What benefits HDMI 1.3 rely on disk?

[kenhoeve]

I'm curious, how do you know for fact you are getting the full TrueHD audio signal (all 14 channels of it), and not the embedded dolby digital 5.1 audio track? Is there any indication on the player or the receiver that can confirm this?

I know because when I toggle the audio button the info screen from my xa2 displays the audio output format. It goes between DD+ and Dolby True HD. And the True HD... well, all I can say for now is that it has more presence. I sense more detail, more enveloped sound. As soon as it goes off, things just seem a little more separate. DD+ is still really, really, good. HD almost has an intangible.

Oh well, no raw bitstream for now. But right now, I'm hearing the finest audio available even thought it is a PCM stream. So that is a fine reason for having my 1.3 dvd player. This is audioholics after all. Isn't it?

 

[MACCA350]

Well Macca350, thanks for the detailed responses.The depth of my understanding of this subject just went from 1 bit to 2 bits. I guess the upshot is: by waiting for the amp and TV I'm getting to be outfitted with HDMI 1.3, I am merely securing a possibly future-proof technology that may or may not be implemented at some unspecified future date.

This is my stance on the whole thing also. I'm waiting for all this to be sorted out and for the implementation of HDMI 1.3 in more products so we can see how all this affects things

So if this is the case, why are the people working on the 1.3 version, the new Dolby formats, and Deep Color, etc. even bothering, if the format associations aren't going to implement them? And I guess a more salient question would be why are manufacturers actually installing 1.3 on their hardware this year?

Honestly you'd have to ask them. Probably 'this is the latest thing, you must have it, so upgrade'

The blu-ray mandatory specs are about to change with the implementation of Java(profile 1.1, etc) later this year(some discs are already encoded this way). So when HDMI 1.3 was first worked on they may not have known what changes were going to happen with Blu-ray and how it was going to affect the transmission over HDMI 1.3. HD DVD on the other hand already had their specs laid out and it hasn't changed(since all this 'advanced content' was in the original specs). Remember Dolby knew this along time ago(even before Blu-ray and HD DVD were released) as seen in their whitepapers and FAQ's pages.

Which leads me to ask the related question: could the new versions of HDMI 1.x be installed like upgrading firmware, for a price of course, or do the new versions require a total re-working of the unit? If it was something like the former, then people with older versions could pay an upgrade fee to whatever version they wanted without buying a whole new amp.

You could possibly swap out a HDMI 1.2 port for a 1.3 one but this wont get you all the benefits because the ability to decode new formats lies elsewhere in receivers(although there are some receivers that use a 'PCI type' design where complete boards can be upgraded, but even this could be iffy). So personally I don't see a simple upgrade from older versions to 1.3 being the norm, although there may be exceptions.

cheers

 

[mango]

Got it! Thank you for your helpful insights!
-Mango

 

[FinJest]

I know because when I toggle the audio button the info screen from my xa2 displays the audio output format. It goes between DD+ and Dolby True HD. And the True HD... well, all I can say for now is that it has more presence. I sense more detail, more enveloped sound. As soon as it goes off, things just seem a little more separate. DD+ is still really, really, good. HD almost has an intangible.

Oh well, no raw bitstream for now. But right now, I'm hearing the finest audio available even thought it is a PCM stream. So that is a fine reason for having my 1.3 dvd player. This is audioholics after all. Isn't it?

With the HD-DVD player connected to the receiver via HDMI how do you know that True HD or DDHD is being output? My receiver which is a Onkyo TX-804 has Pure Audio, Direct, Stereo and DVD Multichannel as choices when playing a HD-DVD.
Does it matter which one it is set to? BTW the HD-DVD player is a Toshiba HD-A2. Thanks!!!

 

[SDDSfan]

Well if you're going to go with sony blu-ray I wouln't go for sony receiver with speakers. Too many issues with both.

For those of you who are still interested in HDMI 1.2a I think it's worthless since both 1.2 and optical carry the same information. LOSSY AUDIO from PCM. core 5.1 sound

My proffesional installer who installed countless state of the art sound systems swears recommended me go with HD for audio quality and optical for connection.

 

[MACCA350]

Well if you're going to go with sony blu-ray I wouln't go for sony receiver with speakers. Too many issues with both.

For those of you who are still interested in HDMI 1.2a I think it's worthless since both 1.2 and optical carry the same information. LOSSY AUDIO from PCM. core 5.1 sound

My proffesional installer who installed countless state of the art sound systems swears recommended me go with HD for audio quality and optical for connection.

First of all, PCM, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are LOSSLESS formats. Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, DTS-ES, DTS 24/96 and DTS High Resolution Audio are all LOSSY formats.

Second, SPDIF/optical can only carry 2 channel PCM(IIRC. up to 24/96kHz) whereas ALL versions of HDMI can carry up to 8 channel PCM at 24/192kHz.

If you've read through this thread you would realize that as far as Blu-ray and HD DVD players go the SPDIF/optical connection is the LOWEST QUALITY connection, both HDMI and the Multichannel Analogue outputs will give you the highest quality transmission to a receiver.

We just keep going around and around

cheers

 

[no. 5]

We just keep going around and around

I blame it all on the existence of HDMI.

 

[MACCA350]

I blame it all on the existence of HDMI.

Yeah......one cable to rule them all.......until you see that little v

cheers