Will I need a new receiver?
 

I might be going HD later this year and also planning on getting an HD-DVD player, but I have an older HT system (that still works fantastic). Reading some reviews and topics on Amazon on the Toshiba A2, some have had audio issues with their receiver. When playing SD titles, it would work by HD DVDs the sound would only come through the TV. One person suggested using an Optical Audio cable for this person, that still didn't work and he eventually bought a new receiver and now it works.

This worries me because adding another $300-400 isn't part of my budget after getting an HDTV ($800-1200) and HD-DVD player ($250-300), if I have to get a new receiver, I'll just wait on getting a new TV for a while longer as I don't want to lay down that kind of money and find out my receiver doesn't work with HD-DVD.

Are these issues still prevelent in A3 models?

If your current receiver has the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs, and the HD player you get, has the 5.1/7.1 analog outputs, it shouldn't be a problem. If the new player only outputs the HD audio, through HDMI (such as the ps3 Blu ray), you'll need a new receiver, to hear the HD audio tracks.

An optical cable or digital coax cable cannot pass the HD audio soundtracks. With those, you'll hear the DD or DTS soundtracks.

I don't mind not hearing the HD audio tracks (at some point later, I will upgrade my receiver), just so long as I'll hear the DD/DTS sounds of an HD-DVD. I just didn't want to get a new HDTV and HD-DVD Player only to find I'll have to listen to those HD-DVDs through my TV speakers.

I think the original problem was a low-end receiver that could not handle DTS 1.5Mbps. If your receiver can handle this, you should be fine.

Great, thanks. :)

Is this the case? I understand you need HDMI to pass the lossless codecs to the receiver, but it was my understanding that all the players could convert them to Linear PCM and pass them through a standard TosLink. Is that wrong? Did I miss another assholish move by the MPAA?

I don't think Toslink can handle 5.1 LPCM at this level (24/96, I'm guessing). It was made for a lower level (16/44) stereo PCM signal. All the people talking about LPCM are using HDMI for this. Straight bandwidth issue, not MPAA.

Note that PCM requires more bandwidth than the lossless codecs since it is uncompressed.

Ah, I hadn't thought about the bandwidth issue at all.
Thanks for the info.

Rather than starting a new thread, I'd ask this here.

I bought both a Toshiba A2 and A3 and was wondering if using my older Kenwood receiver (which decodes DTS) which player would be best. The other will just be used for my bedroom. Is the difference in sound that big or won't I notice?

I don't think they actually changed much on audio. Probably exactly the same.

I'm in the same predicament, Ive only had my receiver 2yrs (onkyo 530) and am not wanting to upgrade. HD audio isn't a concern for me as of now, but I would really like to minimize the cables to the tv since I plan to mount it.

Question on the digital coax cable - I've got one, will that essentially work like an hdmi (minus the quality), in that I can run my game systems, etc to my receiver and just use the coax to the tv?

No. Generally, "digital coax" refers to audio. So that doesn't need to be run to the TV at all. Maybe you mean running that to the receiver for audio and running the HDMI to the TV? That would likely be your best setup for now with an HD disc player.

While this won't give you the full HD audio, it is (at worst) as good as DVD has offered. So not a downgrade from what you currently have.

The A2 and A3 are almost identical machines, aside from the A3 being cheaper to produce and being a tad smaller. However, there is a difference in audio decoding. The A2 will take the DD+ or TrueHD audio and output it as DTS at 1.5 mbps to the receiver. The only other HD DVD players that do this are the A1 and XA1. Every other player will take the lossless audio and output it as Dolby Digital at 640 kbps. Some claim they notice a difference. I've used the A1 and A3, and I really can't tell the difference between two, although double the bitrate should give you better results.

This is dependent though on if your receiver can handle the DTS signal at that bitrate. I had an older JVC that couldn't, and the output was some harsh audio.

I have an older receiver (now at least 7 years old) so I'll just use the A3 and try that out. I can always switch and test things out.

So what does your receiver need to pass a DD 5.1+ track? I have a pretty high end H/K unit but it's gettting it's HD sound from an optical cable hooked to my XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive.

HDMI. And the ability to deal with that new codec, which should be stated right in the marketing specs.