Why dont blu ray players select the best audio source automatically

[mike4scuba]

Why dont blu ray players select the best audio source automatically
hi i have a sony bdp s350 coupled to a yamaha dsp ax763. i have set the bluray to straight in the audio not mix



why doesnt the player select the best audio source automatically, i will give you an example



i watched batman begins last night and towards the end of the film decided to check the audio source which read dolby digital 5-1, i pressed audio again and this time it selected dolby true hd 5.1



why doesnt it select true hd 5.1 automatically over dolby digital as the better audio source, if this is not possible why dont the disc manufactures list the audio qualities on the disc, in best to worse order then the best quality would be played automatically

[lghaze42]

I don't know about my player doing it but my new Panasonic SA-BX500 has always selected the lossless audio tracks over the optional compressed ones.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by mike4scuba

Why dont blu ray players select the best audio source automatically
hi i have a sony bdp s350 coupled to a yamaha dsp ax763. i have set the bluray to straight in the audio not mix

why doesnt the player select the best audio source automatically, i will give you an example

i watched batman begins last night and towards the end of the film decided to check the audio source which read dolby digital 5-1, i pressed audio again and this time it selected dolby true hd 5.1

why doesnt it select true hd 5.1 automatically over dolby digital as the better audio source, if this is not possible why dont the disc manufactures list the audio qualities on the disc, in best to worse order then the best quality would be played automatically

Blu-ray movies from most studios go to the initial setup menu where you can set your audio, subtitle, etc. By default, they usually have the HD audio highlighted. Stupid Warner starts the movie without giving you that option. In most cases, you have to pause the movie and go to the setup menu and change things. In addition, Warner has not supported HD audio on all their Blu-ray releases. I have boycotted Warner titles and will not buy any DVD or Blu-ray titles from them until the day they change this stupid marketing blunder.

[aramis109]

Lil overkill, no?

According to Jeff Kleist, it's a lowest common denominator thing. If someone who is not very savvy sticks a BD in and it doesn't have any audio, they may complain, return it, or not buy any more titles from that studio. As a result, they make sure that at minimum that EVERYONE can get audio.

Bottom line is that currently the default is set by the disc manufacturer, not the player. The players take the same stance in defaulting to lossy typically. Maybe a user-definable setting would be available down the road.

Is it really that hard to just go into the menu and select the audio for your setup? Takes five seconds. Since the dvd/DTS days I've been doing this.

[MrTaxMan]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Blu-ray movies from most studios go to the initial setup menu where you can set your audio, subtitle, etc. By default, they usually have the HD audio highlighted. Stupid Warner starts the movie without giving you that option. In most cases, you have to pause the movie and go to the setup menu and change things.

No offense, but do you even own a Blu-ray player? None of the 100 or so Blu-ray movies I ever saw started out in the setup menu. And none of them highlight the HD audio option.

Pause the movie? Why would you pause the movie? All Blu-ray movies allow you to change settings from the pop-up menus, which do not require pausing.

You are partially correct regarding Warner. Of their 216 Blu-ray releases, only 44% have HD audio. That's similar to Paramount (54%) and Lions Gate (63%), but nowhere close to Disney (100%) or Sony (100%).

However, Warner IS getting better. Of the 71 they released in 2007, only 47% had HD audio. But that percentage went up slightly to 54% for the 113 they release in 2008.

Many other people (such as me) prefer that the movie starts directly without going to the top menu.

Those 216 movies are a lot of choices to deprive yourself of just because half of them don't have top-of-the line audio.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by MrTaxMan

No offense, but do you even own a Blu-ray player? None of the 100 or so Blu-ray movies I ever saw started out in the setup menu. And none of them highlight the HD audio option.

I watched Underdog just last night... and right after the previews it went to the main menu.. where I was allowed to go to audio set up and select PCM 5.1 Uncompressed.

[MrTaxMan]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

I watched Underdog just last night... and right after the previews it went to the main menu.. where I was allowed to go to audio set up and select PCM 5.1 Uncompressed.

