DTS MA DD TruHD and BDP-S550

[HT Junky]

Originally Posted by kennyt

That's because their is no difference. The reason your receiver say Multi-Channel is the player put the bitstream into LPCM, so it is not recognized as DTYS HD or Dolby TrueHD, but the sound is identical. I do like to see the label Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio though, so I prefer bitstream, and it seems that is becoming the standard. Ironic that we've had this format for ~2 years and we are just now establishing a standard!

I like to see the label as well.

By the way Ken.

I pulled out my Denon 2500 transport, updated the firmware, and it now seems work flawlessly. All of the frustrating Blu-ray disc playback issues seem to have been corrected.

[wes]

Originally Posted by HT Junky

I like to see the label as well.

That is the only way to know for sure to what you are listening to

[kennyt]

Originally Posted by wes

That is the only way to know for sure to what you are listening to

Well, it's the easiest, but not only way. If you know you have your player or transport set to output in LPCM, then you also know when the receiver or pre/pro say MC.

I just got the Denon transport for review for the new magazine I work for;

www.avrev.com

I'll naturally put in the newest firmware before using it any. I have to say I expect a lot from it as my Sony BDP-S350 that is sub $300 does everything so well functionally, I haven't yet put them into the main rig, but once the Krell Evo 707 comes hopefully late this week or early next I will tear apart the entire rig, ro-do the rack and put them both in and AB them.

[wes]

Originally Posted by kennyt

Well, it's the easiest, but not only way. If you know you have your player or transport set to output in LPCM, then you also know when the receiver or pre/pro say MC. I just got the Denon transport for review for the new magazine I work for; www.avrev.com I'll naturally put in the newest firmware before using it any. I have to say I expect a lot from it as my Sony BDP-S350 that is sub $300 does everything so well functionally, I haven't yet put them into the main rig, but once the Krell Evo 707 comes hopefully late this week or early next I will tear apart the entire rig, ro-do the rack and put them both in and AB them.

So as long as you see Multichannel you get DTS Master Audio or Dolby Digital HD?

[legendlarry]

I don't believe this player actually decodes DTS-HD Master Audio. Try it for yourself. You are supposed to set the BD Audio Setting to "Direct" when you want it to pass the track through bitstream to have it decoded at the receiver. This feature does work with the BDP-S550. However, you are supposed to set the BD Audio Setting to "Mix" when you want the player to decode the track, but when you do this, it passes through standard DTS (not Master Audio) to the player. The reason I know this is true is when you try to do this with Dolby TrueHD, you get Dolby TrueHD out on the other end regardless of whether the BD Audio Setting is set to "Direct" or "Mix".

My suspicions are further confirmed by the fact that their website doesn't actually say you can decode Master Audio (it says DTS-HD - not Master Audio) nor does the box mention Master Audio. I've also heard on other forums that Sony went back and forth on the specs on whether they were going to include native Master Audio decoding functionality - I guess they decided against it.

[oscar_in_fw]

Originally Posted by legendlarry

I don't believe this player actually decodes DTS-HD Master Audio. Try it for yourself. You are supposed to set the BD Audio Setting to "Direct" when you want it to pass the track through bitstream to have it decoded at the receiver. This feature does work with the BDP-S550. However, you are supposed to set the BD Audio Setting to "Mix" when you want the player to decode the track, but when you do this, it passes through standard DTS (not Master Audio) to the player. The reason I know this is true is when you try to do this with Dolby TrueHD, you get Dolby TrueHD out on the other end regardless of whether the BD Audio Setting is set to "Direct" or "Mix".

My suspicions are further confirmed by the fact that their website doesn't actually say you can decode Master Audio (it says DTS-HD - not Master Audio) nor does the box mention Master Audio. I've also heard on other forums that Sony went back and forth on the specs on whether they were going to include native Master Audio decoding functionality - I guess they decided against it.

Page 66 of the manual suggests to me the player DOES decode DTS HD MA properly. The table suggests to me when you set the HDMI to PCM, you'll get 5.1 PCM output ("losslessly" decoded from DTS HD MA ????), but only DTS when setup to "AUTO" mode, which suggests to me they do not bitstream the DTS HD MA ???

I don't actually own the player, a friend brought one over temporarily to make sure the unit was working before it showed up underneath the Christmas tree. We tried the (alleged?) DTS HD MA audio tracks using the analog outputs (my preamp doesn't support HDMI) and it sounded pretty clean just as you'd expect from an uncompressed PCM track. But since I don't currently have a DTS HD MA-capable player, I'm mot sure what to expect.

We didn't spend the time to compare the alleged DTS HD MA track with "plain jane" DTS but given the uncertainty, we might have to try to put it through it's paces in an HDMI-capable setup.

The fact that the manual lists DTS HD master audio as a valid sound track is promising. or did they get the manual wrong ?