No hidef sound

[Jethro]

Hey guys... I bought a new receiver with high def codecs but I can't get them to work. I have a panasonic blu ray model # is bdp-55k, and an Onkyo 805 receiver. They are hooked up using HDMI only. I got the good picture for blu-rays, and I have sound... but not the good sound. Its giving me THX sound and PLII etc...

I didn't read the manual.

[bunnyma357]

Hey guys... I bought a new receiver with high def codecs but I can't get them to work. I have a panasonic blu ray model # is bdp-55k, and an Onkyo 805 receiver. They are hooked up using HDMI only. I got the good picture for blu-rays, and I have sound... but not the good sound. Its giving me THX sound and PLII etc...

I didn't read the manual.

If there is a setting on the BR player to output something like raw or bitstream or something like that, then that should hopefully send the encoded stream to the 805 for decoding.

One other thing to check is that you're playing one of the HD Audio tracks from the BR in the disc audio options for the movie.

Jim C

[Jethro]

If there is a setting on the BR player to output something like raw or bitstream or something like that, then that should hopefully send the encoded stream to the 805 for decoding.

One other thing to check is that you're playing one of the HD Audio tracks from the BR in the disc audio options for the movie.

Jim C

Options are for PCM and bitream and I have it on PCM. HD audio tracks from the BR audio is a go. Is PCM the correct setting?

[bp2007]

Options are for PCM and bitream and I have it on PCM. HD audio tracks from the BR audio is a go. Is PCM the correct setting?

PCM on BDP means, your player is doing the decoding. You won't see TrueHD, DTS-MA etc on your receiver's display in this case.
If you set your BDP to bitstream, then your receiver has to do the decoding (assuming it is capable of doing that.)

[Mep]

Yes. Bluray players do the decoding now and send a digital signal to the receiver so it can DAC and amp. No reason to have your receiver do the decoding. It won't do a better job running the exact same algorithem as your player and your player may need to decode several files and mix them, something your receiver simply can not do.

[Jethro]

So... which do I need to set it to? Either ?

I would like for the receiver to say "Dolby Digital Plus" or w/e the kids are calling it nowadays on the front of the onkyo display. Would that be bitstream?... so the receiver decodes?

Is it better to go PCM and have the player decode? If so, thats what I'm doing but the receiver is taking the PCM and doing THX and Dolby PLII which both don't sound quite right to me.

[bp2007]

So... which do I need to set it to? Either ?

I would like for the receiver to say "Dolby Digital Plus" or w/e the kids are calling it nowadays on the front of the onkyo display. Would that be bitstream?... so the receiver decodes?

Yes, set it to bitstream on BDP, if you really want to see TrueHD/DTS-MA etc on the display of the receiver. :)

[bp2007]

Is it better to go PCM and have the player decode? If so, thats what I'm doing but the receiver is taking the PCM and doing THX and Dolby PLII which both don't sound quite right to me.

Player doing decoding has some advantages, specially in the cases where interactive contents are concerned.

If all you are doing is selecting a track and watching it, then either (player or receiver) doing decoding is fine.

If player does decoding, then receiver does not really know what the original format was, so you will not see
the name of the format (TrueHD, DTS-MA etc) displayed on the receiver's display.

If receiver is doing decoding, obviously it will know and display the name of the format.

Hope this helps. :)

[etcarroll]

I have the Panny 35, and BP is correct in his advice.

One more thing, go into the 55's menu and make sure secondary audio is 'off'. Then when you bitstream, the name of the hi-def codec will display on your AVR.

[Jason]

Are they sending the DTSMA and Dolby HD via bitstream now? I thought they weren't doing that. I also remember seeing somewhere about how decoding in the player had some advantages.

Either way, the sound should be the same, as the DAC in the 805 is what you're hearing whether it be bitstream or PCM.

[Mep]

Yes, some times the player needs to mix tracks and the authors of the disk can do silly things. There is no real standard for format or codex if you have noticed. So you can't rely on the one track - one audio being true all the time. It's actually a rare player which will send out bitstream, most must decode and send out PCM. You never know when a firmware update will stop the bitstreaming because some movie execs get paranoid about piracy. I really dislike this technology because it is based on metal illness but that is another topic.

You don't need your receiver saying what the codex is. You can find that out in the player itself. I get the whole seeing it on the receiver though but it just isn't how this technology was designed. So yes, you want to send out PCM just to make sure all the tracks that should be playing are playing.

I don't know what your receiver is doing with the PCM signal it is getting. It should only be DACing and amping, nothing else. Sounds like it is doing more than that which is messing up the sound. Maybe your player is sending out stereo PCM and the receiver is up converting from there. Unfortunately receivers are marketed on specs and those specs are not needed. So they are all capable of decoding all these HD audio codexes yet most players won't even send the raw undecoded signal.

It would be nice if there was just a receiver with an excellent DAC, amp and media switcher with 3-4 HDMI inputs and a couple legacy inputs and nothing more. That is a great product idea. If you want to get the better DAC and amp you have to spend more and more money for a bunch of specs and inputs which are really just not needed. All those extra bells and whistles just cause extra electronic noise.

Anyways, hope you find the lucky combination that you are happy with.

[etcarroll]

I got all my questions answered here;

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1075161

So... which do I need to set it to? Either ?

I would like for the receiver to say "Dolby Digital Plus" or w/e the kids are calling it nowadays on the front of the onkyo display. Would that be bitstream?... so the receiver decodes?

Is it better to go PCM and have the player decode? If so, thats what I'm doing but the receiver is taking the PCM and doing THX and Dolby PLII which both don't sound quite right to me.

[Jethro]

Thanks for the help. I'll play around with it tonight. I never have used hdmi to get the new sound formats... only analogue hence the panny 55. I think the assessment is correct that the way I have it setup, the Blu-ray is sending data via PCM to the onkyo and then the Onkyo is doing processing which isn't what I want. I just want it to play the file like the panny sends it. So... since I don't know how to do that correctly, I figured the next best thing would be for the receiver to actually say Dolby master or HD true/ so I KNOW I'm getting the correct sound.

[Kevin R]

Jethro, you'd be surprised how often the same topic comes up with the PS3. The PS3 also does onboard so you don't see the light on the receiver either. Welcome to the early adapter club! Now go get the Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Blu-Ray and be prepared to awe-struck.

[Jason]

Jethro, you'd be surprised how often the same topic comes up with the PS3. The PS3 also does onboard so you don't see the light on the receiver either. Welcome to the early adapter club! Now go get the Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Blu-Ray and be prepared to awe-struck.

So what would happen if you set the PS3 to bitstream? Would it pass it as regular DTS or DD?