DTS-HD Bitstream Downconversion/Receiver Question

[robmlisanti]

Okay here's my question:
I have an older receiver which decodes Dolby Digital/DTS
Until I purchase a new one ( some time next year ), I have a Blu Ray BDP-S370 Player.. When the Bluray player "Decodes" the DTS-HD to my DTS on my receiver is it "Better" quality then lets say off a DVD disc? another words the Blu ray is supposed to carry more info, does it do that when converting to DTS? or is it the same. I was curious?

Also I do plan on getting a new receiver with HDMI and the DTS-HD/Dolby True HD settings ( suggestions would be nice $ 350.00 range ). Technically I know I would use One HDMI cable to the TV, but I'm worried about degrading the picture going through the receiver..again any suggestions?

 

[GranteedEV]

the DTS portion of a DTS-MA soundtrack will have lost information compared to the original lossless. It The DTS-MA algorithm allows this, but it won't give you better SQ than a regular DTS dvd unless it was just plain mastered better. It basically means your Blu ray player can't read the DTS-MA portion of the soundtrack and is just going to find the nested DTS portion. Preferably your blu ray player would either bitstream DTS-MA or convert it to PCM, sending it via HDMI, or convert the DTS-MA to analogue but none of this seems to happen. If the DTS track is being extracted you're getting the worst scenario.

An HDMI 1.3 receiver in "through" mode won't touch the digital signal on its path to your tv, outside of auto-lipsync if you so choose.

An excellent receiver choice in your price range is the marantz Sr5003 over at accessories4less

 

[robmlisanti]

the DTS portion of a DTS-MA soundtrack will have lost information compared to the original lossless. It The DTS-MA algorithm allows this, but it won't give you better SQ than a regular DTS dvd unless it was just plain mastered better. It basically means your Blu ray player can't read the DTS-MA portion of the soundtrack and is just going to find the nested DTS portion. Preferably your blu ray player would either bitstream DTS-MA or convert it to PCM, sending it via HDMI, or convert the DTS-MA to analogue but none of this seems to happen. If the DTS track is being extracted you're getting the worst scenario.

An HDMI 1.3 receiver in "through" mode won't touch the digital signal on its path to your tv, outside of auto-lipsync if you so choose.

An excellent receiver choice in your price range is the marantz Sr5003 over at accessories4less

Thank you for the feedback, So basically I will need to upgrade my old Sony Receiver to benefit the new DTS-HD and Dolby True HD sound.

So if I understand you the HDMI 1.3 receiver "Through" mode from my Blu Ray to the Receiver to the TV will not effect picture quality at all correct?

I just want to make sure I can get the best quality using HDMI cables, but not losing picture quality.

 

[GranteedEV]

Thank you for the feedback, So basically I will need to upgrade my old Sony Receiver to benefit the new DTS-HD and Dolby True HD sound.

So if I understand you the HDMI 1.3 receiver "Through" mode from my Blu Ray to the Receiver to the TV will not effect picture quality at all correct?

I just want to make sure I can get the best quality using HDMI cables, but not losing picture quality.

Yes, upgrading to a new receiver will give you the lossless codecs. I also recommend better speakers that can actually resolve the improvement in sound / make it audible. You can have the best signal in the world and it'll still not be great if your speakers aren't great.

HDMI in through won't affect picture quality, at worst it'll add some handshake lag to the equation which while annoying does not have any real effect except make you wait a couple seconds before the components are connected. Only activating the receiver's video upscaling modes would have much of an effect on picture quality.

Remember, this information is digital.

BDP decodes H264 and then sends a digital signal to TV right now for example - ie 11010101011 except way more complex
TV receives - 11010101011 and then decodes that into a color

adding a receiver to the signal path makes it :

BDP decodes H264 and then sends a digital signal to receiver - 11010101011 except way more complex
recevier receives - 11010101011 + sound
receivers sends - 11010101011 to TV
TV receives - 11010101011 and then decodes that into a color

that's how it works.

 

[jostenmeat]

Okay here's my question:
I have an older receiver which decodes Dolby Digital/DTS
Until I purchase a new one ( some time next year ), I have a Blu Ray BDP-S370 Player.. When the Bluray player "Decodes" the DTS-HD to my DTS on my receiver is it "Better" quality then lets say off a DVD disc? another words the Blu ray is supposed to carry more info, does it do that when converting to DTS? or is it the same. I was curious?

Yes, it is better quality 99% of the time (a doubling of the bitrate normally found with DTS on DVD).

There are a handful of exceptions where it will be equal, where the DVD DTS track has a 1509kbps bitrate (however, like I said, rare).

Also I do plan on getting a new receiver with HDMI and the DTS-HD/Dolby True HD settings ( suggestions would be nice $ 350.00 range ). Technically I know I would use One HDMI cable to the TV, but I'm worried about degrading the picture going through the receiver..again any suggestions?

The only less than perfect implementations I have read about are with the Yamaha 663/863 where BTB and WTW are clipped. Also, earlier Onkyo models that didn't sport reon would convert component connection to 720p when outputted via HDMI. However, TBH, I wouldn't do that anyways with a typical setup, and instead I normally opt to send component video directly to display.

As for your Sony, I didn't look it up, but if both receiver and player have mch analogs, you can get your advanced codecs. However, I always vote for HDMI for most post processing abilities, and superior bass mgmt, typically.