No digital audio out :( help needed

[Tdonnelly3]

Hi everyone, my other half has bought me a philips bluray player for christmas and ive been really looking forward to getting it set up and spending way too much money on loads of blurays

Ive noticed this morning that the bluray player doesnt have a digital optical audio out, i was wanting to connect it up to my dvd/home theatre

Will i get the same outcome (sound wise) if i run the hdmi to the tv then the audio from there to the dvd/home theatre?

[Supernaut]

Originally Posted by Tdonnelly3

Hi everyone, my other half has bought me a philips bluray player for christmas and ive been really looking forward to getting it set up and spending way too much money on loads of blurays

Ive noticed this morning that the bluray player doesnt have a digital optical audio out, i was wanting to connect it up to my dvd/home theatre

Will i get the same outcome (sound wise) if i run the hdmi to the tv then the audio from there to the dvd/home theatre?

I don't know what brand of TV you have but I know that my Panasonic Plasma doesn't pass through a 5.1 audio signal but downsamples it to stereo.

[Tdonnelly3]

Its an LG 42LH3000 if it helps

[Rinzler]

Originally Posted by Tdonnelly3

Hi everyone, my other half has bought me a philips bluray player for christmas and ive been really looking forward to getting it set up and spending way too much money on loads of blurays

Ive noticed this morning that the bluray player doesnt have a digital optical audio out, i was wanting to connect it up to my dvd/home theatre

Will i get the same outcome (sound wise) if i run the hdmi to the tv then the audio from there to the dvd/home theatre?

Does your player have digital coaxial, if not optical?

[Tdonnelly3]

Originally Posted by KennedyZL

Does your player have digital coaxial, if not optical?

Just read the spec and it does, so would that work as long as the dvd/home theatre has the same? Will it provide a decent level of sound quality?

[Rob J in WNY]

Originally Posted by Tdonnelly3

Will i get the same outcome (sound wise) if i run the hdmi to the tv then the audio from there to the dvd/home theatre?

You will be passing lossy Dolby Digital multichannel or lossless DTS multichannel through either a coaxial or optical audio connection. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreams will not pass through them as they require greater digital bandwidth than either of these two connections are provisioned for. You will need to go HDMI from player to a capable receiver to accomplish that. Same for uncompressed multichannel PCM (though 2-channel stereo PCM, such as CD audio, passes through it).

Assuming you can connect via the coaxial, and since you have not been listening to lossless/uncompressed multichannel audio, then you sound quality will be exactly the same, or slightly improved.

I say slightly improved because most BDs will carry higher-bitrate Dolby Digital multichannel audio at 640kbps (vs. 448kbps typical of DVDs). The audio should sound a touch more natural and dynamic.

Good luck with your audio hookup, and enjoy your new player! Obviously, over HDMI, the video quality you will get will really impress you!

[BIslander]

Do not use your TV as an audio switcher. You'll be limited to stereo most of the time. A few TVs pass DD 5.1 from external devices such as disc players. But, most do not. And no TVs pass DTS, which is the codec of choice on most Blu-ray discs. You need to run the audio directly to your surround receiver, not through the TV.

A coax-optical converter will allow you connect the player to the receiver.

Originally Posted by Rob J in WNY

You will be passing lossy Dolby Digital multichannel or lossless DTS multichannel through either a coaxial or optical audio connection. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreams will not pass through them as they require greater digital bandwidth than either of these two connections are provisioned for. You will need to go HDMI from player to a capable receiver to accomplish that. Same for uncompressed multichannel PCM (though 2-channel stereo PCM, such as CD audio, passes through it).

That's likely a typo. I believe it should say lossy DTS, not lossless.

Assuming you can connect via the coaxial, and since you have not been listening to lossless/uncompressed multichannel audio, then you sound quality will be exactly the same, or slightly improved.

I say slightly improved because most BDs will carry higher-bitrate Dolby Digital multichannel audio at 640kbps (vs. 448kbps typical of DVDs). The audio should sound a touch more natural and dynamic.

I'd say much improved rather than slightly. The 640k DD 5.1 and 1509k DTS lossy bitrates on Blu-ray are significantly less compressed than the versions on DVD. Many people say the DD 5.1 and DTS outputs on Blu-ray sound much better than the same tracks on DVD, rivalling lossless in quality.