Sort the confusion

[pudge444]

My current system is:

Panasonic TH-50PZ80U 1080p Plasma
Pioneer Elite VSX-39TX receiver
Magnavox NB500G9 Blue Ray player
Paradigm speaker system

My question is, is it better for the BR player to decode the surround or should the receiver do it? Currently my reciever just has regular Dolby Digital and DTS, sounds great. The BR player doesn't have any built in decoders so I can't get the new HD surround sound anyways. Is the new HD sound that much beter? I'm considering taking the Blue Ray back to Walmart and buying the Sony S550 and run the audio multi out and running them into the multi in on my Pioneer. Am I heading in the right direction? Thanks.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by pudge444

My current system is:

Panasonic TH-50PZ80U 1080p Plasma
Pioneer Elite VSX-39TX receiver
Magnavox NB500G9 Blue Ray player
Paradigm speaker system

My question is, is it better for the BR player to decode the surround or should the receiver do it? Currently my reciever just has regular Dolby Digital and DTS, sounds great. The BR player doesn't have any built in decoders so I can't get the new HD surround sound anyways. Is the new HD sound that much beter? I'm considering taking the Blue Ray back to Walmart and buying the Sony S550 and run the audio multi out and running them into the multi in on my Pioneer. Am I heading in the right direction? Thanks.

Do you have anywhere to test the differences yourself (a friend with lossles or a real A/V shop in your area)? DD and DTS are encoded at high bit rates on Blu-ray and sound great. I have a BD55 hooked up both ways - lossless over analog and digital coax. I don't hear any difference most of the time. But, you really need to listen for yourself.

[kpkelley]

If the player is connected to the receiver over an hdmi cord, then regardless of whether the player decodes or bitstreams, it will be utilizing the DAC's in the receiver. If the player is connected by analog cables to the receiver all the decoding and conversion is done in the player utilizing those DAC's.

As for the sound decoding and converting abilities of the Sony S550, you should check out the review thread for that player to get an idea from the owners.