Just curious about PCM

[Bluubyu]

I have a Philips BDP-7200 player and I also just purchased a Pioneer Elite receiver. Should I set my audio out from the player at PCM or leave it at HDMI normal primary audio or HDMI mixed audio output? I just set it at PCM and noticed the receiver now is detecting PCM Direct. Thanks for any info.

[cembros]

Originally Posted by Bluubyu

I have a Philips BDP-7200 player and I also just purchased a Pioneer Elite receiver. Should I set my audio out from the player at PCM or leave it at HDMI normal primary audio or HDMI mixed audio output? I just set it at PCM and noticed the receiver now is detecting PCM Direct. Thanks for any info.

im not sure how the setting work on ur player but it will only send the high def audio codecs by bitstream so having it transmit through pcm will only give you the lossy codecs.

[got rice]

Originally Posted by Bluubyu

I have a Philips BDP-7200 player and I also just purchased a Pioneer Elite receiver. Should I set my audio out from the player at PCM or leave it at HDMI normal primary audio or HDMI mixed audio output? I just set it at PCM and noticed the receiver now is detecting PCM Direct. Thanks for any info.

If your BDP bitsreams, then let the Elite do the processing. It has better DAC's and will offer a better sound than the Phillips.

[cembros]

Originally Posted by got rice

If your BDP bitsreams, then let the Elite do the processing. It has better DAC's and will offer a better sound than the Phillips.

well even if you send it over pcm the elite's dsc's will be used unless you have it connected via analoge outs. DAC precessing and codec processing are totally seperate, took me a long time to figure that out.

[got rice]

Originally Posted by cembros

well even if you send it over pcm the elite's dsc's will be used unless you have it connected via analoge outs. DAC precessing and codec processing are totally seperate, took me a long time to figure that out.

right on... I'm a little slow tonight. Nice catch

[Bluubyu]

I'll have to check to see if it bitstreams, I have it hooked via HDMI to the receiver. So maybe I should put it back to hdmi primary audio out and let the receiver decode it?

[cembros]

Originally Posted by Bluubyu

I'll have to check to see if it bitstreams, I have it hooked via HDMI to the receiver. So maybe I should put it back to hdmi primary audio out and let the receiver decode it?

i looked it up, it does bitstream the highdef codecs but it does internally decode them.

[Semp1]

All PCM means is post code modulation which means it takes analog sinals and converts them to digital it is not down grading the sound from lossless to lossy that's totally false. Keep the receiver on PCM and let your player do the decoding there is no difference heard if you let the receiver do the decoding try it yourself and see. What you will get is no special feature sounds just primary audio with bitstream so if you wanna hear commentary you'll have to switch it back...alot of people like to feel they are getting their moneys worth with the receiver so they let the receiver decode there is no reason for this at all if your player decodes the audio. There are many articles you can find online about this topic...

[odin24]

Originally Posted by cembros

i looked it up, it does bitstream the highdef codecs but it does internally decode them.

Semp1 almost has it correct.

-It's Pulse (not post) Code Modulation.
-PCM (or LPCM) is a digitally encoded form of the raw analog data, with constant parameters assigned to it... i.e. 24bit, 48000hz. With this codec the data rate (or bitrate) will always be the same.
-There will be a difference in higher end audio receivers, compared to "bargain" receivers, compared to players decoding... not all components and DACs are equal, thus some players/receivers will process info better than others. Whether you personally can notice the difference is another topic.
-Setting your BD player to bitstream you will not need to toggle back and for to PCM, your receiver will decode all audio streams down to 2ch commentary tracks.
-People feel they get their monies worth for a reason, because they are. They purchase high quality products that basically perform better than others, or low end products.

And most importantly

Semp1 suggested to keep your player decoding, as opposed to your receiver. Do not do this, your player cannot decode DTSHD-MA and TrueHD, it does however handle LPCM fine though. Set your BD player to bitstream the HD audio and let your audio receiver do the decoding.

[Semp1]

Sorry about the typo and I agree if your player cannot decode formats of course the receiver should although when you bitstream you can not watch the movie with pip commentary.

[cembros]

Originally Posted by odin24

Semp1 almost has it correct.

-It's Pulse (not post) Code Modulation.
-PCM (or LPCM) is a digitally encoded form of the raw analog data, with constant parameters assigned to it... i.e. 24bit, 48000hz. With this codec the data rate (or bitrate) will always be the same.
-There will be a difference in higher end audio receivers, compared to "bargain" receivers, compared to players decoding... not all components and DACs are equal, thus some players/receivers will process info better than others. Whether you personally can notice the difference is another topic.
-Setting your BD player to bitstream you will not need to toggle back and for to PCM, your receiver will decode all audio streams down to 2ch commentary tracks.
-People feel they get their monies worth for a reason, because they are. They purchase high quality products that basically perform better than others, or low end products.

