audiophile/videophile Here To Stay discussion thread

[BTBuck1]

i'm not convinced, i know on paper it's suppossed to be transparent...but for some reason the implimentation seems better on LPCM.

as for 6.1/7.1 it's cool...my receievers are 7.1 I have 6.1 connected but it's not that earth shattering comming from 5.1, I guess you have to have a huge room to apprecciate it or something.

[Rob Tomlin]

Anyone happen to know the status of the Anthem D2 Statement pre/pro and what they might be doing with hdmi and the new hd audio formats? That's the ticket I'm waiting for!

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Anyone happen to know the status of the Anthem D2 Statement pre/pro and what they might be doing with hdmi and the new hd audio formats? That's the ticket I'm waiting for!

^^ Which kidney are you going to part ways to get that beast?



As for the rest of this discussion: I'm sticking with 5.1 for the forseeable future. I just haven't felt much need to go past that and current space considerations won't allow me to do it anyways.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by JTK

^^ Which kidney are you going to part ways to get that beast?



As for the rest of this discussion: I'm sticking with 5.1 for the forseeable future. I just haven't felt much need to go past that and current space considerations won't allow me to do it anyways.

I currently have a 6.1 setup, but for my Panasonic, there is no way to make the speaker settings for 6.1 using the analogue outs, it can only be set for 5.1 or 7.1. My receiver has two sets of analogue multichannel inputs, a 5.1 and a 7.1 and I use them both plus I have a Zektor analogue multichannel 5.1 3x1 switcher, but space considerations also keep me from using a 7.1 configuration. I wish Panasonic had allowed for a 6.1 setting.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

I currently have a 6.1 setup, but for my Panasonic, there is no way to make the speaker settings for 6.1 using the analogue outs, it can only be set for 5.1 or 7.1. My receiver has two sets of analogue multichannel inputs, a 5.1 and a 7.1 and I use them both plus I have a Zektor analogue multichannel 5.1 3x1 switcher, but space considerations also keep me from using a 7.1 configuration. I wish Panasonic had allowed for a 6.1 setting.

I just haven't felt a fire under my ass at all about 7.1. I don't feel like I've ever seen it even supported that much with regular DVD's.

I'll probably stick with 5.1 for a pretty long time.


I'm looking at this Anthem D2 that Rob was talking about. It's pretty impressive, although I see it's currently HDMI 1.1.

I see a lot of buzz about this thing. Is it upgradeable to HDMI 1.3 and the rest of it?

I see that it runs around $6500.

I see that it's basically a combined Gennum VXP video processor combined with a great pre/pro.

You can kill a lot of birds with one stone with this thing. Impressive, but probably overkill for a lot of us. If it's upgradeable to HDMI 1.3 and some other things, then it becomes that much more compelling.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by JTK

I just haven't felt a fire under my ass at all about 7.1. I don't feel like I've ever seen it even supported that much with regular DVD's.

I'll probably stick with 5.1 for a pretty long time.


I'm looking at this Anthem D2 that Rob was talking about. It's pretty impressive, although I see it's currently HDMI 1.1.

I see a lot of buzz about this thing. Is it upgradeable to HDMI 1.3 and the rest of it?

I see that it runs around $6500.

I see that it's basically a combined Gennum VXP video processor combined with a great pre/pro.

You can kill a lot of birds with one stone with this thing. Impressive, but probably overkill for a lot of us. If it's upgradeable to HDMI 1.3 and some other things, then it becomes that much more compelling.

Do you have a link to their web site?

[JTK]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Do you have a link to their web site?

http://statement.anthemav.com/HTML/Products/D2/D2.html



We'll see if this goes anywhere:

http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...read.id=785075

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by JTK

I just haven't felt a fire under my ass at all about 7.1. I don't feel like I've ever seen it even supported that much with regular DVD's.

I'll probably stick with 5.1 for a pretty long time.

