A Blu-Ray player with analog multi channel out worth the £££

luckystars · Post by **luckystars** » 06 Jul 2009, 18:44

Looking to get my first Blu-Ray player but my Amp doesn't process audio over HDMI.

Is is the Analog option to get DTS Master Audio (via a player that processes the audio on board, and buying all the extra cabling) worth the investment?

Or am I wasting my money on extra features on a player just for this legacy crossover (better to get a cheaper player and wait to get a better amp in the future)?

Any help appreciated

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 06 Jul 2009, 18:57

It all depends on whether your amp & speakers are capable of making the true difference between DVD & BD soundtracks or not. I personally went this route because there's nothing wrong with my amp but I still wanted Dolby TrueHD & DTS HD Master Audio.

luckystars · Post by **luckystars** » 06 Jul 2009, 19:17

Nice Amp and Speakers here.

What player did you go for and how much was the extra cabling?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 06 Jul 2009, 21:02

Analogue and HDMI AFAIK both process lossless at the same bitrates etc... so other than the fact one is Analogue and all DSP type effects are disabled when using Analogue it should sound the same.

I've read so many mixture of reports whether you can hear a difference over 1.5Mbps legacy DTS and Losssless but I'd certainly pay to hear the difference for myself.

Personally I'd get a Panasonic BD Player. They have several with Analogue outputs and crucially that on-board decode ALL formats. Many BD Players handle TrueHD (and obviously PCM) but not DTS-HD, that's bitstream only. Which seems a bit of a waste of time IMO.

You pay a premium for multi-channel analogue though, it's always the first thing to do when the lower models get released.

I wanted a Combo Player so made do without but today would certainly plump the extra cash to keep my Amp. It's more than powerful for my needs and handled the High Resolution audio formats (SACD and DVD-Audio) very well, a good indicator in my book. Incidentally the Samsung Combo Player has Multi-channel analogue (not DTS-HD) but the LG is a better Combo Player, so I plumped for that one.

luckystars · Post by **luckystars** » 06 Jul 2009, 22:29

How common is DTS-HD so far?

Btw check this model out:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2356

Blu/VHS combo!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 06 Jul 2009, 22:48

luckystars wrote:How common is DTS-HD so far?

Very common. Fox use it on pretty much every title and Universal on all BDs.

DTS-HD btw technically means DTS-HD MA and DTS-HD HR. Most people choose to (incorrectly) abbreviate DTS-HD HR to DTS-HD. As to DTS-HD HR it's virtually not used at all, the German Terminator 2 uses it but that's about it. It's a dead format, like DD Plus (now HD-DVD is dead).

There's no need for DTS-HD HR. If you want lossless you're going to go TrueHD or DTS-HD MA (which has the advantage of having a 1.5Mbps legacy DTS track inside it) or DD if you want lossy.

luckystars wrote:Btw check this model out:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2356

Complete waste of time IMO, only Panasonic still make VCRs. You can get VHS/HDD/DVDR boxes and they're huge. Those are even more a waste of time, once you've recorded your VHS tapes to HDD you'll never use it again.

p.s - IM is better placed to recommend a model, hence why I haven't. I've no idea how good Sony's are.

luckystars · Post by **luckystars** » 06 Jul 2009, 23:10

Thanks for your comments.

Still slightly unsure of what I need and what I'll end up getting (specs wise).

So the wildly talked about DTS Master Audio is an HD format my Amp will accept over analogue and just play it through?

Current UK models seem to be the Panasonic BD80 or Sony S550.

Can't spend much over £200. Was hoping to get nearer £150 to be honest!!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 06 Jul 2009, 23:32

luckystars wrote:So the wildly talked about DTS Master Audio is an HD format my Amp will accept over analogue and just play it through?

If your Amp has multi-channel analogue and the BD player can "on-board" decode DTS-HD HR/MA then yes. Most on-board decode TrueHD but not all DTS-HD HR/MA.

As your Amp cannot on-board decode, you need the player to do this. Bitstream (via HDMI) sends it out in digital form for your to Amp to decode (much like Optical and Coaxial on DVD Players). As Multi-channel PCM is already by definition decoded that will always pass along HDMI or Analogue.

luckystars wrote:Can't spend much over £200. Was hoping to get nearer £150 to be honest!!

I reckon you'll struggle. At that price point it won't have multi-channel analogue. You migh need to make do with DD and 1.5Mbps Legacy DTS until you can upgrade your Amp.