Paul Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 Are all Blue-ray discs created equal in terms of audio sound tracks that include True HD Audio, or DTS-HD Master Audio? Having just wired for and invested in a HD AV receiver, Blu-ray player and new 5.1, I am keen to make the best of my new set up, and allow the AV Receiver to take control of decoding the True HD Audio directly from the HDMI feed. Having ordered a few Blu-ray demo titles off either ebay, Amazon or Play, It has become obvious they do not seem to list what the audio is encoded to, so i do not really know what i am getting! Are all Blu-ray discs the same and encoded to include True HD? Do i have to search out specific copies? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 I don't think they are (but I don't have full home cinema). I think most of the newer stuff is HD audio but some of the older ones will be 5.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 some blu ray disks are terrible quality. a good test of how sound should be is transformers. the ott sound effects are amazing. quality is probably the best i've heard. also picture quality is amazing with rich colours and very little noise. a good test of crapness however is something like terminator 2. the transfer is dire. picture/sound are both poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riz Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 Just to note, DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD should technically sound the same, gone are the days were DTS had the advantage over Dolby etc. At the end of they day they are just compression formats now, the audio is actually losseless audio. Also of fuss was made because the PlayStation3 doesnt output a true bitstream file to a compatibale amplifier..... all the decoding is done within the PlayStation3 and just just sent out to the amplifer as lossless audio, pcm if I remember correctly.... should sound the same as a DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD track. Ive invested in a few bluray movies and to be honest the cost difference between dvd vs bluray is still a problem for me, picture and sound is a key part of a movie but for me it isnt the deciding factor, the movie itself is more important, story line, acting etc... im still buying shed loads of dvds, upscaling of dvds has really made a difference. Im not saying dvds are technically better, they are just better value for money compared to a bluray version. To enjoy bluray I would have to invest in atleast a decent 50" plasma display, new HD amplifier and bluray player. Not worth it at the moment tbh. Riz Riz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted July 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 Hi Riz , I realised there was no difference in the audio qualities between True HD or DTS HD MA. I was in a position where I didn't have a blu- ray player and wanted to also upgrade away from a pc based cambridge soundworks 5.1 surround system, so it made sense to go with a HD A/V receiver Hopefully I will end up with a reasonable system for a sensible outlay to pair up to my existing Panasonic PX70 42" plasma. Which is yet to see a HD feed of any kind. I have also wired twin Sky or freesat HD feeds ready in the loft for future use and Hdmi out with coaxial digital audio (for all other non hdmi sound) from my pc in the next room. Which is great for iplayer / iTunes and even TSN should I want to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riz Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 Hi Riz ,I realised there was no difference in the audio qualities between True HD or DTS HD MA. I was in a position where I didn't have a blu- ray player and wanted to also upgrade away from a pc based cambridge soundworks 5.1 surround system, so it made sense to go with a HD A/V receiver Hopefully I will end up with a reasonable system for a sensible outlay to pair up to my existing Panasonic PX70 42" plasma. Which is yet to see a HD feed of any kind. I have also wired twin Sky or freesat HD feeds ready in the loft for future use and Hdmi out with coaxial digital audio (for all other non hdmi sound) from my pc in the next room. Which is great for iplayer / iTunes and even TSN should I want to You will love HD stuff..... I run everything and I mean everything thru my PlayStation3 via HDMI into the VGA input of my Panasonic PH9 display as VGA is better on the display.I use it for upscaled dvd movies, upscaled freeview PVR, music and very rarely games. I would say the whole argument of the bigger the resolution the better the picture is untrue. My display which is 720p easily has better picture quality than the 1080p equivelents of the same era. Ive got a old trustworthy Yamaha amplifier which only does Dolby Digital and DTS, no HD support at all. I think ive im going to start investing in more Bluray movies (unlikely at the mo) I would buy the Oppo Bluray player, it has onboard HD audio decoding with phono outputs, so you just hook them upto the phono ext inputs on the amp and bingo you have HD audio using your exsisting amp. The play has just been released in the US for $499 if anybody in intrested and I would say it is they best out there.... Im a dvd movie geek... think im approaching 1000 dvds now..... Riz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 unless your spending a lot (eg 1k+) on a bluray player, i'd suggest you use a ps3. it loads the disks quicker