And most importantly

Semp1 suggested to keep your player decoding, as opposed to your receiver. Do not do this, your player cannot decode DTSHD-MA and TrueHD, it does however handle LPCM fine though. Set your BD player to bitstream the HD audio and let your audio receiver do the decoding.

some good points but your still confusing the players and receiver processing a codec with the receiver and player dac process. If the player decodes the the audio codecs and sends them to the receiver via pcm over anything but analoge outs the players dac's will not be used. For that reason decoding the audio in the player and sending it out via pcm or bitstreaming it to the receiver and having the receiver decode the audio codecs will make no difference at all. A player will only use its internal dac's when the audio is sent to the receiver via analoge outs. When this is done the player will also decode the audio codecs and the signal will be sent via pcm.

[cembros]

oh and back to the original poster, set your player to bitstream and connect it to your receiver via hdmi. This will provide you with the best possible sound

[odin24]

Originally Posted by cembros

some good points but your still confusing the players and receiver processing a codec with the receiver and player dac process. If the player decodes the the audio codecs and sends them to the receiver via pcm over anything but analoge outs the players dac's will not be used. For that reason decoding the audio in the player and sending it out via pcm or bitstreaming it to the receiver and having the receiver decode the audio codecs will make no difference at all. A player will only use its internal dac's when the audio is sent to the receiver via analoge outs. When this is done the player will also decode the audio codecs and the signal will be sent via pcm.

Gotcha, thanks.

[Bluubyu]

Originally Posted by cembros

oh and back to the original poster, set your player to bitstream and connect it to your receiver via hdmi. This will provide you with the best possible sound

I tried that and got no sound, so I set it to HDMI primary audio out that decodes all the codecs and let the receiver do the work. It sounds like according to the manual I would have to output it optically in order to get sound via Bitstream, so I figured the hell with it just do HDMI.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by Bluubyu

I tried that and got no sound, so I set it to HDMI primary audio out that decodes all the codecs and let the receiver do the work. It sounds like according to the manual I would have to output it optically in order to get sound via Bitstream, so I figured the hell with it just do HDMI.

If you set HDMI Audio to HDMI Normal (Primary Audio Only), the player will bitstream whatever codec you play on the disc. (The Mix Audio Output setting will give you secondary audio, but using the lossy track instead of the lossless one.)

If you don't get sound, then check the input setup on your AVR. It needs to be set to process whatever format is received (Dolby, DTS, and PCM types). It's usually called something like Auto.

And, check the display on the front of your AVR to see what format it reports receiving.

EDIT: After rereading your post (the bolded part), I think you have it right already. You are just confused about the terms. The HDMI Normal setting produces a bitstream output over HDMI. Bitstream means the encoded track is sent to a processor for decoding. You can also bitstream over optical. But, optical only supports the legacy codecs, not the HD ones. That's why you need to use HDMI.

[Bluubyu]

Originally Posted by BIslander

If you set HDMI Audio to HDMI Normal (Primary Audio Only), the player will bitstream whatever codec you play on the disc. (The Mix Audio Output setting will give you secondary audio, but using the lossy track instead of the lossless one.)

If you don't get sound, then check the input setup on your AVR. It needs to be set to process whatever format is received (Dolby, DTS, and PCM types). It's usually called something like Auto.

And, check the display on the front of your AVR to see what format it reports receiving.

EDIT: After rereading your post (the bolded part), I think you have it right already. You are just confused about the terms. The HDMI Normal setting produces a bitstream output over HDMI. Bitstream means the encoded track is sent to a processor for decoding. You can also bitstream over optical. But, optical only supports the legacy codecs, not the HD ones. That's why you need to use HDMI.

Thanks for the input, i have set HDMI normal like you said and I do get sound so I'll just leave it there.

[cembros]

Originally Posted by Bluubyu

Thanks for the input, i have set HDMI normal like you said and I do get sound so I'll just leave it there.

so test it out, put in a blu ray with either a true hd or dtshdma track and see if the receiver displays those codecs

[Bluubyu]

whohoo got dts-hd master to work, just had the wrong surround option on.

[DjNoSleep]

my reciever displays PCM 48kz for most blu rays, but i never see the DTS symbol light up on my reciever when it should be. i played pulp fiction on dvd in my Blu ray player and the DTS lit up on the reciever....can anyone explain to me why this is?? i see this everywhere on the forum, the PCM vs TRUE HD thing, and not to sound retarded but i just do not understand whats goin on here!! Is PCM another audio format totally different from the Dolby and DTS family? you fella's seem to comprehend this so please help me out, thanks

[cembros]

what receiver/blu ray player are you using