PS3 owners: How many of you watch your bluray movies in true HD audio?

[MissKat]

1) Do you have an A/V receiver with built in true HD and DTS-HD decoding?
2) Do you have a A/V receiver that allows PCM through HDMI?

Just curious how many of you bluray lovers watch your movies in true HD, or is just reg DD 5.1 good enough for you?

[Nage Waza]

I watch in full HD...I have a sony STR DA5300es, along with 7.1 setup. I also increased the back and side speakers for watching sports, I kinda like to hear the crowd behind me during a hockey game.

[User Name]

I have a denon that decodes the DTS-MA and TRUE-HD. Only have 5.1 for now though .... Good stuff!

[Kipper is King]

I have a big ol' CRT TV. Two words: stereo speakers. Are you jelous?

[HotHotHeat]

Can you actually notice a difference between Dolby Digital and Dolby True HD?

[Russic]

sigh. I bought a really good receiver just before HD receivers started coming out. My speakers suck to boot, so my sound is pretty weak.

[MissKat]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Can you actually notice a difference between Dolby Digital and Dolby True HD?

Most definitely - but it all depends on your set of ears.

But does anyknow know if many blurays can play in 7.1? I havent noticed. And if you play 5.1 on the disc on your 7.1 setup, how will it play? 5.1?

[Prototype]

I just run mine out of the LCD TV for now. Can't afford/wife isn't interested in a new reciever to take advantage of the quality. Regular is fine for me right now.

[OBCT]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Can you actually notice a difference between Dolby Digital and Dolby True HD?

I don't own any HD audio equipment, so my opinion is based on a lot of what I read. (example)

The answer is ... sort of. sometimes.


The "lowest common denominator" in overall sound quality of any track from a movie is rarely the way it is encoded (ie. DD vs. DTHD) for an average joe like you or I. Usually it is the speakers that have the most impact in the sound, followed closely by the room they are in (how sound interacts with the features of the room acoustically). That's usually followed by the way the track was originally mastered, followed by the encoding, and then finally on to other things like quality of amp(s)/reciever/cables/etc. Therefore, assuming your speakers are "good" enough, your room is "acoustically sound" enough, and track was mastered well enough... then, you might hear a difference.

Most often, though, people claim that it is the mastering itself that makes the big difference. They say that back in the day of Dolby Digital and everything before, there wasn't the same focus on high fidelity surround sound in home movies... probably because the demand just wasn't there. Dolby True HD allows music engineers to do more, and now that the average consumer is becoming aware of the possibilities, more and more movies are seeing the full benefits. 7.1 surround sound is supposed to be a remarkable thing, if done well.

So, yeah... very few simple Dolby Digital films were mastered exceptionally well, as the demand wasn't there. A well-mastered DTHD disc will only sound a little bit better than a well-mastered DD disc, with the main benefit being native 7.1 surround sound encoding (if you have a good 7.1 system). Not all Blu-rays are mastered well, but luckily, we're seeing more and more that are. That's the real win.

[OBCT]

Originally Posted by MissKat

<snip>
But does anyknow know if many blurays can play in 7.1? I havent noticed.

If you're asking how many Blu-ray titles are encoded in 7.1 natively, the number is just over 100 right now. Here's the official list (sorted by release date; newest to oldest).

Originally Posted by MissKat

And if you play 5.1 on the disc on your 7.1 setup, how will it play? 5.1?

This depends on a few things. Normally, yes, it will just default to play the disc's standard 5.1 and will not utilize your system's two rear surround speakers. There are ways around this, though, which normally depend on an A/V Reciever.

Some recievers have built-in processing settings which can take a 5.1-encoded track and matrix it into a 7.1 track. (or a 2.0 or 2.1 track to 5.1 or even 7.1, etc, etc, etc). It isn't quite like the real thing, but it usually is pretty decent at achieving the desired affect. Basically, these processes use algorithms to take specific pieces out of the other channels in the track, re-directing them to the needed channels for a fuller, more "enveloping" experience. There are various types developed by different companies, with names like Dolby, DTS, THX, Neural, DSD, etc. Look thru your reciever's manual to figure out what kind of matrixing functionality your unit has.

[MissKat]

Originally Posted by OBCT

If you're asking how many Blu-ray titles are encoded in 7.1 natively, the number is just over 100 right now. Here's the official list (sorted by release date; newest to oldest).


This depends on a few things. Normally, yes, it will just default to play the disc's standard 5.1 and will not utilize your system's two rear surround speakers. There are ways around this, though, which normally depend on an A/V Reciever.

Some recievers have built-in processing settings which can take a 5.1-encoded track and matrix it into a 7.1 track. (or a 2.0 or 2.1 track to 5.1 or even 7.1, etc, etc, etc). It isn't quite like the real thing, but it usually is pretty decent at achieving the desired affect. Basically, these processes use algorithms to take specific pieces out of the other channels in the track, re-directing them to the needed channels for a fuller, more "enveloping" experience. There are various types developed by different companies, with names like Dolby, DTS, THX, Neural, DSD, etc. Look thru your reciever's manual to figure out what kind of matrixing functionality your unit has.

My bro in law has a high end 7.1 setup and I have to say that its amazing the difference the extra 2 rears make. Just too bad theres not many 7.1 enable blurays to fully make use of your 7.1 setup. Ive been looking into 7.1 but I might wait until it becomes the industry standard. 5.1 will probably remain to be the standard for years to come, same with DD5.1.

Once we see all blurays with 7.1 and true HD/DTS-HD on them, then we will see HD audio receivers take off.

[bluejays]

I got my whole system about a month back and watched Body of Lies using 7.1 but I actually don't think it was an option on the BluRay. I do watch games and stuff using all 7 speakers and it does make a difference soundwise, but not huge. I admittedly haven't messed around with the received much, and instead let MCACC work it's magic. To be honest though, when I do fiddle with the DTS on the receiver, I don't notice a positive difference (plays mostly out of 5 speakers). I just put on enhanced sound on my pioneer receiver and it plays much better. Probably doing something wrong, but no time to look up the ins and outs.

[Nage Waza]

I have a pretty killer 7.1 setup (and a really good 5.1 setup!!!). To be honest, 7.1 is overkill, if they never invented those middle speakers I am not sure I would notice. However, when something is taking advantage of the speaker setup and you are into the sounds, then it is pretty cool. I do like a good CRT with nice stereo as well though!
I have never even cranked my system, unless Much Music Loud is on, but even then I keep it kinda quiet. This system is not nearly as loud as a guitar amp I have that can literally wake up the whole street.

[User Name]

I think it really depends on the size of your room. If you have a small room at the rears/sides are somewhat close together, it likely wont make a difference. However if you have quite a large room and the gap between the sides/rears is quite large it would make quiet a bit of difference IMO.

[Hack&Lube]

One of my speakers died.

I watch in true SD mono!

[Flash Walken]

Stereo.

I have small rooms and other things I like to spend money on.

[kukkudo]

http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/Stats.php

a link for which blu rays are in 7.1, 5.1 etc just select it

[3 Justin 3]

I have a proper Receiver, and a tv (only 1080i however), but only 2 big speakers so I only have 2.0. Those two speakers do get pretty loud though.

[MissKat]

Its night and day better than reg. DD 5.1, not is even comparable! If you havent upgraded yet, do so now

I hope its not long before true HD audio becomes the industry standard