why better non HD sound from blu-ray?

[philh]

I don't understand, I thought digital sound was digital sound???

I was all set to upgrade my receiver to go along with the new visual upgrades, but now will stay with what I have.

Std Def DVD's have HUGE sound improvements, with nothing changed on the receiver side, the only change is blu-ray from a cheap DVD player. I did change from high quality coax to low price optical tho

 

[allargon]

I don't understand, I thought digital sound was digital sound???

I was all set to upgrade my receiver to go along with the new visual upgrades, but now will stay with what I have.

Std Def DVD's have HUGE sound improvements, with nothing changed on the receiver side, the only change is blu-ray from a cheap DVD player. I did change from high quality coax to low price optical tho

Simple.

Most DVD's have 448Kbps Dolby Digital. Some have 768Kbps (rarely 1.5 Mbps) DTS tracks.

Lossy Blu-Ray tracks (if you don't have the equipment to take advantage of high res audio) are usually full 640Kbps Dolby Digital or full 1.5 Mbps DTS. That extra 192 Kbps makes quite a bit of difference.

 

[Adam]

I might have misunderstood, but I thought that the OP was saying that regular DVDs (not blu-ray discs) sounded better on the new blu-ray player.

To the OP - was I understanding correctly?

 

[philh]

I might have misunderstood, but I thought that the OP was saying that regular DVDs (not blu-ray discs) sounded better on the new blu-ray player.

To the OP - was I understanding correctly?

Yes regular DVD's sound better. I haven't put in a DTS disk yet, just dolby or dolby e. Receiver is roughly 8 years old. I have not changed a single setting, get the same number of pretty colored lights, indicating the digital 5.1 incoming signal.

The one blu ray disk I put in was obviously phenomenal.

 

[strube]

Yes regular DVD's sound better. I haven't put in a DTS disk yet, just dolby or dolby e. Receiver is roughly 8 years old. I have not changed a single setting, get the same number of pretty colored lights, indicating the digital 5.1 incoming signal.

The one blu ray disk I put in was obviously phenomenal.

Maybe you had an issue with your coaxial digital connection such that you were getting some signal degradation that you wouldn't experience with optical - that is all I can come up with.

 

[philh]

Maybe you had an issue with your coaxial digital connection such that you were getting some signal degradation that you wouldn't experience with optical - that is all I can come up with.

It's a high quality coax cable. I can't imagine a partial digital signal working tho.

 

[mtrycrafts]

It's a high quality coax cable. I can't imagine a partial digital signal working tho.

Then, it is just not possible. Your a/b comparison must be grossly flawed to give you that or perception is way off, if the only thing that changed was the BD player with standard DVDs. Same audio going through, same comes out especially in the digital domain.

 

[JLMEMT]

I am far from an expert in signals and formats. But it doesn't seem that unlikely to me. There are some points I may be missing. I know that coax is, or should be, equal to optical. But aren't there many possibilities where a connector or something is weakly designed, etc on a player?
And shouldn't any decent Bluray player going to do a better processing job than a cheap old DVD player? Obviously there could be a setting change from the old player to the new one. I just recently realized that my DVD player was set to PCM instead of Bitstream and was probably not getting what I should have out of my 5:1. :-( The reciever is new, but even the old one probably had a better processor for audio than my DVD player.

 

[edmcanuck]

But aren't there many possibilities where a connector or something is weakly designed, etc on a player?

No. Either the signal is getting transported or it isn't. There is no in between.

And shouldn't any decent Bluray player going to do a better processing job than a cheap old DVD player?

And what processing do you imagine happening? All the player does is read and shuttle the bitstream over the receiver. It's the exact same stream no matter what is reading and shuttling it.

The OP bought something new and believes that is sounds better because that's what his brain wants him to believe. That's the whole story here.

 

[JLMEMT]

But if the old player wasn't set to bitsteam then it would process it, right? And if it processed it and then the AVR processes it again you are likely to loose something.
I am not saying that is the case, but certianly seems like a viable possibility to me.

 

[PENG]

But if the old player wasn't set to bitsteam then it would process it, right? And if it processed it and then the AVR processes it again you are likely to loose something.
I am not saying that is the case, but certianly seems like a viable possibility to me.

You made a good point. Quite often that is the reason. In this case, the answer is still "no". If it was due to his old player not set to bitstream then he would not have got 5.1 with his 8 year old receiver. He said "....get the same number of pretty colored lights, indicating the digital 5.1 incoming signal". That implied he was getting it with the old player also and had it correctly set to bitstream all along.

 

[philh]

Both players were set for bit stream, without the silly level compression. Receiver in both cases is recognizing the digital stream.

Maybe the great new picture is impacting my ears? In any case, I'm enjoying watching, and listening to some of my old fav movies.

 

[mtrycrafts]

....

Maybe the great new picture is impacting my ears? In any case, I'm enjoying watching, and listening to some of my old fav movies.

Yes, the senses do interact and affects perception even if it is a false perception. The brain is marvelous at fooling humans.

 

[JLMEMT]

You made a good point. Quite often that is the reason. In this case, the answer is still "no". If it was due to his old player not set to bitstream then he would not have got 5.1 with his 8 year old receiver. He said "....get the same number of pretty colored lights, indicating the digital 5.1 incoming signal". That implied he was getting it with the old player also and had it correctly set to bitstream all along.

You are right! I read that too, but forgot it too quickly.