DVD/SACD Player w/ HDMI 1.2?

[Adam]

The barstool.

In that case, too little information! What's you sippin' on?

 

[Alex2507]

Pardon my ignorance, but I honestly never heard of this brand before. I had to know if it was a worthy brand to check into and not Sylvania or Zenith or something like that I could buy at Walmart. Walmart, ugh....

I never heard of Oppo before AH either. I've never actually seen one either but there are enough guys here at AH that do or have owned them and say such good things about them that I simply believe them to be top notch.

I was just about to ask if you had heard of their Blu-ray player but then my brain fired up again ... they have a Blu-ray player that is really worth knowing about.

 

[myriad1973]

Believe it or not, DSD decoding over HDMI is not a pre-requisite just because your AVR has HDMI 1.3a. However I am pretty certain that Onkyo covered DSD support for 5.1 on your model.

I guess I'm a little confused. In order to get DSD over HDMI and not use the analog 5.1 outputs, I would need the player to be at least version 1.2, correct?

If there isn't much of a sonic difference between the DSD/HDMI over the analog, then I guess this whole topic is null and void, and I would go with a slightly older Sony player with a cleaner output signal and use the analog outputs like I currently have until I get a PS3.

 

[Seth=L]

I guess I'm a little confused. In order to get DSD over HDMI and not use the analog 5.1 outputs, I would need the player to be at least version 1.2, correct?

If there isn't much of a sonic difference between the DSD/HDMI over the analog, then I guess this whole topic is null and void, and I would go with a slightly older Sony player with a cleaner output signal and use the analog outputs like I currently have until I get a PS3.

I think you might have missed my point. Many SACD players that have HDMI output convert DSD to PCM and others like the Oppo have DSD output. Your Onkyo TX-SR805 has DSD support as well, but there are some receivers out there with HDMI 1.2 and 1.3 that don't support DSD up to 5.1. The advantages of using a digital connection over analog is simplicity and the ability to apply the receiver's bass management and other post processing that would otherwise be bypassed when 5.1 analog inputs are being used.

 

[myriad1973]

I think you might have missed my point. Many SACD players that have HDMI output convert DSD to PCM and others like the Oppo have DSD output. Your Onkyo TX-SR805 has DSD support as well, but there are some receivers out there with HDMI 1.2 and 1.3 that don't support DSD up to 5.1. The advantages of using a digital connection over analog is simplicity and the ability to apply the receiver's bass management and other post processing that would otherwise be bypassed when 5.1 analog inputs are being used.

Good point. I hate not being able to EQ the analog signal.
So what happens if I get a SACD player without DSD output? Would the AVR process it as DSD?

 

[Adam]

FYI, the 980 also decodes AAC files. I just burned a disc to try it out. Pretty sweet! I had no idea.

 

[Seth=L]

Good point. I hate not being able to EQ the analog signal.
So what happens if I get a SACD player without DSD output? Would the AVR process it as DSD?

If the player can't output DSD it converts it to multichannel PCM. No SQ should be lost.

 

[myriad1973]

It seems the Oppo is the only DVD/SACD player that can output native DSD over HDMI without having to convert to PCM or output to analog only. All the other players are version 1.1. Even more current Pioneer, Denon, and Sony models. Why would that be?

 

[Seth=L]

I'm not entirely certain on that. Oppo seems to be ahead of the curve with what they do.

 

[cwall99]

Just get the Oppo DV-980H. You'll be glad you did. That sucker totally rocks. I've had it for a year and a half or so, and I don't have any complaints. The thing gets rave reviews pretty much everywhere. All the Oppos seem to perform at the same level as units by other manufacturers costing 10 times as much.

You can only get them online (one reason why their costs are so low). They might even sell them through the Audioholics store (shameless but unsolicited plug )