Multi audio channel PCM over HDMI?

[fayeanddavid]

I'm still not quite getting this............?

So, is multi channel audio PCM over HDMI the same as analogue out from a BDP, and is it DTS MA/DD True HD where applicable?

I'm struggling with the concept and logic where so much has been made of the amp/receiver doing the decode from the BDP, yet this seems to me that it is done for you and the amp will pass on the decoded multichannel audio which has been delivered either by analogue out or PCM over HDMI?

The only real difference I see is that the sonic signature will reside with the BDP and not the amp/receiver..............yes?

Would that really be an issue?

 

[The_Lhc]

fayeanddavid: So, is multi channel audio PCM over HDMI the same as analogue out from a BDP, and is it DTS MA/DD True HD where applicable?

DTSMA/Dolby TrueHD become multi-channel PCM after they've been unpacked. MCPCM takes up a LOT of space on a disc, DTSMA and DolbyTrueHD are really just methods of reducing the amount of space required on the disc, without losing any information (the same way that you can zip a large word document to email it and when you unzip at the other end you haven't lost anything.

I'm struggling with the concept and logic where so much has been made of the amp/receiver doing the decode from the BDP, yet this seems to me that it is done for you and the amp will pass on the decoded multichannel audio which has been delivered either by analogue out or PCM over HDMI?

The only real difference I see is that the sonic signature will reside with the BDP and not the amp/receiver..............yes?

In *theory* (and I stress the theory bit because plenty of people claim to prefer one to the other) there shouldn't be any difference between unpacking the soundtrack on the player and passing MCPCM to the amp compared to sending the DTS-MA/DTHD straight to the amp and getting it to unpack it, the result is still that the amp has to convert the PCM (which is a digital signal) to sound (which is analogue), so, again, *in theory*, there shouldn't be any difference between the two PCM streams that the amp's is converting (just as there should be any difference in the word document if I unpack on my PC compared to you unpacking it on your PC) and it'll be the amp's audio signature in the analogue waveform that gets amplified and sent to the speakers.

That's not the case if you're using the multi-channel analogue outputs on your BDP however, in that case the BDP is unpacking AND doing the digital to analogue conversion, so it will imprint an audio signature on the analogue waveform, before it gets sent directly the amp's amplifier stage. So it's entirely feasible that you'll hear a difference between sending the audio via HDMI and sending it via MC analogue outputs but in theory, there shouldn't be any difference if you're using HDMI regardless of which end you use to unpack the audio.

WHF have a recent blog on this subject which is worth reading.

 

[fayeanddavid]

the_lhc

wow.............now that is what I call an answer, perfect explanation and perfectly understood

Many thanks