DTS HD Formats Question...

[yourgrandma]

So a while back, I was looking at DTS's website and was really impressed with the flexibility apparently afforded by their new sound formats found on BluRay and HD DVD. According the the site, you can configure your setup in a host of manners. There are modes with a normal 6.1 setup plus a ceiling speaker, two ways to do dual fronts (front high and front wide) yadayada.

So the question is whether any of these are supported. Do any receivers actually do the processing for these? If so, how does it handle Dolby material?

Also, DTS states that its first priority with the new formats was reverse compatability with older AVRs. Is this still only through HDMI? I cant get DTS through optical on my PS3.

Heres a link to the site I'm yammering about:
http://www.dtsonline.com/dts-hd/dtsh...-remapping.php

[bobgpsr]

Legacy 5.1 DTS at 1509 kbps can be transported by optical Toslink and most AVR's can decode that ( > 7 year old Sony AVR's are reported to have problems though ).

But nowadays buying a new HDMI 1.3 AVR that can decode the new advanced audio codecs in 7.1 (lossy DTS-HD HR & lossless DTS-HD MA). is the way to go if you can buy a new AVR. Unfortunately the PS3 is reported to not have the right HDMI 1.3 transmitter chip that can bitstream the raw advanced audio codecs out (at least Sony has not offered that capability on the PS3 yet). Other Blu-ray players can do so however.

[yourgrandma]

Wait a sec. Are you saing I won't be able to use the new sound formats at all using my ps3? I guess that would make buying a new receiver a pretty silly waste of money, wouldn't it?

If I can't get lossless and DTS Master, the ps3 is up for sale immediately. That would bring a pretty swift end to the whole "Is the ps3 a good BD plyer?" argument.

Please clarify this for me so I don't set a very expensive lump of plastic on fire.

[yourgrandma]

Okay, so I did a little reading, and from what I can tell, all id be missing is the ability to send the raw signal to the AVR. Therefore the decoding must take place in the PS3. If that's the case, no big deal, as long as it'll decode the good stuff. I found the most confusing chart iv ever seen on this subject and it really makes no sence at all to me. I will keep looking at this issue and hopefully i wont have to settle for decent when a 15 cent chip keeps me from great. I'm not too worried though, just that initial "cant do it" shock that got me sort of wound up. I havent really done the research I normally would have on the audio formats, so like most humans, what I dont understand frightens me, and I react to fear with anger. I'm still working on that whole human problem.
Anyhoo, what about these funky speaker arrangements on the DTS website? How do they get that to mesh with Dolby and THX?

[bobgpsr]

yourgrandma wrote:

Okay, so I did a little reading, and from what I can tell, all id be missing is the ability to send the raw signal to the AVR. Therefore the decoding must take place in the PS3. If that's the case, no big deal, as long as it'll decode the good stuff.

The PS3 does decode lossless Dolby TrueHD now. Whether it will decode the new dts-HD HR or dts-HD MA remains to be seen -- possible in the future maybe if Sony provides such a firmware update. Nothing promised yet.