"Direct" vs "Mix" on Sony players

[woecarlson]

Hi all,

Just got new Sony player (BDP-S360) and noticed today that receiver was showing just MultiCH 5.1 as the input and Multichannel 5.1 as the output. I figured out (thanks to these wonderful forums) that the setting I should make on the player was Direct instead of Mix, so now I'm seeing the appropriate info (DTS-HD MA, for example). My question is...is there any difference in sound quality with these settings? I went back and re-watched parts of the movie (District 9) after making the changes, and couldn't really hear anything. I'm wondering if there are no real differences besides which device does the decoding...or is there more to it than that?

Thanks!

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

I'm on the same boat. I recently bought a receiver and still trying to figure it out. My receiver will bitstream DTS MA without a problem but bitstreaming Dolby TrueHD is still an issue. When I'm trying to play 300, I'm only getting Dolby Digital for some odd reason. I need assistance on how to get Dolby True HD.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

My receiver will bitstream DTS MA without a problem but bitstreaming Dolby TrueHD is still an issue. When I'm trying to play 300, I'm only getting Dolby Digital for some odd reason. I need assistance on how to get Dolby True HD.

300 has DD 5.1 as the default track. You need to select the TrueHD track on the disc audio menu. Warner Bros. used to do that with all of its TrueHD releases.

[woecarlson]

Thanks so much...that is very helpful. Sounds like if I want DTS HD-MA (which I assume is normally better) I need to have it on Direct, but I would get Dolby True Digital either way. Since I don't really use the audio PIP or anything, sounds like leaving it on Direct is the safest bet.

Thanks again!

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by woecarlson

My question is...is there any difference in sound quality with these settings? I went back and re-watched parts of the movie (District 9) after making the changes, and couldn't really hear anything. I'm wondering if there are no real differences besides which device does the decoding...or is there more to it than that?

No. When it comes to the movie soundtrack, it doesn't matter which device does the decoding. You get the exact same PCM either way. However, some receivers lack the processing power to decode lossless codecs and apply EQ for room correction or DSPs such as PLIIx to expand 5.1 sources to 7.1. With those receivers, player decoding may be the better option - but only because of the receiver limitations.

Meanwhile, you should know that the S360 does not decode dts-MA when set to Mix. It uses the lossy DTS core instead of the lossless track. (It decodes TrueHD, but not dts-MA, when set to Mix.) But, as you've discovered with District 9, the lossy DTS core sounds great, rivalling lossless. So, that's really no big deal.

The main advantage of player decoding is the addition of secondary audio such as menu sound effects and audio for PIP commentaries. You don't get that audio with bitstream because it's not part of the movie soundtrack. It must be mixed in by the player.