It is officially confirmed - No bitstreaming of TrueHD or DTS-HD MA for the PS3

[GlocksRock]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=946095&goto=newpost

I can't actually access avsform here at work, but I am able to provide the link.

I think this really stinks, especially since the PS3 is HDMI 1.3 and it ought to be able to do this. Oh well, as long as they hurry up with a firmware update that allows the DTS-HD MA to be decoded internally I'll be happy, but not as happy as I would be if I could sent it to my receiver via bitstream.

 

[Seth=L]

Yeah, that seems pretty lame considering everything the PS3 can do. It seems like it would be very feasible to do, they just don't want to do it.

 

[GlocksRock]

it sounds like they couldn't do it even if they wanted to since it's a hardware limitation. I'm sure they knew about this all along, and as far as I'm concerned, they should have gone to another chip that would allow this by the time they started putting out the 40 gig version, but I'm sure they don't really care.

 

[Seth=L]

Oh, I understand now.

Maybe they will revise it in the future (new model releases).

 

[GlocksRock]

They already did release a new version, (40 gig) and didn't fix it.

 

[Seth=L]

They already did release a new version, (40 gig) and didn't fix it.

I mean farther in the future possibly when the format war is over. It seems like an unnecessary cost to have when they can't be certain they have won or lost the format war. If they lose the format war they obviously don't need to do the uprade, and it isn't as if you can't get the same sound up to 5.1 using HDMI 1.2 compliant audio devices.

 

[j_garcia]

I do believe this was already known though Sony has said they are working with DTS to see if they can do something on the software side to get DTS HD MA to work on the PS3 by the end of the year. Whether or not they will be able to, who knows.

 

[toon12]

I do believe this was already known though Sony has said they are working with DTS to see if they can do something on the software side to get DTS HD MA to work on the PS3 by the end of the year. Whether or not they will be able to, who knows.

Two seperate issues, whenther the PS3 can decode DTS HD MA internally, and whether it can bitstream it undecoded.
This new post suggests it will never be bitstreamed because the chip can't pass it through HDMI.
A software fix can still be done by Sony so the PS3 decodes it internally, and passes it as PCM.

 

[GlocksRock]

Toon is correct, and I know that DTS is working with Sony on a fix, and that should be out by the end of the year from what I'm hearing. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I sure will be happy when it happens since ther are some blu ray movies I'm holding off on watching till this update happens.

 

[Alamar]

I'd be surprised if one of the flagship HD players couldn't do this. I imagine some sort of fix has to be in the pipeline ....

 

[gus6464]

Wait I didn't read anywhere on that page where it exactly states that the chip in the PS3 can't pass bitstream. It is mostly just people speculating and the such.

 

[j_garcia]

Wait I didn't read anywhere on that page where it exactly states that the chip in the PS3 can't pass bitstream. It is mostly just people speculating and the such.

It did state that rather clearly:

John,

9132 doesn't support Dolby True HD and DTS HD.

Thanks,
Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: John Haghighi
Sent: Donnerstag, 22. November 2007 18:35
To: #hdmi-atc
Subject: SiL9132 HDMI transmitter

Hi,

I am trying to determine whether the SiL9132 HDMI transmitter supports
bitstream of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master audio, the advanced lossless
audio codecs. Can you please confirm whether the SiL9132 has the
capacity to pass this bitstream?

 

[gus6464]

It did state that rather clearly:

Ohh lol I read the one that had the same email but it read DOES support it.

Damn so now I don't know what to do. I have been holding off for a new receiver because I wanted to be able to support the new codecs and preouts and the cheapest one that could do that is the Onkyo 805. Now since I have an A3 which will never pass bitstream and the PS3 as well I don't if I should just get a Yamaha 661 for cheap. Not really going to take advantage of the new stuff on the 1.3 receivers anyway.

 

[Pell]

I am still confused whether Bitstream is better to transfer over PCM over HDMI 1.3 .

I always see people flip flopping, what is your opinion? I am hoping 360 and ps3 are able to transfer all the HD audio formats, I guess time and firmware updates will tell.

 

[Pell]

A good link http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html


Also to answer my own question above, seems like 'bitstream' is the best if you have a good receiver allowing the receiver to do all the decoding and 'PCM' is better if you have a good player which can pass the decoded signal to the receiver to turn into the analogue signal.

For me, I would prefer my receiver to do all the work (I use a Denon 4308 so I am hoping it would do a decent job at it) .

Problem is as of this moment no method will decode DTS HD Master but PCM will be decoded by the PS3 and sent to the receiver over HDMI BUT you can not send the same signal via bitstream.

I hope they fix this with a firmware and not a hardware upgrade like they did with the 360 and new HDMI port.

 

[Seth=L]

I hope they fix this with a firmware and not a hardware upgrade like they did with the 360 and new HDMI port.

They can't fix it with firmware uprades, the chipset they use for audio output is limited, so it is a hardware issue. It will not likely change unless Blu-ray wins the format war.

 

[gus6464]

But if the PS3 gets a DTS-HD/MA firmware who cares about bitstream. If I had a cheaper player I would be worried about the sound quality but the PS3 has more than enough horsepower to handle it.

 

[dobyblue]

Yeah, that seems pretty lame considering everything the PS3 can do. It seems like it would be very feasible to do, they just don't want to do it.

It's a hardware limitation - they can't do it.
For 1.1 titles to watch PIP you need the player to do the decoding anyway.

 

[dobyblue]

Problem is as of this moment no method will decode DTS HD Master but PCM will be decoded by the PS3 and sent to the receiver over HDMI BUT you can not send the same signal via bitstream.

PCM is not encoded, so it doesn't need to be decoded and it is the same whether you select "bitstream" or "PCM" in the HDMI audio output settings.

However you need it set to "PCM" for TrueHD tracks.
For dts-MA, until the PS3 does the decoding, you can set it to "bitstream" and allow your receiver to decode the dts 1.5 Mbps core if you feel your receiver will do a better job.

 

[jekoda]

Dobyblue - based on your comments what would be your recommendation to the following?

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums...617#post337617