Noob receiver question

[rartist]

I have a old HT setup at home and would like to start upgrading it. My BR player is a PS3 and the sound for all that goes to an elderly Sony STR-DE445 on an optical. The rear left channel on that receiver is pretty much gone (sometimes I can jog it temporarily with LOUD sound levels, like the plane crash sequence in Fight Club), and I've though about trying to get it repaired, or use the $$ toward replacing it. The STR-DE445 has only the one optical connection I can use, the rest of it is useless.

If anyone could point me in a good direction to start. I wish I had gobs of money to throw at this, but I don't. I looked last night at bestbuy.com at some receivers ($400 neighborhood; a Sony 7.1 STR-DG820), but I don't understand 7.1 in relation to blu-ray and am just starting out. Receiver will come first, new speakers later on.

[Scooby Blu]

Welcome to the forum ! 7.1 adds two speakers on the side of your room. Not all Blu Ray's have 7.1 but more are comming out. I know Rambo has 7.1 audio. Make sure your new reciever will play blu ray audio as well. Meaning it can decode Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio. These will be listed on the website or in the store! Good Luck on you search !

[poogie]

Originally Posted by rartist

I have a old HT setup at home and would like to start upgrading it. My BR player is a PS3 and the sound for all that goes to an elderly Sony STR-DE445 on an optical. The rear left channel on that receiver is pretty much gone (sometimes I can jog it temporarily with LOUD sound levels, like the plane crash sequence in Fight Club), and I've though about trying to get it repaired, or use the $$ toward replacing it. The STR-DE445 has only the one optical connection I can use, the rest of it is useless.

If anyone could point me in a good direction to start. I wish I had gobs of money to throw at this, but I don't. I looked last night at bestbuy.com at some receivers ($400 neighborhood; a Sony 7.1 STR-DG820), but I don't understand 7.1 in relation to blu-ray and am just starting out. Receiver will come first, new speakers later on.

Be careful on your future investment, this "hobby" is not cheap. Sometimes, waiting is worth it. Enjoy and welcome aboard to the point of no return.

[Rob J in WNY]

Originally Posted by rartist

I looked last night at bestbuy.com at some receivers ($400 neighborhood; a Sony 7.1 STR-DG820), but I don't understand 7.1 in relation to blu-ray and am just starting out. Receiver will come first, new speakers later on.

Indeed, I am in your position. I still have a 5.1 setup with a Sony STR-DE845 receiver that I bought new in 2001. It still runs absolutely flawlessly. Check out my photo gallery for a peek. It's older, but highly featured and produces a quality sound.

Indeed, you can spend $400 at Best Buy for the STR-DG845, but if you look around online, you can find the STR-DG920 for the same price elsewhere (or even lower in price, but you may have to pay tax and shipping, depending on the vendor and their location). I will likely be getting the 920 in the coming months. It has a few features above the 820 which deem it a no-brainer for me.

7.1 simply adds two more discreet surround channels over 5.1. As time goes on more movies will be released with 7.1 multi-channel audio. Blu-ray discs store about 5½ times the data over standard DVDs, and this extra space allows the storage of high-definition video and more channels of audio.

Most Blu-ray discs will also contain "lossless" multi-channel as well. This means zero-loss of audio quality from the original master audio. These will either be in the form of Dolby Digital TrueHD, DTS HD-Master Audio, or Uncompressed LPCM. Taking advantage of these will require the use of an HDMI cable in most cases (using multi-channel analog is another option, and that will be most dependent on a Blu-ray player which internally decodes Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS HD-Master Audio, and has multi-channel analog outputs as well). Uncompressed LPCM is simply the straight digital audio, without any compression to save space. I know these are complicated topics, but as time goes on, you will come to understand the nuances of all these details, and the relationships between Blu-ray players/receivers/lossless audio. These forums will also be of great assistance to you.

Good idea to go with a receiver first. Your current receiver (even if working correctly) is useless to add the two extra speakers for 7.1. For now, you can set up a new receiver (like the Sony 820 you are looking at) to operate as a 5.1 channel system and keep using your current speakers. The 820 will also decode Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS HD-Master Audio.

Hope that helps!

[DutchBoy]

I have to add this caveat as well, since no one else has: with a PS3 as your player, you will NOT have to buy a receiver that will decode the new HD codecs. A PS3 can't bitstream those, so it's not a necessity. You will have to have your PS3 do the decoding and have the signal sent via LPCM.

So at the least you will need a receiver with HDMI that will accept PCM audio.

That gives you a whole range of receivers to look at, and maybe cheaper than what you were looking at before in some cases.

But I do suggest you take everything into consideration: budget, needs, future upgrades, etc.

Scooby Blu : a receiver that decodes those will not be necessary with a PS3.

Rob J : multi-channel analog won't be an option with a PS3. He'll have to have HDMI.

[Rob J in WNY]

Originally Posted by DutchBoy

Scooby Blu : a receiver that decodes those will not be necessary with a PS3.

Rob J : multi-channel analog won't be an option with a PS3. He'll have to have HDMI.

So true! In my composition of the post, I totally forgot that his PS3 is his BD player! Thank you for making that clear, because it gives him direction in his new journey into Blu-ray movies.

Rartist,

Your PS3 internally decodes lossless audio internally, so you can send it through the HDMI cable, already processed as LPCM, to your new receiver.

And so, as you can see, there are quite a few nuances to know. Your PS3 will make a fine player!

[rartist]

That's something I left out. My PS3 BR sounds different (wrong) over DVD with this receiver. The center channel is twice as loud as the other speakers; I was able to more or less compensate by editing the receiver's settings manually. I was wondering if the old Sony receiver is unable to deal with the PS3's audio (optical) signal.

I am definitely looking at a receiver with HDMI, tho most of this is still over my head. My old STR-DE445 makes decent sound, but that missing rear left channel is probably economically unrepairable. There seems to be so many choices & technologies for a replacement; its probably good that I'm not ready to buy yet.

Thanks for the input and making me feel welcome.

[DutchBoy]

No worries. You need information, we're totally "full of it".

Ask away.

[crackinhedz]

shop around online at places like amazon.com, youd get a much better deal.

[Sammy]

There's a lot of information about audio codecs located here. I learned a lot looking through this post when choosing my BD player and have discovered that eventually I will need to upgrade my receiver.