Dazed

Since im about to buy a AV Receiver is there any features that it will need for the upcoming BD / HD DVDs ?

They will still be in DTS and DD correct ? Do all receivers handle uncompressed audio ?


Thanks

joshd2012

According to the Blu-Ray website, so far it supports:

LPCM
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Lossless
DTS digital surround
DTS-HD

Obviously, this isn't final, but should become so during CES.

Spiky

If by uncompressed, you mean analog, some do. I would recommend getting a receiver with a 5.1 or 7.1 analog audio input. This is one input with 6 or 8 RCA connections. Should cover you for many future formats since the player can do the digital-analog conversion and the receiver just act like an amp.

Premise

Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc are establishing audio standards for their respective disc formats. Based on reports elsewhere, there are hints concerning the audio formats we might expect, and there’s good news and a bit of bad news. Both formats have endorsed Dolby Digital Plus, an enhanced extension of the Dolby Digital format. DTS will likely be offered on both formats, and DTS has also created an extension in the form of DTS-HD. Both Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD are lossy, but each should provide improved fidelity and accuracy. But best of all, both Dolby and DTS have devised new lossless digital audio formats that promise to convey every single bit found on the studio masters for greatly improved fidelity: Dolby TrueHD and DTS++.

So the good news is that as high definition DVDs are introduced, fidelity should enjoy a significant leap upward; the sound quality should be noticeably better than the finest DTS or Dolby Digital track you’ve ever heard from DVD. The bad news is that with respect to audio, technological progress is going to force investments in new equipment. Your existing decoders are not programmed to deal with the new processes, and I’d be surprised if any could be updated with new algorithms; I suspect that the processing power required to deal with the new digital audio formats will exceed your processors’ computational abilities. But don’t throw that expensive decoder or receiver out the window just yet; our friends at Dolby and DTS have made their new audio formats backward compatible.

You will be able to feed the digital audio S/PDIF bit stream from the new high definition players into your current decoder or receiver and the fidelity you’ll experience will be no less than you perceive today, possibly better. And if you have a system that supports proper bass management when driven from its analog inputs, the first wave of high definition disc players are expected to have multi-channel analog audio outputs to provide full fidelity audio decoded with the new algorithms.

So unlike the studios’ potential requirement to have early adopters purchase new displays equipped with HDCP-compliant HDMI inputs to view full resolution high definition video, you will not have to rush to purchase a new digital audio decoder. The difference in urgency between preparing for the video and the audio stems from the differences in video and audio improvements found on high definition discs; unlike the dramatic improvement over standard resolution video you’ll see in high definition images, the new “high definition” audio formats’ improvements will be subtler. You’ll eventually want to upgrade your audio path, but Dolby and DTS have been kind to us. Backward compatibility is assured. Now, if only the studios would be as kind with the video.

Spiky

The first Tosh HD-DVD player, shown in another thread today, has 5.1 outputs. And bass management better be handled in the player, it shouldn't be relegated to the receiver doing this on the multichannel analog input. I think they've learned that lesson from the SACD/DVD-A fiasco.

Dazed

Im assuming only the high end systems have analog audio input ? Is this actually listed as analog inputs in the specifications as I cant find it listed in the brands ive looked at already.

Sanitarium

It's usually listed as "multi-channel input". Most home theater receivers made these days have them.

I was going to buy a new receiver this spring but now since I see there's a whole bunch of new formats coming out I'm waiting till the new receivers have built in decoding. Player based decoding sucks IMO.

Dazed

So would it be listed as 5.1/6.1 Channel Discrete Input ?

Heres a link to a pioneer receiver at best buy which I was considering (among many others ).

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...87&catid=20313


Thanks

Spiky

It appears to have a 5.1 input. That BB nomenclature means something else, unfortunately. But it does have it.

Dazed

thanks for everything, I now have to decide between the the Pioneer 1015 or the Yamaha HTR5890S. Decisions Decisons....