No HD Audio on Some BD's When Set to LPCM

[avliner]

Guys,

out of curiosity, does anybody knows the reason why on some BD's you just can't get 6.1 / 7.1 HD audio if the player is set to LPCM??

Last week I watched the LOTR Trilogy I just got and I usually set my Opp-80 in LPCM and no way whatsoever to get 6.1 audio, unless you change the settings to Bitstream, though.

The very same thing happens with Hellboy II... is that a mastering / authoring flaw or what??

 

[aarond]

check out this article
LPCM is not always equal to bitstream -- Engadget

 

[avliner]

Thanks for the article aarond!

Yeah I know that LPCM is not the very same thing as Dolby & DTS chipsets, but I still believe there's gotta be something wrong with a handful of BD titles, as the vast majority of the currently available BD's does play back the very same content, whether in LPCM, DOLBY TRUEHD or DTS - HD MA.

If otherwise we'd know, for example, that whenever you want to have 6.1 or 7.1 HD audio track you'll have to set the BDP to bitstream, but that is an exception though ( LOTR and Hellboy II comes to mind, but there's gotta be some more with the very same issue though), which leads me to belive that it's indeed an audio flaw during the authoring/mastering process.

BTW, my AVR is a Denon 2809CI and the BDP is an Oppo - 80 though.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the article aarond!

Yeah I know that LPCM is not the very same thing as Dolby & DTS chipsets, but I still believe there's gotta be something wrong with a handful of BD titles, as the vast majority of the currently available BD's does play back the very same content, whether in LPCM, DOLBY TRUEHD or DTS - HD MA.

If otherwise we'd know, for example, that whenever you want to have 6.1 or 7.1 HD audio track you'll have to set the BDP to bitstream, but that is an exception though ( LOTR and Hellboy II comes to mind, but there's gotta be some more with the very same issue though), which leads me to belive that it's indeed an audio flaw during the authoring/mastering process.

BTW, my AVR is a Denon 2809CI and the BDP is an Oppo - 80 though.

Probably those discs don't have an LPCM track, or won't let it decode on that form for reasons of copyright protection. They probably only want the program decoded by a device that can only output in HD to a device that has to be connected to an end device such as a TV.

They are really trying to find ways of not allowing people to access HD video and audio, in digital form.

Even TVs are being build now with copy protection on the digital Toslink outs.

 

[avliner]

Thanks for chimin' in Doc!

Sure those 2 titles doesn't have a MC LPCM track, but as all other titles that I've watched, you can internally decode to MC LPCM rather than sending bitstream to the AVR, as we're still in the digital domain, though.

Maybe there's nothing to worry about anyway, but I first noted this "issue" with Hellboy II (the first 7.1 BD on my collection) and the only way to get 7.1 audio was to set the BDP to bitstream, go figure!

A couple weeks ago, I friend of mine brought T3 - The Dark of the Moon for a night watch and I could clearly see the MULTI CH 7.1 text on the Denon 2809 display ( matter of fact, it was the very first time I saw it... ).

Now I got the LOTR Trilogy and found the same issue though, which, as I said before, leads me to believe it's a flaw in the authoring / mastering process, rather than a copyright protection bug, but I might be wrong, who knows?

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for chimin' in Doc!

Sure those 2 titles doesn't have a MC LPCM track, but as all other titles that I've watched, you can internally decode to MC LPCM rather than sending bitstream to the AVR, as we're still in the digital domain, though.

Maybe there's nothing to worry about anyway, but I first noted this "issue" with Hellboy II (the first 7.1 BD on my collection) and the only way to get 7.1 audio was to set the BDP to bitstream, go figure!

A couple weeks ago, I friend of mine brought T3 - The Dark of the Moon for a night watch and I could clearly see the MULTI CH 7.1 text on the Denon 2809 display ( matter of fact, it was the very first time I saw it... ).

Now I got the LOTR Trilogy and found the same issue though, which, as I said before, leads me to believe it's a flaw in the authoring / mastering process, rather than a copyright protection bug, but I might be wrong, who knows?

According to Oppo, it says it will decode DTS master HD and Dolby True HD to the analog outs and as PCM via HDMI.

May be you need a firmware update? The specs are silent about what it does with LPCM though. It should no matter as it should output PCM via HDMI from just about any BD disc, I would have thought.

 

[avliner]

That's correct Doc,

my BDP-80 has the latest FW and I use HDMI cables all around, therefore I don't think the culprit in on the player, but in the media mastering instead

 

[bikdav]

Thank You.

check out this article
LPCM is not always equal to bitstream -- Engadget

The audio problem was one of the questions I had about the Blu-ray format.

 

[avliner]

That's the same article aarond posted above and to be honest, I'm still searching for a better explanation about this particular issue with LOTR though.

 

[bikdav]

That's the same article aarond posted above and to be honest, I'm still searching for a better explanation about this particular issue with LOTR though.

You might have a good point. Do you suppose that some "trap" was installed on the discs to keep certain functions from happening?

 

[TLS Guy]

You might have a good point. Do you suppose that some "trap" was installed on the discs to keep certain functions from happening?

I do, and I think it is MKV. I suspect at some time during production, they are put in MKV files. MKV strips the LPCM track. This might have happened inadvertently or possibly intentionally.

I have been thinking about this for a while and this is my best guess.

 

[avliner]

Hey guys,

the search is over though, as I've found a specific thread over at AVS Forum, where such issue has been discussed to death...

Bottom line: it's a hardware related issue with the Oppo -83 / 83SE and most probably with the -80 (all no longer produced). The new generation of Oppo players doesn't suffer from this ( - 93 & -95 ).
See the thread below for further info:

Official OPPO BDP-83 Owner's Thread [technical talk only] - Page 1236 - AVS Forum

 

[avliner]

Have also found this:

AVForums.com