I recently purchased a Sony 560 DVD with onboard DTS which has 5.1 and optical hookups. Which hookup will give the best performance or do i hook them all up?

Thanks

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by krofchik:
I recently purchased a Sony 560 DVD with onboard DTS which has 5.1 and optical hookups. Which hookup will give the best performance or do i hook them all up?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If your receiver has a DD and DTS decoder, it will probably perform better than the onboard decoder in your dvd player. In this case, you only need to use the optical connection. This will also be a more flexible solution, allowing you to use your receiver for more than one 5.1 source.

If your receiver doesn't have a built-in decoder, but has 5.1 inputs, use those.

-S

But if the Sony 560, which has the DTS/DD decoder built in, is connected to a Sony STRDE345 which only has 5.1 inputs but not an optical/coaxial input, is the sound being sent still digital?

If you use the 5.1 analog outputs from your dvd player to your receiver, the signal being transmitted is analog.

Now I'm really confused. What's the point of having a DVD player that can decode the DTS/DD signal only to send it out to 6 discrete analog signals? Look at this description at circuitcity.com of the Sony STRDE345:Does that mean that receiver is incapable of producing digital sound from the DVD player, and making the on-board DTS/DD decoder of the DVD player useless as well? :confused: My co-worker is asking me for advice on setting up a home theater and needs my help. I don't want to give him wrong information.

Mario

Let me clear this up!!!
First off the 560 does NOT have a DTS decoder built in. This new feature is only available on the 570 model.
Second, The only people that need the DVD player with a decoder are the people that bought recievers that are Dolby digital ready. These recievers were sold about 3-4 years ago. Now daysjust about all reciever have the decoder built in. So I ask why did you buy a DVD player with a decoder built in if you can hook up the DVD player to the reciever via a Optical or coaxial cable???
I would return this player and go buy a SONY 360 which is selling for about $200 at Best Buy.

By the way the best way to hook up this player is through the optical connection.... THIS IS THE only way you will get DTS sound(assuming your reciever has a DTS logo on it. (This means you will not be using the on board decoder!!) If it doesn't and you were looking to get DTS with the onboard decoder you need to buy a 570D and use the discreet 6 RCA wire hook up to get DTS sound(Therefore you will be using the onboard decoder.)


[Edited by ANDREMIKE on 02-12-01 at 09:54 AM]

You're right, It doesn't have a DTS decoder, just DD decoder. But there are still issues:

I mentioned in my previous post that it's my co-worker that's asking for advice. I have a Sony 360 with Sony STRDE445 and Polk RM6600s, so I'm set.

My co-worker has an older receiver without digital a decoder, only Dolby-Prologic. Nor does it obviously have a digital coax/opt input. I suggested he needed to get a DVD player with the built-in decoder. So he got the 560, which DOES have the decoder. The player has 5.1 discrete RCA out. But his receiver only has 5.1 PRE-OUT, which means he needs to get a powered amplifier.

So he's looking into getting a new receiver, and since he doesn't need the decoder in the receiver, it looks like the receiver of choice would be the STR-DE345. But if that doesn't have digital input either, I ask again, what's the point of having 5.1 channel input on that specific reciever if it signal isn't digital?

The STR-DE345 is a dolby digital READY reciever.... I wouldn't waste my money on this typ of reciever...(Or are you saying this is what he has????) Get one that least has the decoder built in and the DTS logo on it... If he insists on buying this one he should buy the 570D DVD player because it has the DTS decoder. The sound quality will be the same whether you use the DVD decoder or not.(At least about the same!!) 5.1 or optical will sound like the same thing.

If I did not answer your question can you please clarify it...

Remember, the sound coming out of your speakers isn't digital either. So at some point, the digital signal is decoded and converted to analog. This can occur in the receiver or in the DVD player. All things being equal, whether this occurs in one or in the other is not important. However, as a rule of thumb, a decoder in a DVD player will not be as good as a decoder in a receiver. Therefore, given a choice, it would be wise to use the optical output rather than the 6-channel output. But both connections will give you 6 channels of discreet sound -- they're exactly the same in that sense.

The system you are suggesting will provide the exact same results as a DVD player/DD receiver combination. Also remember that other sources can have digital soundtracks, like DirecTV and HDTV broadcasts, CDs, laserdiscs, etc. Therefore, it might be wise to buy a DD/DTS receiver, since the system you are suggesting will only provide DD DVD and nothing else.

I think you have answered the question. If you're saying that the 5.1 channel RCA cable input is equivalent in osund to the optical input then he can go with the STR-DE345. But I'm still going to recommend he buy the Sony STR-DE445 because it has digital inputs, in case he gets a satellite or something.

Thanks,
Mario

Thats the best reason sat or digital cable.....

What's the price diff between the two units? He shouldn't even waste his money on a 345. Hell if he wants I will sell him my Yamaha Dolby digital ready reciever...

The price difference between the two is $50.

He's going with the 445. We found out through our intranet website that he can get the receiver cheap through their business 2 business partnership. :)