and picture quality is great even on 9ft screen. its also one of the best upscalers - the processing power of most custom units, even high end, is no where near that of ps3. plenty of options too to calibrate with projectors/plasmas. and letting the ps3 decode the audio isnt a bad idea either. again its cpu power walks all over anything low/mid and even high end kit. forget outputting hd audio into your existing amp....its like sending a 1080p pic to a crt tv. hd audio is 24bits and larger frequency range. an older amp wont process the full range. it may sound good but you're losing detail if you dont have a hd amp sending the signal to the speakers. and you'll need decent speakers anyway. which for the most part is why hd audio is irrelevant to majority of users. but people buy things off spec sheets...funny really :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitas3 Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 (edited) Like Chav I use a PS3 for the bluray player as well as a Popcornhour digital streamer and it fits our needs perfectly considering the price. I have mine linked up to a Sony HT-SF1300 all via HDMI which processes HD audio amongst the other formats perfectly well for my ears! You can certainly tell the difference between Dolby 5.1 sound vs TrueHD audio on some films - For example Bladerunner ultimate collectors edition - some cuts of the film are in 5.1 sound whereas the final cut disc is in trueHD. Marvellous stuff! As said, some bluray discs are crap - they're just re-issues of the original dvd with a bit better sound quality on some and more (useless) features. To get the best, get a disc that has been remastered digitally for bluray or has been made specifically with 1080p in mind. I have a link to an active list of these discs somewhere and I'll dig it out later. Edited July 11, 2009 by sitas3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 PS3 to my AV receiver here as well and it sounds mighty good. Steaming them via the homeserver to the PS3 also works very well and the quality is very high, not got a 1080p tv just 720p and it still looks amazing using 720p encoded movies. As Chav mentioned Transformers is great, the new one when its out was even better, Ironman was also pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted July 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Sita that list would be great Now having a media centre connection to Plasma, i might start looking into our previous conversations for HD content So far i have the following.... Panasonic PX70 42" Plasma Panasonic DVD Recorder DMR-EZ27EB Panasonic Blu-Ray player BD60EB Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player review - from the experts at whathifi.com (Aware of the loading time, but used to that from the DVD player above. Not an issue. ) Jamo A102HCS5 5.1 Home cinema Speakers Jamo A102HCS5 Style speaker package review - from the experts at whathifi.com Denon AVR-1910 AV Receiver (spec suggests CEC compatible, so might be compatible with Panasonic Viera link, if so then that will be a bonus I have also wired 2x Cat5e from the Plasma to Main Bedroom, which will give me HDMI over Cat5e via Baluns (due to long run), and allow me to play blu-rays to the bedroom if i want to. DVDs purchased so far would be: Casino Royale Quantom of Solace The Dark Knight Freebies: (Panasonic Offer on BD60/ BD80 until 31st July 09) The Day Earth Stood Still Australia Planned: Batman Begins ( yes i realise i bought them in the wrong order!, picking them up when on offer) Kung Fu Panda (I am told this has excellent PQ/AQ, and is a must have) Iron Man Transformers/Transformers II On the whole, I am only aiming to pick up films that would have been originally shot in HD, rather than remasters, other than a few exceptions for personal favourites etc like Ronin which i will pick up when on offer etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Dark Knight is a good film and great in HD Have got Valkyrie sat on the shelf at the moment but yet to have chance to watch it, but it is meant to be a good HD production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riz Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Agreed.. Dark Knight is a good disc for HD content. I have just under 30 bluray discs at the moment, all good quality but I very much doubt I will be replacing my near 1000 dvd collection. The PlayStation3 really does a amazing job upscaling hence why the gap between a dvd and bluray for me isnt worth the money at the moment. I buy blurays if they are only marginally more than the dvd equivelent or on offer. There is only one thing that scares me, my PlayStation 3 my hub, it has a hard life being constantly used.... if it went bang I would lose tv, music, movies and since my screen is only a display I would have nothing to view at all. Planet earth is a nice bluray boxset to buy if your into that kind of thing.... Riz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 I think the kit makes more of a difference sound wise. I have gone back from an all in one receiver that does the HD formats to a Meridian processor that doesn't and it still sounds better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 I don't buy DVDs anymore, I go for the bluray version or wait. But my Sony bluray player does a pretty good job of upscaling my old DVDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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