Dolby blu-ray connection

[yaziron]

Hello all, I am new to the forum but have frequented audioholics many times. I have tried googling the answer to my below question, and all the anweres that I find aren't quite for the situation I have, so I thought I would try here. Please don't lay the hurt on me to bad, I have an electrical engineering degree which means that I don't know anything about any of this stuff (if you need the magnetic field produced by the power supply triple integrated over the surface of the cube of the receiver shell, I might be of use, but otherwise...)

Anyway, I am looking into the purchase of a new receiver and my easiest option is to buy a 5.1 or 7.1 receiver with multiple HDMI ins and at least one HDMI out. Then, connect all of my sources via HDMI to the receiver and let it do all the dolby decoding and woola! Surround sound in all of its glory! However, there are a couple of older, used receivers on craigslist that can be had for a song that don't have HDMI inputs or 3D passthrough, or any of this other schtuff I don't care about. My blu ray player has an optical output jack and can do the digital decoding. All of the pictures and information I have found on the web tend to indicate that the decoder needs all of the channel jacks on it to output the signals to the receiver in their already decoded state. So, 6 RCA cables for 5.1 or 8 RCA cables for 7.1 would be run from the audio out on the blu-ray player to the audio in on the reciever and then the reciever would send the signals to the correct speakers. My blu ray player does not have the analog outputs for each channel, it only has the one optical output jack. So, ultimately, my question is can I decode the dolby, dolby hd, dts master, etc... audio at the blu ray player (or some other source), send the decdoded signal via the optical output to the receiver's optical input and have true surround sound, and if not, what is the purpose of the optical output on the blu ray? Maybe I am not interpreting the information I have seen on the web correctly.

A related question then would be if the older receivers are actually "better" because they are not trying to do 3D pass through with HDMI and IPod wireless playing, etc.. so the reciever was built dedicated to sound quality (the ole 10 lbs in a 5 lb bag addage). I have no basis for this assumption other than logically it seems that if the receiver manufacturer had less to worry about putting in his unit to be competitive, he could focus on pure power and sound quality. If that is the case, then it would add fuel to my decision of buying and older, used receiver rather than a new one.

I am sorry for the long and garbled post but thank you in advance for any help and for your patience in reading through my ?'s. I apologize if this question has already been answered, I did a quick search and didn't find what looked to be an answer.

 

[tmurnin]

I guess i'm not sure what you're trying to achieve or what your budget is. Can you run a video HDMI to the tv from the Blu-Ray player and a digital audio to the receiver and then let the receiver decode the audio into 5 or 7 channels? Yes. You wont get any of the latest surround formats (Dolby True HD) if thats important to you, but you can get a standard Dolby Digital surround system that way.

However, you can pick up a pretty decent HDMI receiver new these days for around $250-300. If you're going to have to buy a receiver regardless, I think I'd go that route rather than a non-HDMI cheapie, even if it meant I started with a 3.1 system and picked up surrounds later.

in terms of quality, that greatly depends on the specific unit. There are some absolutely wonderful older receivers and there is a lot of crap as well. Don't think you can apply any universal statement to that idea.

 

[yaziron]

Thanks tmurnin. You are probably correct, I need to stop being a cheap skate and just buy the right receiver. It is just hard to pass up a used reciever for $100 that appears to be in great shape except it doesn't have the HDMI inputs/outputs, so I was sort of trying to cut corners I guess. Yes, I could run HDMI to the TV and digital out for the audio to the receiver, but I guess you answered my question in that it wouldn't be the latest sound (Dolby True HD) but would still be surround sound. I am a little confused though, why would they have the blu ray player able to decode the dolby True HD format if passing it over an optical output won't deliver the True HD format? If you use the HDMI output, you are going to have a reciever that has HDMI inputs and I would guess it would be capable of decoding the dolby, so what is the point? Maybe there are some receivers out there that have HDMI capability but aren't able to decode Dolby True HD, in which case you would need the decoding at the blu ray player and then the ability to pass the decoded signal to the receiver over HDMI (since the digital output can't carry that much information I'm guessing?)

I understand your answer to my question about old receivers, some being crap and some being good. I was trying not to sound like the post in the sticky of this forum asking "Which hamburger is better, McDonalds, Wendys, or Burger King" but I guess I ended up sounding like that anyway.

