[bobgpsr]

Uncompressed PCM audio takes up an unnecessary HUGE amount of space on the disc. Does not make sense when already constrained by 25 GB and the use of old MPEG2 video codec. The result is that the video quality suffers.

The DTS re-encode by the player is just to enable users to use legacy S/PDIF (coax or toslink) connection which cannot carry DD+ or the other new lossless codecs. Users who use PCM over HDMI or the analog outputs get the full benefit of DD+ or the current 2 channel limited (current player firmware) Dolby TrueHD.

Stacey Spears of Microsoft has done careful testing (with appropriate equipment) of the Samsung 1080p HDMI output. He says it does not "bob" and he will be doing tests of the component output today to be posted tomorrow.

The $1500 Pioneer avail in the Fall does appear to be shaping up to be a pretty good Blu-ray player.

Bob