Dolby TrueHD is it being over-hyped?

[Steeb]

Originally Posted by GasCat

I have a few questions:
What receivers are capable of using TrueHD?

Any receiver capable of receiving 5.1 PCM over analog or HDMI, assuming your player decodes DTHD.

Originally Posted by GasCat

What players are capable of using TrueHD?

The vast majority of the players sold: PS3, Panny (both versions), New Samsung (I think)... there may be more, I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by GasCat

Isn't this just another way for Dolby Labs to make money?

Um... no. It's a way for us to get losslessy compressed soundtracks.

Originally Posted by GasCat

Isn't this something that was started with the HD-DVD camp because they don't have 50 GB to play around with?

Um... no. DTHD is basically MLP (what was used in DVD-A) with some Dolby extras thrown in. Also, let's not forget that currently there are a ton of BD-25 discs out there, so 50GB is not guaranteed. Plus, eventually we could see BD titles with HD PiP (basically two 1080p HD streams to contend with,) which would make DTHD even more attractive.

Originally Posted by GasCat

Can someone give me the cons of using PCM?

1. It eats up space that could be used for other things (better PQ, extras, etc.)
2. It eats up bandwidth that could be used for other things (better PQ, extras, etc.)
3. It doesn't scale down like the advance codecs can (ie. if you only have 5.1 PCM and you use an optical connection, you only get 2.0 channels.)
4. It's easier to get better tracks (20/48 or 24/48 instead of 16/48) with an advanced audio codec, since PCM would take up way more space and bandwidth (like on Ghost Rider, where the DTHD track was 20/48 compared to the 16/48 PCM track.)
5. A BD-50 could have several DTHD tracks (for different languages) while they would never be able to get away with multiple PCM tracks (they might be able to squeeze in a second, but certainly not a third or fourth.) In fact, I think there's a BD title that's been announced that has two DTHD tracks - one in English and one in another language (Spanish?)

As for sound quality, assuming all other factors are equal (ie one track's not 16/48 while the other is 24/48,) uncompressed PCM = DTHD = DTS-HD MA.

Lossless audio codecs are the future - PCM is just a stop-gap measure. Better get used to it...