Virtually no DVD's support 7.1. Some do support 6.1 though (such as DTS ES Discrete) but even that is very rare (the SE Lord of the Ring DVD's support it). Most people use one of the settings on their receiver/pre/pro to make a 7.1 or 6.1 source out of the 5.1 recording (which is obviously not as good as if the soundtrack was 7.1 or 6.1 discrete).

I'm looking at this Anthem D2 that Rob was talking about. It's pretty impressive, although I see it's currently HDMI 1.1.


I see a lot of buzz about this thing. Is it upgradeable to HDMI 1.3 and the rest of it?

I see that it runs around $6500

Which is why I will have to sell one of those kidneys you were talking about!

Yes, it is 1.1 now, which is why I was asking about the upgrade status. One thing Anthem is known for is upgrades! But I don't know if 1.3 is something that can just easily be added. I will wait until it is available before I consider ordering one.

I see that it's basically a combined Gennum VXP video processor combined with a great pre/pro.

You can kill a lot of birds with one stone with this thing. Impressive, but probably overkill for a lot of us. If it's upgradeable to HDMI 1.3 and some other things, then it becomes that much more compelling.

This is exactly right, and why I am interested in it. Having a single box that acts not only as a audio processor, but VP as well is of great value, especially in my quickly shrinking equipment rack!!

I have in my rack now:

1) D-Theater deck
2) Charter HD DVR
3) Dwin Video Processor
4) Pioneer Elite 59avi
5) Xbox 360
6) Toshiba HD-A1
7) Parasound C2 Pre/Pro
8) Sherbourn 7x200 AMP

So my rack is completely full now, and I have a PS3 coming next week. Since I will probably want a VP with my new 1080p projector (on order), as well as a new pre/pro that does hdmi, the D2 makes a lot of sense, except for its price!

[Rob Tomlin]

I just read this from Greg Rogers (who I trust greatly) at AVS:

This is related to why it will take years to see any video benefit from HDMI 1.3. All HDMI versions can transmit 12-bit 4:2:2 YCbCr (or 8-bit RGB/4:4:4 YCbCr), but HDMI 1.3 adds Deep Color that allows up to 16-bit 4:4:4 RGB and 4:4:4 YCbCr. However, most current video processing chips in projectors use 10-bit 4:2:2 YCbCr processing. Only a few use 10-bit 4:4:4 YCbCr processing, and it will probably be years before any take advantage of the higher bit depth HDMI 1.3 Deep Color modes.

I don't think HDMI 1.3 is such a big deal at this time. And it doesn't do anything regarding audio that the current version doesn't do.

edited to say "that the current version doesN'T do".

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Brian@BBY

i'm not convinced, i know on paper it's suppossed to be transparent...but for some reason the implimentation seems better on LPCM.

I agree. You cant ignore the fact that owners of both formats are favoring PCM. I actually hope that PCM isnt better so like Golden says, that space can be used for video.

On another note... I just picked up the Panny and have its receiver brother, the SA-XR700, on order. My question is this... In my 7.1 setup, can the receiver(which has dolby IIx) take a 5.1 PCM track and process in a 7.1 track?

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by Brian@BBY

i'm not convinced, i know on paper it's suppossed to be transparent...but for some reason the implimentation seems better on LPCM.

Trust me, it's probably in your imagination. When you look at the raw data, it is bit for bit identical upon decoding, so there is no reason TrueHD or DTS-HD MA should sound any different than LPCM. I've done my own testing on this with MLP and been present for DBTs with MLP and FLAC and there is no difference between lossless and PCM.

Of course, they could be mastered differently which could account for any differences one might be hearing. I have to admit that, as it stands right now, I have no way of comparing TrueHD and DTS-HD MA to LPCM because I have no means of decoding them until my Panasonic receives its firmware update.

All I can tell you is that, I work with various resolutions of LPCM all the way up to 192/24 practically on a daily basis in my own home studio and I author DVD-As using either LPCM or MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing), or a combination of the two and there is no difference in sound quality between the two that I have ever detected. Take from that whatever you will.