HDMI Through a Receiver - Picture Quality

[McHugh]

I have a Panasonic BD-30 Blu-ray player & a Sony KDS 60A2020 SXRD 1080P television. My receiver is five years old and does not have HDMI so I have my Blu-ray player connected directly to my television with HDMI and a coxial connection from the Blu-ray to the receiver for sound. I have been looking at a new receiver that has HDMI connections. The ones I have looked at can decode the new sounds such as DTS HD and Dolby True HD and one says something about 1080P upscaling but I assume I don't need this feature as the Blu-ray player outputs in true 1080P.

My question is this. With a new receiver there would be a HDMI pass through from my Blu-ray player to the receiver to my television. Is there a loss of resolution or picture quality in such a pass through? Ideally, I would like to see a Blu-ray player with two HDMI outputs. One would connect directly to the television to carry the video while the other would connect to the receiver for the sound.

[un4gvn94538]

no there shouldnt be any picture loss.
as far as right now, if your receiver has 5.1 analog in you can utilize the 5.1 out on the blu player and enjoy the hd codecs.
upscaling is gerally referring to dvd upscaling.
there really should be no reason for two hdmi outs. if your like me and sometimes want to play something without the surround, then i use the component from my ps3. still get a good hd pic.

[ixlegitballinxl]

no loss in PQ, only minor downside is that if your receiver is off, there is no picture. Only effects me if i want to listen to another source ( mp3, cd) while im playing ps3. hdmi passes audio and video, so you get both..

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

no there shouldnt be any picture loss.
as far as right now, if your receiver has 5.1 analog in you can utilize the 5.1 out on the blu player and enjoy the hd codecs.
upscaling is gerally referring to dvd upscaling.
there really should be no reason for two hdmi outs. if your like me and sometimes want to play something without the surround, then i use the component from my ps3. still get a good hd pic.

Does the PS3 have component and HDMI outputs?

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by schultz

Does the PS3 have component and HDMI outputs?

it has hdmi, but the cable for component is seperate. it jacks just like the oem cable it comes with but much better pq output
hdmi cable is also seperate

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

it has hdmi, but the cable for component is seperate. it jacks just like the oem cable it comes with but much better pq output
hdmi cable is also seperate

I have a AV cable I used for the PS2 that is component on the other end. Can I use that to my TV and HDMI to my receiver at the same time?

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by schultz

I have a AV cable I used for the PS2 that is component on the other end. Can I use that to my TV and HDMI to my receiver at the same time?

i think you can if i remember correctly. to harm in trying. i think theyre the same shape on the connector

[un4gvn94538]

just read a review on amazon that claimed that its the same

[McHugh]

Hi un4gvn94538, I assume when you talk about analog, you are referring to PCM 5.1 which is on a lot of my Blu-ray disks. I have a pretty detailed post in the audio forum about my set up for PCM 5.1 and asking whether I have everything set up properly. That is because so far I don't really hear any improvement when comparing PCM 5.1 to say Dolby Digital 5.1 and the best sound from the Bly-ray disks I own is on Kingdom of Heaven which has DTS HD 5.1. It is my understanding that my receiver is decoding the "core" of DTS HD 5.1 and not all of it but it still sounds great and a lot better then my standard def version of Kingdom of Heaven. Anyway, if and when you have the time, have a read of my post and let me know what I am doing wrong for PCM 5.1, or maybe its just not that much better then Dolby Digital 5.1. Thanks.

[Ben123]

Originally Posted by McHugh

I have a pretty detailed post in the audio forum about my set up for PCM 5.1 and asking whether I have everything set up properly. That is because so far I don't really hear any improvement when comparing PCM 5.1 to say Dolby Digital 5.1

I hear a huge difference between PCM 5.1 and Dolby Digital, the former being lossless and boast far better dynamic range due to the higher bandwidth the sound is transfered.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by schultz

I have a AV cable I used for the PS2 that is component on the other end. Can I use that to my TV and HDMI to my receiver at the same time?

To output video using component and HDMI using the PS3, no.

