Let's talk about audio?
 

So do you need really high end audio equimpment to hear the difference between the different audio streams?
I am torn between buying the sony S350 or the Sony S550. The major difference being the sound decoding on the 550. Is it worth the extra $100.00 to be able to pass the high def sound to my receiver?
I do not have HDMI on my received but I do have analog in.
THanks for your posts.

What receiver do you have?

The 550 has analog outs, the 350 does not. If you are buying a stand-alone player, get the 550 so you can use the analog outs and get the HD-Audio.

HD is not just video.

Do yourself a favor: spring for an HDMI receiver. The effect of lossless is amazing, and it will put a smile on your face.

Some receivers can accept a bitstream signal and decode the advanced codecs internally, while others cannot, in which case the decoding must be done in the player.

I don't have the money to buy a new receiver now but my receiver does accept analog inputs from the 550. I figured this would be a good way to get high def sound without having to drop more on another receiver. The 550 should decode all the different audio and it should be output to my receiver.

you are correct. for anyone buying a stand-alone player and had analog inputs/output, there is no need for an HDMI receiver (besides wire management).

what receiver do you have though?

Yamaha HTR-5760

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-HTR-576.../dp/B0001Q2592

My HDMI Onyko was pretty cheap and doesn't decode any of the new formats, but the PS3 handles that and sends it as PCM to the receiver. Definitely worth the minor investment. HD audio is just as much of an upgrade as the video.

He WILL get HD Audio. You dont NEED HDMI for HD audio.

The Sony Blu-ray player decodes the HD audio and has 7 analog outs. Each channel is sent via analog to his Yamaha receiver which has 7 analog INs. The receiver than takes the already decoded HD audio and passes each channel directly to each of his speakers.

I don't know why so many people think you need HDMI for HD Audio.

Wow no kidding. I'll have to reread my post where I said otherwise.
I was just mentioning that getting HD audio is worth the expense. Whether he goes with a more expensive player with analog out or a new receiver. The 550 does all the decoding like the PS3 so that would be the way to go.

I'm a little confused. Regardless of an analog setup or a digitial (HDMI) setup, wouldn't speakers play a larger role in being able to "hear" the difference?

They are important, but I would assume someone that already has a 5.1 or 7.1 setup would have decent enough speakers to hear the difference. My setup is rather low end with Infinity Speakers and I can definitely hear the difference. The better your speakers the better it will sound, but the difference between lossless and lossy does stand out even on lower end speakers.

Is anyone thinking about this when reading the thread title?

http://images.eonline.com/eol_images...man.052308.jpg

Sorry if it sounded like I jumped at you but I think if you reread your post in context it sounded like you were saying you needed an HDMI receiver to get HD audio. I misunderstood. Especially after Bucknahed2k's post.

Well I went with the 550.
As much as I considered the Amazon Samsung/Matrix deal I just could not give up the lossless sound. So I now anxiously await the arrival of my player so I can get it hooked and playing some movies. I figured I am not going to replace my receiver for awhile so would rather spring for the hi-def audio now so I needed the analog out. I read this will pass DTS-HDMA through the components so that should be sweet.
I will let you know how it is when I get it.
Thanks for all of the information.

No problem. I should have worded it better.

To the OP. You made a great choice in the 550. I'm just glad the standalones are now decoding DTS MA and supporting BD Live. You will enjoy the lossless audio just as much as the 1080p video.

Because you do need it only if you use a PS3 like darkside and myself do.

Yeah, a couple of years ago there weren't a lot of great BD choices out there. Upgrading my receiver and getting a PS3 was the best option. Now though we are seeing more and more players that can decode all the codecs and that include 5.1 or 7.1 analog out. Great for people that want to get into BD without replacing a perfectly good receiver.

In my case, I had to replace my receiver and get a cheap Sony HDMI. It doesn't have analog inputs, but neither did my old receiver.

I know. I have a PS3 myself. I was addressing the OPs question/need with my post. It sounded like people were informing him that he needed an HDMI receiver even if he had analog outs.

If this thread was titled How can I make sure I get HD-Audio when buying a Blu-ray Player? or What do I need to get HD-Audio with a PS3?, I would have answered it differently.

I was addressing the question in relation to the context of the post.

I am confusing myself now.

Okay. Reading the thread, it seemed as though it was a general blanket statement concerning HD audio and how to take advantage of it.

Get the 550. I have a Panasonic 10AK Blu-ray player with analogs out that decodes DD and handles LPCM to the analogs. I can switch between TrueHD (over analogs) and DD over optical, and it's a nice bump, richer and more expansive and the surrounds in particular fool me more. I do not have an expensive set-up at all. I have a $150 Yamaha HTR-5940 and $500 set of ebay purchased Boston Acoustic in-ceiling DSi series speakers and a Philips computer speaker sub (this is going to be replaced shortly).

You'll spend more than $100 on a new receiver, easily. Just wait it out, HDMI receivers are adding features left and right and dropping in price. Every year you can delay, you'll pay less and get more. 3 months ago you'd be looking at a Onkyo 605, now the Onkyo 606 is out. It's almost as bad as Blu-ray players. :)

-beebs

Okay so the 550 showed up today. I got it hooked up and tried to get the sub to respond through the analog out. THe only way I could get great sound from the sub was to hook up directly to the analog out on the player. Anyone have any suggestions how to get better sound from the sub without hooking directly into the analogs on the blu ray player. I could leave it like this but then I have no bass through the optical inputs for my xbox and hd dvd player.
The only other thing I can think of doing is running two sub cables. One into the blu ray player and one into the receiver for optical audio. Would that work? I have both a left and right input in back of my sub and currently only have the cable connected into right.

I have the PS3 and Onkyo 605 (using HDMI) and I can't tell if I'm hearing HD audio or not. Is there a way to tell?