Audio question

[umterps98]

I am new to the forum. I am looking at blu ray players and have a question regarding audio. I have an older Sony STR-DE545 receiver with no HDMI inputs/outputs. It has optical digital audio and 5.1 analog multi-channel. I have a Sony 46 inch LCD that obviously has the HDMI inputs/outputs. What is my best option for getting the best sound? I am looking at 2 Samsungs (1600 and 3600), a couple of Panasonics (60 and 80), and an LG. From what I understand, if I want to be able to take full advantage of HD sound, such as TrueHD, I would either need to get a receiver with HDMI inputs/outputs, or get one of the blu ray players with multi-channel 5.1 decoding. What happens if I just get one of the blu ray players without the built-in decoders and chose to use digital optical? Would I still get stereo surround sound, or only 2- channel audio? Is the difference in sound worth getting the player that costs $150 more? ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by umterps98

I am new to the forum. I am looking at blu ray players and have a question regarding audio. I have an older Sony STR-DE545 receiver with no HDMI inputs/outputs. It has optical digital audio and 5.1 analog multi-channel. I have a Sony 46 inch LCD that obviously has the HDMI inputs/outputs. What is my best option for getting the best sound? I am looking at 2 Samsungs (1600 and 3600), a couple of Panasonics (60 and 80), and an LG. From what I understand, if I want to be able to take full advantage of HD sound, such as TrueHD, I would either need to get a receiver with HDMI inputs/outputs, or get one of the blu ray players with multi-channel 5.1 decoding. What happens if I just get one of the blu ray players without the built-in decoders and chose to use digital optical? Would I still get stereo surround sound, or only 2- channel audio? Is the difference in sound worth getting the player that costs $150 more? ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

You will get a lot of the benefit of lossless audio on BD using an optical connection. You won't be limited to stereo unless the only multichannel track on a disc is PCM, which is rare these days. The player will output DTS and DD 5.1 instead of dts-MA and TrueHD. But, those legacy codecs play at considerably higher bitrates on Blu than on DVD and they sound great. DTS claims its core track at 1509 kbps is transparent to the studio master and the Dolby 640 kbps encode is nearly as good, if not as good.

Having said that, I spent a little extra to get a player with analog outputs. Sometimes it's better and the difference in cost isn't great. A BD80 shouldn't cost $150 more than a BD60, for example. To me, it was worth it to get the best sound all the time.

[Rob J in WNY]

Welcome to the forums, umterps98!

As BIslander said, your system will fall back on lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and the lossy DTS 5.1 core due to the use of an optical cable. Uncompressed 2-channel PCM will be supported optically, though, so you can derive that sonic benefit if the movie has a PCM 2.0 track (such as many concert Blu-rays), as well as stereo CD audio.

Indeed, your Sony STR-DE545 receiver has analog 5.1 channel inputs (I still have my Sony STR-DE845 and remember the whole line very well from back then - even have a closeup photo of it in my home theater gallery on this site). You can get ALL the beneifts of lossless if you choose a BD player which does internally decode lossless and is equipped with analog multichannel outputs. There will be 7.1 channels of analog outputs on the BD player, so you'll have to make sure that you can set it up to mix the (up to) 4 surround channels (on discs with 6.1 or 7.1 audio) into the 2 surround channels for output to your receiver. This way, you won't miss any information.

Although the lossy (but higher bitrate) audio is good (usually besting lower DVD-release bitrates), I feel it still does not quite hold up against true lossless/uncompressed audio. Vocals/dialog becomes more distinct, and the noticeability and spatical clarity of location-oriented high frequency material (such as environmental sounds) as well as musical details will sound more distinct as lossless/uncompressed sound.

There are those who feel that going analog over HDMI for multichannel sound find they like it better. If you are not up for upgrading your receiver yet, then definitely shoot for a BD player which decodes both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio and passes them through multichannel analog outputs!

[JimShaw]

I run HDMI from the player to the TV for PQ and I let the player decode and run a 7.1 mult channel directly through the receiver to the speakers.

For me this the best sounding installation after testing both the digital and the multi channel analog. But I also think it depends and the player and its ability to decode all the audio formats and the quality of the DACs



.

[jonesyg27]

Originally Posted by JimShaw

I run HDMI from the player to the TV for PQ and I let the player decode and run a 7.1 mult channel directly through the receiver to the speakers.

For me this the best sounding installation after testing both the digital and the multi channel analog. But I also think it depends and the player and its ability to decode all the audio formats and the quality of the DACs



.

I just got the Oppo BDP-83 last week and I do the same thing. I have a 9 year old Harmon Kardon AVR310 with 5.1 analog and the sound is awesome. I am totally happy. I considered the Samsung 3600 and Panasonic BD80 but Oppo's reputation for customer service and firmware updates won me over.

Fear the Turtle!:

[umterps98]

Thank you all for your helpful responses. How do you "fit" 7.1 outputs on the BD into 5.1 inputs on the receiver without losing the benefits of the improved sound?

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by umterps98

Thank you all for your helpful responses. How do you "fit" 7.1 outputs on the BD into 5.1 inputs on the receiver without losing the benefits of the improved sound?

All you will have is the 5.1 but it will sound great anyway.

[gonk]

Originally Posted by umterps98

Thank you all for your helpful responses. How do you "fit" 7.1 outputs on the BD into 5.1 inputs on the receiver without losing the benefits of the improved sound?

You leave the back surround connections out. This leaves your back surrounds out of commission, but that was likely to happen for many discs anyway (7.1 mixes are rare, and the players aren't necessarily going to be able to expand 5.1 to 7.1 internally).

[umterps98]

I am looking at the Samsung BDP3600 and the LG BP590. With my audio situation (Sony STR-DE545 with only 5.1 outputs), will I be able to get TrueHD with either/both of these BD players? Or will it only be DolbyDigitalPlus, etc? Either way, it will be an improvement, but does the lack of 7.1 affect the ability to receive the best in audio? Thanks again!

(By the way, feel free to recommend one of these players over the other because I am having a tough time deciding!!)