HD 7.1 decoding--WHERE?

[MikeSp]

Even though there are several new receivers on the market that claim to have 7.1 DD True HD and DTS HD Master decoding capabilities (IF I correctly read their specs), I have not seen anything from the specs on Blu-ray or HD-DVD players in which the decoding of future 7.1 HD sound will be done anywhere but inside the players themselves or allowed by external processors.

Can anyone clear this up -- WILL HD 7.1 decoding be allowed outside the high definition DVD players?

Mike

[eugovector]

Yes, makers such as Onkyo have TrueHD decoding in their receiver. However for HD disc formats, you'll want to do the decoding in the player. That way you can get the sound mixing capabilities (button noises, commentary tracks mixed in with main movie soundtrack). Currently, you can't get that when you decode outside the player.

[hddummy]

Many of the newer HD players are capable of sending the raw bitstream to the receiver to decode. Like Marshall said, you will not get added feature sounds. It is up to you to decide what is important to you. The thing is, right now, there are far more players capable of sending bitstream for DDTHD and DTSHDMA than are capable of actually decoding them internally.

[Kal Rubinson]

eugovector wrote:

Yes, makers such as Onkyo have TrueHD decoding in their receiver. However for HD disc formats, you'll want to do the decoding in the player. That way you can get the sound mixing capabilities (button noises, commentary tracks mixed in with main movie soundtrack). Currently, you can't get that when you decode outside the player.

Sure, if one cares about such extraneous matters. ;-)

Kal

[Sonnie]

Seriously... commentary and button noises are considered features?

I suppose there may be some who would like those, but is there anything else?

[eugovector]

Now I'm not one to watch them myself, but I think commentaries are a big feature, and one of the details that pushed DVD over VHS years ago. Button noises, eh, it's no biggie, but having an audible confirmation of a menu highlight may be good for those of you advancing in years and declining in eyesight...

[hddummy]

eugovector wrote:

may be good for those of you advancing in years and declining in eyesight...

If that's the case, such an individual might not need blu-ray anyhow.

no offence to those who are visually or audibly challenged

[bobgpsr]

Losing the commentary audio when sending out raw bitstream should not be a big deal since you can disable the raw bitstream output if you want. So you lose lossless (DTS HD MA or DD TrueHD) but you still get good quality 5.1 surround audio decoded along with the commentary audio.

Best of both worlds -- highest possible quality audio (with rarely needed 7.1 audio decode) when that is most important -- good quality audio with the extra commentary audio/button sounds when that is important.

The bother is having to go into the player's setup menu and change things back and forth. This might be good feature to allocate a toggle button on the player's remote control.

Very few titles have had real 7.1 audio tracks yet. Pan's Labyrinth was one.

[soundoff]

Doesn't this comment

Very few titles have had real 7.1 audio tracks yet. Pan's Labyrinth was one

make the entire topic mute ?

To decode in the dvd player or in the processor/receiver I still can't decide ?

[eugovector]

Yes, I think it is a moot point, currently, to worry about where your 7.1 is coming from. however, 5.1 also has to be decoded somewhere. I'd say that those fortunate enough to have a choice, i.e. have a player and AVR which will both do the decoding, shouldn't stay up late pondering this one. The quality of the primary movie soundtrack should sound identical regardless or where it's decoded (barring some technical misstep).