 

[tmurnin]

Don't know if you're being cheap so much as not looking at the longer-term. You can save $150-200 with the older receiver, and if you don't care about hdmi or networking or things like that, you may be fine. For me, I'd prefer to spend the extra $$ and get the feature s I'm looking for but it's your $$

 

[fmw]

I have one of these in my bedroom. It has 4 HDMI inputs and one out. It also has all the normal digital and analog audio inputs. It has the latest surround formats. It even has a nice clean look. It is a genuine bargain. Here is another option. These are perfectly competent AV receivers lacking in fancy features but with the basics of what you need to connect and operate a surround sound system. It doesn't have to be expensive.

 

[yaziron]

Thank you for the responses. It makes sense. fmw, those receivers look like they would work pretty nice. Not to be a pest or sound argumentative, but here is a receiver I can pick up used on craigslist for $125 or so Pioneer VSX-D814 6.1 surround receiver seems like it would fit the bill (my budget is fairly low, mama needs new shoes ) If I were to get something like this, would I have true dobly hd surround if I ran an optical from my blu ray player to the receiver? Or do you have to have HDMI? The Pioneer you posted is only $40 more new, so I will probably go that route anyway but I wanted to understand the difference between optical and HDMI in/outs

Thanks again for dealing with the total kook noob!

 

[markw]

Simpy put, the main problem here is that these new, hi glitz formats cannot be passed over toslink or coax. They can only be passed via HDMI to the receiver, which does the decoding.

If you can live with the "standad" DD or DTS and using your TV for video switching, then you can save yourself a few bucks. It not, then yoy know what you have to do.

 

[afterlife2]

craigslist for $125 or so Pioneer VSX-D814 6.1 surround receiver

Hi and welcome! That is a receiver from 2004. You don't want that. It does not have the latest features and no HDMI. fmw led you in the right direction with the pioneer or yamaha. Another option: http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/DENAVR1513/DENON-AVR-1513-5.1ch-Home-Theater-Receiver-3D-ready/1.html
or
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/DENAVR1312/DENON-AVR-1312-5.1-Channel-A/V-Home-Theater-Receiver/1.html
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=82-121-082&Tpk=N82E16882121082&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=404255&SID=320547_desktop

 

[fmw]

Thank you for the responses. It makes sense. fmw, those receivers look like they would work pretty nice.

It makes sense because it is the right way to go. There is little point in trying to save $70 just to end up with obselete equipment. These new receivers are excellent and an incredible value for what they do. In fact the one in my bedroom for under $200 actually amazed me when I unboxed it and set it up. Most of what the $1500 receiver in my family room does that this one doesn't do relates to things I don't use such as 2 extra amplifier channels, preamp outputs and multi zone processing. It handles what I do use about the same. It even has features my older receiver doesn't have like 3D video pass through and the latest Dolby and DTS decoders.

 

[yaziron]

Sorry I didn't respond earlier, had to go to work and then mow the jungle after all the rain.. but wanted to say thanks to everyone for helping me understand a little better. As MarkW said "It not, then yoy know what you have to do".. so I think the TosLink is definitely out of the question.. I didn't realize there were so many sub $200 receivers that would do what I needed, even at entry level I thought they were more like $250-300. I think the Pioneer that fmw originally showed me is right up my alley, although I just noticed amazon raised the price $50.00 during the day today... Rats! Black cloud over my head I guess, but still a good price.

Anyway, again many thanks and this is a great forum to learn on!

 

[yaziron]

Well, following the advice of fmw, I was about to pull the trigger on the pioneer VSX-522-K when I happened on a pioneer vsx-523-k for $195 on craigslist. It is a refurb unit the guy got supposedly after his 522 failed and it was under warranty so when he shipped it back, they sent him the refurb 523. However, he had already bought a 523 new not knowing the 522 was under warranty. At least that is the story I am told. All in original box, originally shipping packing, wrap, manuals/remote/batteries in original bag unopened. I was a little nervous since it was on a used items site and refurb to boot, but everything looked like what he said it was. Anyway, hope I did okay for $195, if everything works then it should be a good deal - nice receiver.

 

[afterlife2]

Make sure you get the receipt from the seller in case you need to repair it under warranty. If not I would not consider unless he said $150 without receipt.

 

[fmw]

Well, following the advice of fmw, I was about to pull the trigger on the pioneer VSX-522-K when I happened on a pioneer vsx-523-k for $195 on craigslist. It is a refurb unit the guy got supposedly after his 522 failed and it was under warranty so when he shipped it back, they sent him the refurb 523. However, he had already bought a 523 new not knowing the 522 was under warranty. At least that is the story I am told. All in original box, originally shipping packing, wrap, manuals/remote/batteries in original bag unopened. I was a little nervous since it was on a used items site and refurb to boot, but everything looked like what he said it was. Anyway, hope I did okay for $195, if everything works then it should be a good deal - nice receiver.

Let us know how it goes.