dts HD Master decoder installed with Firmware?

[outofline]

Could dts HD Master decoder be installed with an Firmware upgrade with a player that has Tru HD and 5.1 analog out but did not have dts HD Master it to begin with? It did have dts HD decoder. The player is the Olevia 110 but now has the Memorex Firmware. Reason for asking is that I have compared different dts HD Master discs with Tru HD and also jumping between my receivers digital coax input against the 5.1 analog and in all cases I find the analog 5.1 to sound much cleaner and over all better just as a Tru HD movie!
Just wondering if I may now have dts Master! Any other way to test if I'm just hearing the Core or Master?

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by outofline

Could dts HD Master decoder be installed with an Firmware upgrade with a player that has Tru HD and 5.1 analog out but did not have dts HD Master it to begin with? It did have dts HD decoder. The player is the Olevia 110 but now has the Memorex Firmware. Reason for asking is that I have compared different dts HD Master discs with Tru HD and also jumping between my receivers digital coax input against the 5.1 analog and in all cases I find the analog 5.1 to sound much cleaner and over all better just as a Tru HD movie!
Just wondering if I may now have dts Master! Any other way to test if I'm just hearing the Core or Master?

with any player you should be able to display the audio and video stats. it its dts ma it will display dts ma. if not, it wont. some players did add the ability of decoding via firmware, ps3 was one and an older sony player did as well. it depends on support of the manufacture of the player.

[Sammy]

My Samsung did that about a year ago but I usually decode in my Denon.

[RBBrittain]

Some players (especially the PS3) have been known to add decoders via firmware upgrades, but it's more the exception than the rule. However, if your player already had decoders for TrueHD & DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, there's a good chance that a firmware upgrade could add DTS-HD MA to your unit. I'd check the stats on a DTS-HD MA disc if I were you.

Since I have a Sherwood BDP-5004 (Momitsu clone) on the way, I did some research and found many older Momitsu clones (Curtis, Curtis Mathes, Sherwood, etc.) that had TrueHD decoders but not DTS-HD MA picked up the latter with the latest Momitsu BDP-899 firmware, thus giving them full decoding capability as well as the Momitsu region-code hack (although it required a universal remote with Momitsu codes). I shouldn't need it as I understand the BDP-5004 has both decoders (and most importantly for me, the region-code hack) in its stock firmware; but I'll see when I get it.

Actually, even if you don't get DTS-HD MA, "core" DTS isn't all that bad; it has a higher bitrate than DD, and the "core + extension" model means you're getting the same audio signal--just lossy compression instead of lossless. Though I'd prefer to have both decoders, a player without a DTS-HD MA decoder isn't as bad off as one without a TrueHD decoder; you have to rely on the studio's word that the DD mix is the same as TrueHD, but you don't with a DTS-HD MA mix.

[BIslander]

My goodness. Is that a bias showing.

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

Actually, even if you don't get DTS-HD MA, "core" DTS isn't all that bad; it has a higher bitrate than DD,

Yes. But, bitrate alone isn't a valid measurement here. Dolby uses variable channels rates, for example, while DTS uses fixed channel rates. With DTS, a silent channel is allocated the same bits as a loud one. Dolby allocates bits where they are needed. That's just one example of the differences in how the two companies do lossy compression.

You're right about the quality of the DTS core at 1509kbps. In fact, it's better than "not bad". But, Dolby Digital 5.1 at 640kbps also sounds great.

and the "core + extension" model means you're getting the same audio signal--just lossy compression instead of lossless.

What does that mean? "Same audio signal" with DTS but not with Dolby?

you have to rely on the studio's word that the DD mix is the same as TrueHD, but you don't with a DTS-HD MA mix.

Is that what you meant in the previous comment about audio signals - that the DD 5.1 track embedded with the TrueHD track may not be from the same source soundtrack? I suppose that's possible, although it seems rather unlikely. Why and how would that happen? Do you have any evidence to suggest that this actually happens? Any examples?

[MikeZ.]

This thread's title grabbed me ! Been in love with DTS since Spring 2009. After hooking up my home theater system, MY EARS told me I preferred DTS to Dolby. I didn't know all the technical specs or jargon, just knew I found it cleaner and clearer. Then the other day, a guy posted on here that anyone that could tell the diff. between Dolby True HD & DTS HD Master should have their ears bronzed, because they're both lossless, and " impossible to tell apart " ??? Hmmm...