers now, you likely very rarely hear anything from the rear as it is. There are some movies that really showcase the sound like, the Matrix, House of Flying Daggers...etc. I would probably stick with the 5.1 channel track and, at this point there aren't an over many amount of movies that are 7.1 that I have seen.

[Driver_King]

Let's put it this way. You have a 7.1 track. You have a 5.1 setup. What happens when they mesh together? The 7.1 gets chopped off to 5.1. It's that simple. You remove the back two speakers from the picture. It goes bye bye! You lose nothing (except for the two speakers of which you don't have.) I hope that makes sense.