No 7.1 ??????

[tcarcio]

Hi guy's, Hope you all are well. I have an issue that maybe someone can help me with. I have a Pioneer Elite Vsx- 81txv and I have it hooked up to a samsung Bd player useing Hdmi. The reciever is 1.2a and I believe the cables are 1.2. Now for some reason I cannot get 7.1 to play with a 7.1 disc, it will only play in 5.1. I have checked and rechecked my settings and can't figure it out. I have tried all choices of audio in the bdp-1500,pcm, bitstream(re-encode), bitstream (audiophile) with no change in the result. I called Pioneer and they blame the discs even though I have tried both Bangcock dangerous and Pans Labrinth and they both act the same, no 7.1. Is there something I am overlooking. I tried auto surround, direct, pure direct all with the same result. I am about to scream because this should work, Any idea's????

[tonyvdb]

tcarcio wrote:

I have tried both Bangcock dangerous and Pans Labrinth and they both act the same, no 7.1. Is there something I am overlooking. I tried auto surround, direct, pure direct all with the same result. I am about to scream because this should work, Any idea's????

Are you sure that they have 7.1 audio? I know of only two BluRay DVDs that have 7.1 and those are not them. I know this may sound stupid to say but do you have the rear speakers hooked up and activated in the receiver?

[tcarcio]

tonyvdb wrote:

Are you sure that they have 7.1 audio? I know of only two BluRay DVDs that have 7.1 and those are not them. I know this may sound stupid to say but do you have the rear speakers hooked up and activated in the receiver?

Hi Tony, Yes both discs are listed as 7.1 and you can choose it in the disc menu. My rears are connected so that isn't the problem. It is baffleing me.

[eugovector]

Try a test disc like the THX optimizer (Found on Pirates of the Caribbean and others). Do your rears work with that?

[tonyvdb]

Does HDMI version 1.2 alow for 7.1 audio? Its up to 1.3 now.
I found this statement about the difference "HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new lossless digital audio formats Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™ with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements". 1.2 may not support it at all.

Here is the differences:

HDMI 1.2:

* Adds features and capabilities that increase HDMI's appeal for use in both the CE and PC industries. Specifically, the features and modifications for HDMI 1.2 include: Support for One Bit Audio format, such as SuperAudio CD's DSD (Direct Stream Digital), changes to offer better support for current and future PCs with HDMI outputs, including: availability of the widely-used HDMI Type A connector for PC sources and displays with full support for PC video formats, ability for PC sources to use their native RGB color space while retaining the option to support the YCbCr CE color space, requirement for HDMI 1.2 and later displays to support future low-voltage (i.e., AC-coupled) sources, such as those based on PCI Express I/O technology.

HDMI 1.2a:

* Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) features and command sets and CEC compliance tests are now fully specified.
* Creation of version 1.2a of the HDMI Compliance Test Specification (CTS), which includes a CEC Supplement. HDMI CTS 1.2a has been updated for technical consistency with HDMI Specification 1.2a as well as to the recently released HDMI Specification 1.2.
* Significantly, CTS 1.2a contains additional cable and connector testing and Authorized Testing Center (ATC) submission requirements. Specifically, under CTS 1.2a, the Adopter shall submit for testing to the ATC any new HDMI cable whose length exceeds previously tested cables.
* Additionally, HDMI Licensing, LLC will maintain a list of approved connectors. For a device to pass CTS 1.2a testing at an ATC, all connectors on such device must appear on the approved connector list. To add a connector to this list, the vendor must submit to the ATC or HDMI Licensing, LLC full and passing testing results.

HDMI 1.3:

* Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future HD display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.
* Deep Color: HDMI 1.3 supports 10-bit, 12-bit and 16-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 8-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification, for stunning rendering of over one billion colors in unprecedented detail.
* Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 adds support for “x.v.Color™” (which is the consumer name describing the IEC 61966-2-4 xvYCC color standard), which removes current color space limitations and enables the display of any color viewable by the human eye.
* New mini connector: With small portable devices such as HD camcorders and still cameras demanding seamless connectivity to HDTVs, HDMI 1.3 offers a new, smaller form factor connector option.
* Lip Sync: Because consumer electronics devices are using increasingly complex digital signal processing to enhance the clarity and detail of the content, synchronization of video and audio in user devices has become a greater challenge and could potentially require complex end-user adjustments. HDMI 1.3 incorporates automatic audio synching capabilities that allows devices to perform this synchronization automatically with total accuracy.
* New HD lossless audio formats: In addition to HDMI’s current ability to support high-bandwidth uncompressed digital audio and all currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby® Digital and DTS®), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new lossless compressed digital audio formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™.

Looks like you cant even get DTS MA or Dolby ThrHD using HDMI 1.2 or 1.2a

[eugovector]

No, as long as your player can send PCM, you should be getting lossless 7.1 even over HDMI 1.1

Here's a clip from an email response I sent a listener a year or so back:

"Connecting a TrueHD source to a TrueHD receiver requires a digital-link capable of transporting either the encoded bitstream (up to 18 Mbit/s), or the unpacked linear-PCM audio (>35 Mbit/s). HDMI 1.1 (and higher) can transport multichannel PCM-audio, and therefore can transport an unpacked TrueHD audiotrack. An HDMI 1.3 (or higher) link is required to transport TrueHD in raw bitstream form. [1] TOSLINK (and SPDIF) cannot carry TrueHD at all, due to insufficient bitrate-capacity.

HDMI-equipped players internally decode TrueHD to LPCM, and output the LPCM over an HDMI 1.1 (or higher) interface. [2] Although HDMI 1.3 supports transmission of TrueHD bitstreams, this feature has yet to be used in any player. HD DVD players can transcode the TrueHD bitstream into a different legacy format (such as Dolby Digital or DTS), providing a high-quality approximation of TrueHD audio over a legacy TOSLINK cable."

Short version, if you have HDMI 1.1 you can get all the quality of TrueHD as long as your component decodes the signal and sends it as unpacked linear-PCM, which your ps3 should. It's just doing the decoding in the player, instead of the receiver (which I don't know of any receivers off the top of my head that decode TrueHD). No need for an HDMI 1.3 receiver, but you must use an HDMI cable. It will sound exactly the same as if your receiver were doing the decoding, which is why receiver manufacturers have been slow to incorperate TrueHD decoding. Why should they drive up the cost of their product to do double duty?

[tcarcio]

eugovector wrote:

Try a test disc like the THX optimizer (Found on Pirates of the Caribbean and others). Do your rears work with that?

I don't think I have the optimizer but I will look and if not I will pick up that movie you mention since I don't have it anyway.

[tcarcio]

Thanks Marshall, I don't have a ps3 it is a samsung bd player but I am getting conflicting reports about it decoding 7.1 audio. I thought it did so I will call samsung to be sure.

[tonyvdb]

What Samsung bd player do you have? I have the 1400 and it sends 7.1 just fine to my receiver.

[tcarcio]

I have the bd-p1500, and I was just informed that it does not decode dts hd 7.1 it will just send it as dts core only in 5.1. I was told that the next firmware update should take care of that. It is frustrating at the least......