New HD Audio codecs

[admin_exported]

Permission to be a bit of a dollard ... ?

How "new" are these "new" codecs? I have a Panasonic DMP-BD35 BD player fed through a Sony STR-DG820 amp. The Amp recognises Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, Dolby Pure(?something like that?)

Are these the "new" codecs, or have there been developments in the last six months that my 'budget' kit won't cope with on the latest Blu-ray discs?

 

[Andrew Everard]

The now-not-so-new codecs have HD in their titles, eg DTS-HD, Dolby True HD, and the Sony will handle these just fine.

 

[Dave_]

The 'new' HD codec's are, DTS HD,Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio,though not really that new anymore and yes your sony can decode them.

 

[Liam19]

Mez:
Permission to be a bit of a dollard ... ?

How "new" are these "new" codecs? I have a Panasonic DMP-BD35 BD player fed through a Sony STR-DG820 amp. The Amp recognises Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, Dolby Pure(?something like that?)

Are these the "new" codecs, or have there been developments in the last six months that my 'budget' kit won't cope with on the latest Blu-ray discs?

The 'new' HD audio codecs are Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio - both of which your DG820 can decode onboard.

 

[digigriffin]

So what is the pecking order of the audio codecs?

IMHO it would appear that you get one or other of Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD:MA or PCM on a blu-ray.

I recently purchased the Harry Potter years 1-5 on blu-ray and was dissapointed that it was all DD5.1.
However in languages you could specify PCM and this sounded as good as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD:MA?

I appreciate that PCM is the uncompressed audio but how does Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD:MA differ in quality?

 

[nads]

PCM is the base for all others.

 

[digigriffin]

So is PCM considered a lower spec or higher spec.
I have heard that whilst Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD:MA are both lossless they must do something different with the sound?
The maximum data rates of each are different so where does the difference come from?
So if multiple HD audio codecs were on a blu-ray which would be preferred?

 

[Liam19]

Linear PCM involves no compression of the original studio master, and is therefore raw digital lossless data. LPCM also takes up a vast amount of space on a disc, and this is the main reason why it is used very rarely on newer Blu-ray releases.

Dolby TrueHD, on the other hand, is a lossless compression codec. Although it is compressed to take up less disc space than an LPCM track,
once decoded it is also bit-for-bit identical to the studio master. It's essentially like a ZIP file on a computer - once it's unzipped, you get a completely identical copy of the original LPCM track.

DTS-HD Master Audio is slightly different, since it is configured to include a lossy DTS 'core' (at 1.5mbps) and an 'extension' which re-introduces the excised data in suitable systems to create, once again, a fully lossless track. This takes up more space than a Dolby TrueHD track, but one advantage is that there is no need for a separate soundtrack on the disc, for sound systems that cannot handle HD audio. A receiver capable of decoding DTS will simply be able to decode the 'core' of the track.

So, in answer to your question, and as nads has already mentioned briefly, Linear Pulse Code Modulation is the foundation of each of these codecs - both D THD and DTS-HD MA will, whether in player or receiver, be decoded to raw LPCM and converted to analogue for amplification to your ears.

As for which is preferred, I'd reiterate that each audio format is designed to re-produce the same lossless audio track. I suppose, if you're a purist or an 'audiophile', you might prefer the idea of raw LPCM on a disc, completely uncompressed and more straightforward to handle. But rest assured that each one of these formats represents a vast upgrade over DVD.

 

[digigriffin]

Thanx for the explanation.

So I suppose any particular blu-ray the sounds particularly good is not down the the hd codec then?
I find on Master and Command the DTS HD:MA audio to be the best that I have heard.
I have also had DolbyTrue HD that too me sounded dissapointing on some blu-rays.
But what we are saying is that this is down to the original audio and not the codec?

As I have yet to have a blu-ray with more that one HD codec on it which one to use is a moot point.
More of a mystery is why some blu-ray default to the best HD audio and some default to DD5.1 and have to be manually changed.

 

[The_Lhc]

digigriffin:So I suppose any particular blu-ray the sounds particularly good is not down the the hd codec then?

I find on Master and Command the DTS HD:MA audio to be the best that I have heard.
I have also had DolbyTrue HD that too me sounded dissapointing on some blu-rays.
But what we are saying is that this is down to the original audio and not the codec?

Yeah if the original soundtrack is bobbins there isn't a codec in the world that's going to help.

As I have yet to have a blu-ray with more that one HD codec on it which one to use is a moot point.

Yeah there generally isn't the room for more than one.

More of a mystery is why some blu-ray default to the best HD audio and some default to DD5.1 and have to be manually changed.

Bad programming.

 

[professorhat]

digigriffin:As I have yet to have a blu-ray with more that one HD codec on it which one to use is a moot point.

Indeed, and just the fact that a Blu-Ray has one of the HD audio formats on it is not a guarantee it will be a fantastic soundtrack - it all comes down to the master from which that soundtrack was created. I've heard some fabulous Dolby Digital soundtracks and some pretty poor DTS HD Master Audio soundtracks (on different films). In these cases, it's purely down to the fact that the original master used to create the DTS HD MA track just wasn't particularly good, mostly down to its age.

digigriffin:More of a mystery is why some blu-ray default to the best HD audio and some default to DD5.1 and have to be manually changed.

That's purely a decision made by the publishing studio - it's annoying, but just means you need to do an extra check each time you play the disc to ensure you're getting the best track.

 

[JoelSim]

I'm a bit of a bollard too, what on earth is a codec?

 

[Dave_]

JoelSim:I'm a bit of a bollard too, what on earth is a codec?It's a piece of software used to compress and decompress/unzip data. i.e mp3,aac,ogg vorbis etc are just type's of codec.

 

[digigriffin]

Quote from Wikipedia

"A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal."

So audio codec in this thread refers to Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD:MA etc.

 

[m.j]

the best quality sound i have heard from a blu-ray was PCM 5.1 from the blue man group blu-ray

it was so real and really made you feel part of the show .

worth checking out !