Current state of Bluray Audio for HD200

[dfitz43]

Hi all,

been away for a while (stable setup, no problems in many moons, kids etc). Anyway, just wanted to know what the latest was with outputting TrueHD or DTS-MA via the HD200.

Last I had looked, it seemed like a bitstream solution was definitely not happening, but apparently Jeff had alluded to the fact that decoding to 7.1 LPCM was a possibility.

Any progress on this, or are we still stuck with DD/DTS for BD rips?

cheers,
Dave

[stanger89]

It passes the core only.

7.1 PCM is hardware possible, but I believe the licensing (to decode TrueHD/DTS-HD*) is quite expensive...

[dfitz43]

Yeah, I figured as much. Is this a prohibitive one-time only cost, or a per-unit sort of thing? Or both, most likely.

I would be very willing to pay $400 for a unit that passed bitstream (or 7.1 decoded LPCM) TruHD and DTS-MA. And I suspect many others would, as well. Certainly there seem to be a number of folks with both the Sage Media Extender and the Popcorn Hour device expressly to get around this limitation.

Anyway, here's hoping that we might see hi-def audio someday via the extender!

cheers,
Dave

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by dfitz43

Yeah, I figured as much. Is this a prohibitive one-time only cost, or a per-unit sort of thing? Or both, most likely.

I would be very willing to pay $400 for a unit that passed bitstream (or 7.1 decoded LPCM) TruHD and DTS-MA. And I suspect many others would, as well. Certainly there seem to be a number of folks with both the Sage Media Extender and the Popcorn Hour device expressly to get around this limitation.

Anyway, here's hoping that we might see hi-def audio someday via the extender!

cheers,
Dave

You CAN get a standalone BluRay player for WAY less than that.. ;-) Also, you should be able to build up a PC client for about that (or less) that will be able to do this.

[johnnytyler]

Or you could just buy the popcorn hour.

[dfitz43]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

You CAN get a standalone BluRay player for WAY less than that.. ;-)

Yeah, I know. Like a lot of people though, I'm trying to eliminate the physical media aspect of movie playback, and I very much like having the library as I do for my standard def DVDs.

Getting the Popcorn Hour is certainly a reasonable solution; it would just be cool to do everything with one device.

As far as BD rips, I'm sure someone can quickly answer this question. I understand that the media extender will extract the core (DD or DTS) for playback. Having not actually made any rips yet, am I correct in assuming that the full resolution TruHD or DTS-MA data is preserved on the rip, if/when the Media Extender supports these formats (or if I go Popcorn Hour)?

cheers,
Dave

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by dfitz43

As far as BD rips, I'm sure someone can quickly answer this question. I understand that the media extender will extract the core (DD or DTS) for playback. Having not actually made any rips yet, am I correct in assuming that the full resolution TruHD or DTS-MA data is preserved on the rip, if/when the Media Extender supports these formats (or if I go Popcorn Hour)?

Yup, I don't even touch the audio on my rips, I just leave the TrueHD/DTS-HD MA track and the extender plays the core stream just fine.

[HelenWeathers]

Unless something has changed (havn't checked lately) the DTS core is only available if you have an external amp. My TV's will only play DD tracks via HDMI from the HD200 - not DTS tracks.

[stanger89]

Well, to put it more specifically, the extender will extract and pass the DD/DTS cores as bitstreams, but since it can only decode DD, if you need the extender to do decoding, eg analog, PCM output or your AVR/SSP doesn't support DTS bitstreams, you'll have to get "fancy" and add a DD track to get audio for DTS-HD discs, just like you would with DTS DVDs (though they may be more likely to have a DD track).

[briands]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Yup, I don't even touch the audio on my rips, I just leave the TrueHD/DTS-HD MA track and the extender plays the core stream just fine.

Hmmmm.... I do not have such luck. I am using HDMI straight to my TV.

[stanger89]

They're probably DTS-HD tracks and your TV can't decode DTS?

[Fuzzy]

If you are only getting stereo sound from your tv, you'd be better off transcoding and adding a mixed down stereo audio track (AAC, perhaps) to your rips.

[briands]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

If you are only getting stereo sound from your tv, you'd be better off transcoding and adding a mixed down stereo audio track (AAC, perhaps) to your rips.

Sounds like a great idea... can you point me to a how to?

[aflat]

Easiest way I have found is this http://audioconverter.heartware.dk/Tutorial/