That makes sense. A lot of (most) movies do that. But none of them go directly from previews to the set up menu. They always goes to main menu first.

[hugoone1]

Originally Posted by MrTaxMan

You are partially correct regarding Warner. Of their 216 Blu-ray releases, only 44% have HD audio. That's similar to Paramount (54%) and Lions Gate (63%), but nowhere close to Disney (100%) or Sony (100%).

Are you sure that 100% of Disney releases have HD audio? Last time I checked Wall-E only has basic DTS 5.1.

[poogie]

Originally Posted by hugoone1

Are you sure that 100% of Disney releases have HD audio? Last time I checked Wall-E only has basic DTS 5.1.

I haven't bought this movie yet, but I have been eye balling it and it says on the back that it's DTS HD Master Audio 6.1.

[AintNoSin]

Originally Posted by poogie

I haven't bought this movie yet, but I have been eye balling it and it says on the back that it's DTS HD Master Audio 6.1.

That's a slight misprint. It's 5.1.

[MrTaxMan]

Originally Posted by hugoone1

Are you sure that 100% of Disney releases have HD audio? Last time I checked Wall-E only has basic DTS 5.1.

You must be thinking of the regular DVD version of that movie. The Blu-Ray version of Wall-E definitely has DTS-HD MA 5.1.
Some of Disney's titles are LPCM (90%), some are TrueHD (3%), and some are DTS-HD MA (7%). But they all have lossless audio.

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Blu-ray movies from most studios go to the initial setup menu where you can set your audio, subtitle, etc. By default, they usually have the HD audio highlighted. Stupid Warner starts the movie without giving you that option. In most cases, you have to pause the movie and go to the setup menu and change things. In addition, Warner has not supported HD audio on all their Blu-ray releases. I have boycotted Warner titles and will not buy any DVD or Blu-ray titles from them until the day they change this stupid marketing blunder.

i know! the studio that broke the back of hd dvd,has been a pain in the ass since.lets not forget most of there bds are not up to par pq wise

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Warner Bros. Blu-rays are the only ones that don't default to the best audio track available.

Every disc that I play (and have EVER played - including DVD), I have always gone into the settings/setup menu first thing to make sure that the best audio track is selected. With Blu-ray, I only ever have to change it when it is a Warner title.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by mike4scuba

Why dont blu ray players select the best audio source automatically
hi i have a sony bdp s350 coupled to a yamaha dsp ax763. i have set the bluray to straight in the audio not mix



why doesnt the player select the best audio source automatically, i will give you an example



i watched batman begins last night and towards the end of the film decided to check the audio source which read dolby digital 5-1, i pressed audio again and this time it selected dolby true hd 5.1



why doesnt it select true hd 5.1 automatically over dolby digital as the better audio source, if this is not possible why dont the disc manufactures list the audio qualities on the disc, in best to worse order then the best quality would be played automatically

its not the blu-ray player its the studio. the studio decides which audio will come out first so in this case blame Warner not Sony

[MrTaxMan]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Warner Bros. Blu-rays are the only ones that don't default to the best audio track available.

That's another made up fact... or was that comment a joke? I have no reason to defend Warner -- I just don't like seeing people make up their own facts. Here's three examples (from three different studios) that prove your statement wrong:

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City - Sony
Has three English audio tracks and defaults to the lowest quality one.

Cars - Disney
Has two english audio tracks and defaults to the lowest quality one.

3:10 to Yuma - Lionsgate
Has two english audio tracks and defaults to the lowest quality one.

Petra_Kalbrain, can you list ANY movies that have both an English lossy track AND an Englsh lossless track but defaults to lossless? You might find an example but I suspect not.

Now it's another question if you want to alter the Blu-Ray specs and enable a player gather information about the audio system and then automatically select the best audio track. But then we'd all have to purchase 4.0 players AND new receivers capable of responding with its capabilies to a DVD player. Good luck getting that capability into the next upgrade of the Blu-Ray spec. Until then, let's stick to facts.

