Hdmi Sound Vs. Digital Optical....help! - Blu-ray Forum

kong73 · 02-09-2009, 01:13 PM

i use to have my onkyo tx-sr805 connected via D.O. to my pioneer bdp-51 and the sound was great. usually 60 was the max volume. Now that it's connected via HDMI i have to turn it up pass 60...is that normal with HDMI? i checked all my connections and everything seems ok....should i just go back to my old digital optical?

keim Kong

aramis109 · 02-09-2009, 01:57 PM

Why would you want to do that?!

Optical cannot give greater than 2.0 lossless audio. HDMI provides the full lossless experience. The soundtracks ARE more dynamic, so yes you may have to turn it up further to hear dialog. This isn't a bad thing.

tlmaclennan · 02-09-2009, 03:49 PM

If the player decodes the audio, can't the audio be transfered to the receiver with a digital optical cable and still produce the same sound as a setup with an HDMI cable?

kong73 · 02-09-2009, 04:47 PM

that's what i wanna know! or is it normal that when you switch you have to go higher in volume. i just wanna make sure i've set up everything right.

kong73 · 02-09-2009, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlmaclennan

If the player decodes the audio, can't the audio be transfered to the receiver with a digital optical cable and still produce the same sound as a setup with an HDMI cable?

thats what i wanna know! is it normal that you have to go higher in volume when switching to HDMI. just wanna make sure i didn't set anything up wrong?

bda4life · 02-09-2009, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlmaclennan

If the player decodes the audio, can't the audio be transfered to the receiver with a digital optical cable and still produce the same sound as a setup with an HDMI cable?

The short answer is "no". An optical cable cannot carry the amount of bandwidth that an HDMI cable can, thus the new audio codecs cannot be transmitted over an optical cable.

I would suggest that you search this site for some answers about HDMI versus optical cables. I know that Crakinhedz had a great thread that went into great detail.

By the way, there is no comparison between TrueHD or DTS HDMA and DD or DTS 5.1.

phantompwr · 02-09-2009, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlmaclennan

If the player decodes the audio, can't the audio be transfered to the receiver with a digital optical cable and still produce the same sound as a setup with an HDMI cable?

no, even when the player "decodes" the lossless audio, it is just changing it to LPCM that is still uncompressed, and can't be sent over an optical cable, or it is converting it to a compressed form that can be sent over optical, which is about the same as dolby digital which is lossy.

rogman · 02-09-2009, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kong73

i use to have my onkyo tx-sr805 connected via D.O. to my pioneer bdp-51 and the sound was great. usually 60 was the max volume. Now that it's connected via HDMI i have to turn it up pass 60...is that normal with HDMI? i checked all my connections and everything seems ok....should i just go back to my old digital optical?

keim Kong

I concur w/previous post about optical not carrying lossless audio. You do NOT want to go back!

The simplest solution is to turn it up. Why do you care what the number on the receiver says? If you have an SPL meter compare the sound between HDMI/Digital Optical at the same decibel level. If you don't have a meter, do your best comparison to get the levels the same- without looking at the number on the receiver. Close your eyes so you're not swayed by the number on the receiver. After all you hear with your ears, not your eyes right?

I'm sure you'll realize it sounds much, much better thru HDMI...

tlmaclennan · 02-09-2009, 05:04 PM

Ok, that makes sense. Now that I think about it I researched what cables could be used with the new audio formats and I knew you could only use HDMI or multichannel analog.

I'm going with analog for my HTPC and eventually HDMI with a PS3. If I'm going to play Blu-rays I want to take full advantage of the video and audio quality...I don't understand why anyone wouldn't.

rogman · 02-09-2009, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlmaclennan

Ok, that makes sense. Now that I think about it I researched what cables could be used with the new audio formats and I knew you could only use HDMI or multichannel analog.

I'm going with analog for my HTPC and eventually HDMI with a PS3. If I'm going to play Blu-rays I want to take full advantage of the video and audio quality...I don't understand why anyone wouldn't.

That's where Sony forced a lot of people to upgrade to an HDMI receiver. Since the PS3 will ONLY output lossless hi-res PCM audio thru HDMI, if you didn't have an HDMI receiver, you were stuck. 5.1 analog outs on the PS3 would have solved that problem, but they weren't included. I'm sure there are many people who bought a PS3 for (at least in part) the Blu-ray playback without realizing the HDMI issue.

Big Daddy · 02-09-2009, 11:57 PM

It will be helpful to read A Guide to Home Theater Audio Codecs.

02-09-2009, 01:13 PM	#1
kong73 Power Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:New York City Home Theater Gallery:318 4K collection:15 Blu-ray collection:600 DVD collection:76	Hdmi Sound Vs. Digital Optical....help! i use to have my onkyo tx-sr805 connected via D.O. to my pioneer bdp-51 and the sound was great. usually 60 was the max volume. Now that it's connected via HDMI i have to turn it up pass 60...is that normal with HDMI? i checked all my connections and everything seems ok....should i just go back to my old digital optical? keim Kong

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02-09-2009, 01:57 PM	#2
aramis109 Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Mar 2008 Location:Milwaukee, WI Home Theater Gallery:10 4K collection:4 Blu-ray collection:360 Trading Score:18	Why would you want to do that?! Optical cannot give greater than 2.0 lossless audio. HDMI provides the full lossless experience. The soundtracks ARE more dynamic, so yes you may have to turn it up further to hear dialog. This isn't a bad thing.

02-09-2009, 03:49 PM	#3
tlmaclennan Senior Member Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Garden Grove, CA Home Theater Gallery:21 Blu-ray collection:121 Trading Score:1	If the player decodes the audio, can't the audio be transfered to the receiver with a digital optical cable and still produce the same sound as a setup with an HDMI cable?

02-09-2009, 04:47 PM	#4
kong73 Power Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:New York City Home Theater Gallery:318 4K collection:15 Blu-ray collection:600 DVD collection:76	that's what i wanna know! or is it normal that when you switch you have to go higher in volume. i just wanna make sure i've set up everything right.

02-09-2009, 05:04 PM	#9
tlmaclennan Senior Member Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Garden Grove, CA Home Theater Gallery:21 Blu-ray collection:121 Trading Score:1	Ok, that makes sense. Now that I think about it I researched what cables could be used with the new audio formats and I knew you could only use HDMI or multichannel analog. I'm going with analog for my HTPC and eventually HDMI with a PS3. If I'm going to play Blu-rays I want to take full advantage of the video and audio quality...I don't understand why anyone wouldn't.

02-09-2009, 11:57 PM	#11
Big Daddy Blu-ray Champion Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Southern California Home Theater Gallery:79 Blu-ray collection:122 Trading Score:1	It will be helpful to read A Guide to Home Theater Audio Codecs.

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