HDMI vs DIGITAL OPTICAL OUTPUT

[admin_exported]

Hey Y'all, my lil bruv is about to sort himself out, ie get an av receiver, is it better to use the hdmi for the sound and picture, or to separate them, ie picture hdmi and sound doo output, he has a sony lcd 40" 1080 and is looking at the yamaha dsp-ax750 av receiver, many thanks all, for your responses in advance

 

[The_Lhc]

Presumably he has blu-ray? In which case just use HDMI, digital optical can't carry the new HD audio formats, so you won't get the full benefit if you use the optical (or co-ax) connection.

 

[Andrew Everard]

The AX750 doesn't have HDMI inputs, so optical or electrical digital is your only option. So HDMI straight to the TV for picture, digital connection to the amp for audio.

 

[lastcoyote]

the_lhc:Presumably he has blu-ray? In which case just use HDMI, digital optical can't carry the new HD audio formats, so you won't get the full benefit if you use the optical (or co-ax) connection.

oh right...that's something i wasn't aware of as i'm still waiting to get my yamaha dsp-ax863se that i ordered in december.

so to be able to hear the new HD audio formats from my blu-ray player i'm going to have to use the hdmi to the amp for both picture AND sound. no optical cable needed?

is that correct? i kind of thought that a seperate digital optical cable would give better sound than using the hdmi cable.

 

[The_Lhc]

Andrew Everard:The AX750 doesn't have HDMI inputs, so optical or electrical digital is your only option. So HDMI straight to the TV for picture, digital connection to the amp for audio.

Surely that amp is a complete waste of money for someone with a 1080p TV and Blu-ray then isn't it?

 

[The_Lhc]

lastcoyote:
the_lhc:Presumably he has blu-ray? In which case just use HDMI, digital optical can't carry the new HD audio formats, so you won't get the full benefit if you use the optical (or co-ax) connection.

oh right...that's something i wasn't aware of as i'm still waiting to get my yamaha dsp-ax863se that i ordered in december.

so to be able to hear the new HD audio formats from my blu-ray player i'm going to have to use the hdmi to the amp for both picture AND sound. no optical cable needed?

is that correct?

Yes, having actually checked the amp in question this time

it can handle all the HD-audio formats via HDMI. So, no, you don't need an optical cable.

i kind of thought that a seperate digital optical cable would give better sound than using the hdmi cable.

Nope, optical and coaxial digital cables don't have the necessary bandwidth required to carry the uncompressed audio formats that feature on Blu-Ray, HDMI 1.3a compliant cables do, so they're the best and indeed, only option if you want to get DD TrueHD or any of the DTS HD audio soundtracks.

 

[lastcoyote]

ah i should have realised that really. the fact that it's HD audio an HDmi cable is the only way to access it. makes sense.

cheers!