[hugoone1]

Originally Posted by MrTaxMan

You must be thinking of the regular DVD version of that movie. The Blu-Ray version of Wall-E definitely has DTS-HD MA 5.1.
Some of Disney's titles are LPCM (90%), some are TrueHD (3%), and some are DTS-HD MA (7%). But they all have lossless audio.

You are right, Wall-E does have DTS MA 5.1. Although on the packaging AND the menu it just says DTS 5.1. Whoops. Disney made a bit of a boo boo with this one. They have done that before on some of their DVD releases. Maybe they should have somebody check the packaging against the content before it all goes to print!!

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by MrTaxMan

Petra_Kalbrain, can you list ANY movies that have both an English lossy track AND an Englsh lossless track but defaults to lossless? You might find an example but I suspect not.

Fact: WALL•E defaults to lossless. It's not the only one in my collection that does so, but at the moment I'm unable to go through any play-testing to ensure I'm not speaking out of turn.

Originally Posted by hugoone1

You are right, Wall-E does have DTS MA 5.1. Although on the packaging AND the menu it just says DTS 5.1. Whoops. Disney made a bit of a boo boo with this one. They have done that before on some of their DVD releases. Maybe they should have somebody check the packaging against the content before it all goes to print!!

Um, no? Looking at it right now, packaging clearly references English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio for the feature presentation.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by MrTaxMan

That's another made up fact... or was that comment a joke? I have no reason to defend Warner -- I just don't like seeing people make up their own facts. Here's three examples (from three different studios) that prove your statement wrong:

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City - Sony
Has three English audio tracks and defaults to the lowest quality one.

Cars - Disney
Has two english audio tracks and defaults to the lowest quality one.

3:10 to Yuma - Lionsgate
Has two english audio tracks and defaults to the lowest quality one.

Petra_Kalbrain, can you list ANY movies that have both an English lossy track AND an Englsh lossless track but defaults to lossless? You might find an example but I suspect not.

Now it's another question if you want to alter the Blu-Ray specs and enable a player gather information about the audio system and then automatically select the best audio track. But then we'd all have to purchase 4.0 players AND new receivers capable of responding with its capabilies to a DVD player. Good luck getting that capability into the next upgrade of the Blu-Ray spec. Until then, let's stick to facts.

Ok... concert Blu-rays I have consistently also had to change the disc settings in order to acquire the best sound. I will admit that 'Cars' also requires a selection. However, '3:10 To Yuma' always fires up with the lossless track for me. I use it as one of my 3 demo discs and I check it ever time to make sure!

I have over 200 Blu-rays, and I find myself saying "Good. It's already on DTS HD MA/LPCM/TrueHD." 99% of the time. I'm not going to go through them all again just to create a list for you, sorry. I have more important things to do.

So, my facts may have been stated too generally, but Warner is definitely the only major motion picture studio that is 100% guaranteed to default to the lossy track every time. All others seem to have a 95%+ chance (approximation based on my experience) of defaulting to lossless on theirs.

[hugoone1]

Originally Posted by Joe Cain

Um, no? Looking at it right now, packaging clearly references English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio for the feature presentation.

I don't know what to tell you, but I am also looking at the blu-ray packaging right now, and it clearly says Audio: DTS 5.1 English/Dutch/Belgian, and it has the usual DTS logo on there too. It did come free with the player, so maybe they are giving away some first prints that were incorrect. Next time I am in HMV I will take a look at the packaging in there. It doesn't really matter as the actual feature codec is certainly DTS MA 5.1.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by hugoone1

I don't know what to tell you, but I am also looking at the blu-ray packaging right now, and it clearly says Audio: DTS 5.1 English/Dutch/Belgian, and it has the usual DTS logo on there too. It did come free with the player, so maybe they are giving away some first prints that were incorrect. Next time I am in HMV I will take a look at the packaging in there. It doesn't really matter as the actual feature codec is certainly DTS MA 5.1.

For the sake of discussion it is helpful to note which national/regional release you're looking at.