To output video using component and audio using HDMI, yes.


fuad

[McHugh]

Hi Ben123, I must not have it set up correctly for PCM 5.1. My receiver does not have HDMI but it does have the 6 analog inputs which I have connected up to my 6 analog outputs on my Panasonic BD-30 Blu-ray player. On the Blu-ray player settings, I have it on Multi-channel and all digital audio output choices such as Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS are set to Bitstream. My PCM down conversion is set to On. When I choose PCM 5.1 as the sound option on the Blu-ray disk, I change my receiver to multi channel in. Should I change my digital audio output to PCM? I thought the digital output only affected my coaxial connection? Or would I have to physically disconnect my coaxial cable for the sound to be output through the 6 analog cables? If yes, then I quess the Blu-ray player is not "smart" enough to send the sound through these cables when PCM 5.1 is chosen. Any advice would be appreciated.

[un4gvn94538]

if your using your analog outs then change it from bitstream. bitstream is used for sending the signal to a receiver for decoding. you need to tell the player to decode by setting to pcm.

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by McHugh

Hi un4gvn94538, I assume when you talk about analog, you are referring to PCM 5.1 which is on a lot of my Blu-ray disks. I have a pretty detailed post in the audio forum about my set up for PCM 5.1 and asking whether I have everything set up properly. That is because so far I don't really hear any improvement when comparing PCM 5.1 to say Dolby Digital 5.1 and the best sound from the Bly-ray disks I own is on Kingdom of Heaven which has DTS HD 5.1. It is my understanding that my receiver is decoding the "core" of DTS HD 5.1 and not all of it but it still sounds great and a lot better then my standard def version of Kingdom of Heaven. Anyway, if and when you have the time, have a read of my post and let me know what I am doing wrong for PCM 5.1, or maybe its just not that much better then Dolby Digital 5.1. Thanks.

ill take a look at the post. its in cracknhedz thread right? i dont have a panny so ill look up the manual. just need to find out what your receiver is and maybe thats in the other thread. ill let you know what i think either here or pm you

[McHugh]

Thanks un4gvn94538. My receiver is a Sony STR-DA1000es and yes it is in the thread started by cracknhedz.

[un4gvn94538]

HA! just sent you a pm

[un4gvn94538]

i hope the info helped.

[un4gvn94538]

second pm sent

[Ben123]

Originally Posted by McHugh

Hi Ben123, I must not have it set up correctly for PCM 5.1. My receiver does not have HDMI but it does have the 6 analog inputs which I have connected up to my 6 analog outputs on my Panasonic BD-30 Blu-ray player. On the Blu-ray player settings, I have it on Multi-channel and all digital audio output choices such as Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS are set to Bitstream. My PCM down conversion is set to On. When I choose PCM 5.1 as the sound option on the Blu-ray disk, I change my receiver to multi channel in. Should I change my digital audio output to PCM? I thought the digital output only affected my coaxial connection? Or would I have to physically disconnect my coaxial cable for the sound to be output through the 6 analog cables? If yes, then I quess the Blu-ray player is not "smart" enough to send the sound through these cables when PCM 5.1 is chosen. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi McHugh, PCM 5.1 Lossless audio is transmitted only via 5.1 analog output or HDMI ( both as linear PCM or as bitstream ). It cannot be transmitted using the traditional digital connections such as optical or coax cable bec of bandwidth limitations. If you have connected your player 5.1 analog output to your receiver's 5.1 analog input, theoretically, you should be able to hear 5.1 lossless audio. Since you say you hear no difference, I am guessing that your player has been set to output the audio thru the coax cable and not the 5.1 analog output. And if you are still hearing sound from multi-channel in, I suspect the player is down-converting the audio or outputing only the normal lossy DD track as PCM.

I do not own the Panasonic BD30 so I am not sure what are the correct settings. BUt I suggest you try this.

1) Disconnect the Coax Cable while leaving the analog 5.1 connections on
2) Check that you have enable the player to output 5.1 analog channel output from the player's manual ( You may need to read the manual )
3) Select the lossless soundtrack from the BD disc setup menu
4) If your player have a "status" or "info" display, this will usually show what's the resolution, audio type and chapter/time of your current playback.

See if it works. Usually, you should immediately notice much clearer speech once lossless audio is activated.

If this still doesn't work, may I suggest you post your question to the BD30 player thread in this forum :
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=23198

or at AVSforum : http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=936144

where other Panasonic BD30 users will be able to advise you better on the correct settings for your player to output lossless audio.

There is also one more but less remote possibility which is that the setup is correct but you still can't hear a difference because your receiver and speakers are not powerful or "good enough" to let you hear significant difference between the lossless and normal DD tracks. This is usually the case if you are using a HTIB kind of setup. In which case, you may need to upgrade your hardware.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!