Is this the future of Surround Music?

[mandrix]

Is the PS3 the only Blu-ray player currently that can take advantage of the Dolby TrueHD? It appears my Samsung will never able to pass Dolby TrueHD or decode it.

Chris

Unfortunately, many of us are in the same boat. I'm not buying one more
component until things smooth out a bit. If that makes me a pariah, then
so be it. HDMI, blue ray, hddvd, whatever. At least at CES a DVD player
has appeared that will play both HD DVD formats. Whether that includes
the new Dolby or DTS, or backward compatibility with DVDA/SACD, I don't
know yet. Anyone with more info, I would be most interested in hearing
about it. Then there is the question, as you said, of what the heck now
do I need to do about a receiver. Too much money. Too much BS.
Too much for one with limited funds to worry about.

regards,
boondocks

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Unfortunately, many of us are in the same boat. I'm not buying one more
component until things smooth out a bit. If that makes me a pariah, then
so be it. HDMI, blue ray, hddvd, whatever. At least at CES a DVD player
has appeared that will play both HD DVD formats. Whether that includes
the new Dolby or DTS, or backward compatibility with DVDA/SACD, I don't
know yet. Anyone with more info, I would be most interested in hearing
about it. Then there is the question, as you said, of what the heck now
do I need to do about a receiver. Too much money. Too much BS.
Too much for one with limited funds to worry about.

regards,
boondocks

I still can't get definitive answers. I did read HDMI 1.3 or maybe 1.3a is required to pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD for decoding by an external decoder. So far no such devices are on the market as far as I can tell. It seems my players are not HDMI 1.3 or 1.3a upgradeable and are 1.1 forever, but even that isn't certain to me. 1.1 and 1.2 apparently will handle 5.1 PCM but not 7.1 PCM.

I am beginning to believe either the claim at Blu-ray.com that all players must support playback is completely wrong or support playback doesn't mean what I thought it meant. It looks like support playback only means the advanced codecs play like good old plain DTS and Dolby Digital for me. I will copy the precise wording here in case it is changed in the future, not that I will have any recourse.

From the Blu-ray FAQ at Blu-ray.com:

1.9 What audio codecs will Blu-ray support?


Linear PCM (LPCM) - offers up to 8 channels of uncompressed audio.
Dolby Digital (DD) - format used for DVDs also known as AC3, offers 5.1-channel surround sound.
Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) - extension of DD, offers increased bitrates and 7.1-channel surround sound.
Dolby TrueHD - extension of MLP Lossless, offers lossless encoding of up to 8 channels of audio.
DTS Digital Surround - format used for DVDs, offers 5.1-channel surround sound.
DTS-HD - extension of DTS, offers increased bitrates and up to 8 channels of audio.

Please note that this simply means that all Blu-ray players and recorders will have to support playback of these audio codecs, it will still be up to the movie studios to decide which audio codec(s) they use for their releases.

We love both formats, even what we can play now, but obviously if the advanced codecs start showing up and all I get is to listen to the new codecs same as the old codecs with my players, I won't be happy then.

Chris

 

[Desmo888]

1.1 and 1.2 apparently will handle 5.1 PCM but not 7.1 PCM

This is purely academic, as 7.1 is highly experimental at the moment with only one title available.

It looks like support playback only means the advanced codecs play like good old plain DTS and Dolby Digital for me.

As far as I can tell, BD's "support" of the latest surround formats is the chink in the armor. Consumers should start seeing (in August) outboard processors with HDMI and the ability to decode uncompressed DTS HD (don't hold your breath on MA) or compressed Dolby TrueHD, but until then we won't know if the BD's actually work as advertised. Of course, Dolby Labs still mandates on-board processing of its DD+ and TrueHD for the HD-DVD format.

 

[Krobar]

Got the HD DVD release of this on Friday.

TrueHD is excellent, a heavy thick sound with sparkle in the treble where required (Terrible Lie is a stand out for me). Surround effects are most naturaul with the odd rear and diagonal pan. The picture is superb especially considering it is not the sort of material that is easy to encode.

 

[natiahs]

"I still can't get definitive answers. I did read HDMI 1.3 or maybe 1.3a is required to pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD for decoding by an external decoder. So far no such devices are on the market as far as I can tell. It seems my players are not HDMI 1.3 or 1.3a upgradeable and are 1.1 forever, but even that isn't certain to me. 1.1 and 1.2 apparently will handle 5.1 PCM but not 7.1 PCM."


1.3 HDMI is required to pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD for decoding by an external receiver. However, PS3 decodes Dolby TrueHD inside the player and sends the audio as PCM out to the receiver. DTS HD support was rumored to be included with the new 1.6 PS3 software released today, but I haven't seen it in the official feature list.

The PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man includes 7.1 PCM audio. I believe NBA 2K7 does as well but I haven't seen official confirmation from Take2. So far, the only movie I know of that supports 7.1 is Crank (the packaging lists 6.1 but the display shows 7.1). Even so, most of the 5.1 TrueHD soundtracks I've heard are incredible. I've gotten to the point where I don't want to watch a movie without TrueHD.

On another note, has anyone else noticed that one of the HD cameras in Beside You In Time has a stuck pixel? Every time the video switches to a specific camera there's a single white dot about 45% up the screen 16% from the right side. Great, now I'm noticing defects in other people's HD equipment...

N