For me, it's the DTS re-encoding. A brilliant option that's probably gonna save me from having to buy a new receiver for a while longer.

An honorable mention to the minimalist AV options on the rear; there's no reason any high-def player needs to have S-Video, composite or stereo audio. Kudos to LG for realizing this well ahead of the curve.

...and I probably should have included an Other option. But can't figure out how to add it now.

My first one is simple: it lets me play BD and HD DVD. After that i'm pleased that it loads Java titles quicker than some of the other players i've seen.

Well my favorite feature is that it plays BDs and HD DVDs, but you didn't have that option so I voted for profile 2.0 potential.

For me, it's the DTS re-encoding. A brilliant option that's probably gonna save me from having to buy a new receiver for a while longer.

An honorable mention to the minimalist AV options on the rear; there's no reason any high-def player needs to have S-Video, composite or stereo audio. Kudos to LG for realizing this well ahead of the curve.

I had no idea it didn't have those. I only look for the HDMI port and the power connector for my components now.

Wow, glad for this thread-- I had no idea the 200 re-encoded tracks to DTS, it just jumped from "if I can swing it" to "gotta buy this"...

I know I should put the money in a new receiver instead of a new player, but having such a versatile unit (more than likely one of the last combo players) is really worth it to me...

I voted 2.0 but it's related to the real reason: dual format.

It's a shame Sony & Toshiba couldn't have worked it out - there really is no difference.

Kudos to LG for a wonderful product.

Dual format and multiregion capability :)
John

For me, it's the DTS re-encoding. A brilliant option that's probably gonna save me from having to buy a new receiver for a while longer.

An honorable mention to the minimalist AV options on the rear; there's no reason any high-def player needs to have S-Video, composite or stereo audio. Kudos to LG for realizing this well ahead of the curve.

Even the $99 A2 had DTS re-encoding...

There is definitely a need for stereo audio. When I first got my BH200, I had it directly connected to my display without shame. Quite a few people have component only displays as well as *gasp* ProLogic receivers.

Multi-region is my favorite feature.

I also love the quick loading, wonderful Blu-Ray playback and kick-butt upscaling.

Only 4 months ago, the BH200 stood alone with Panasonic in the profile 1.1 standalone capability.

I went for TrueHD/PCM/DTS-HD as DTS.

The most annoying aspect is the lack of a time remaining option, it's such a basic feature!

I went for TrueHD/PCM/DTS-HD as DTS.

The most annoying aspect is the lack of a time remaining option, it's such a basic feature!

DOesn't that show up on the picture from most discs? It seems like all the discs I've used in the player so far show a time bar overlayed on the picture. I guess the older discs don't have this.

Why is re-encoding those formats to DTS such a big deal? Wouldn't PCM be better?

Even the $99 A2 had DTS re-encoding...

Since when?

I've had an A3, A20 and A30 and none of them sent DD+/THD to my receiver. And if they were, my receiver sure as hell wasn't/isn't detecting a DTS signal.

Over SPDIF- Re-encodes DD+ to DTS

DOesn't that show up on the picture from most discs?
It depends on the studio, they add it. It's not on many of mine, the font is also so stupidly small I cannot see it unless I get up and read it too.

Why is re-encoding those formats to DTS such a big deal? Wouldn't PCM be better?
PCM cannot travelled through the Optical connection. 1.5Mbps DTS is the highest audio quality possible over Optical. Hence the importance for Optical users.

It also means you can get PCM/DTS-HD/TrueHD converted to the highest bitrate possible over Optical. If you use HDMI it doesn't concern you.

Given the absolute rubbish BD-Live has offered so far I'm surprised how many considered Profile 2.0 an important feature. I never new quizzes and the possibility to stick your mug shot on the web were so important to people :D.

It may come and sure I can believe LG are working on it but I wouldn't hold your breadth it will actually get released. The LG BH200 was released a whole 9 months ago, an age in the HD world.

The fact that it's a completely hackable, truly worldwide multiplayer. :D

The fact that it actually plays HD DVDS pretty darn well should have been an option IMO.

Folks that aren't aware of this player are missing out, including BD only folks.

Not perfect, but none are, and it's better than most it seems...............
I'd put it against the BD30 for BD without a wink.... except it would smoke it in SD UpConversion............
So it really wouldn't be fair.

Did I fail to mention it plays HD DVD's as well?

The only 2.0 combo for the win.

Since when?

I've had an A3, A20 and A30 and none of them sent DD+/THD to my receiver. And if they were, my receiver sure as hell wasn't/isn't detecting a DTS signal.

The players you had didn't do it-- I think only the A2 and XA2 converted to DTS-- the rest went to DD. (and yes, if I remember correctly, the A20 didn't do it either which makes very little sense)

It depends on the studio, they add it. It's not on many of mine, the font is also so stupidly small I cannot see it unless I get up and read it too.


PCM cannot travelled through the Optical connection. 1.5Mbps DTS is the highest audio quality possible over Optical. Hence the importance for Optical users.

It also means you can get PCM/DTS-HD/TrueHD converted to the highest bitrate possible over Optical. If you use HDMI it doesn't concern you.

Stereo pcm has no problem over optical.

I am particularly fond of the HDMI 1.3 HD Audio support...

The players you had didn't do it-- I think only the A2 and XA2 converted to DTS-- the rest went to DD. (and yes, if I remember correctly, the A20 didn't do it either which makes very little sense)

Weird.

You sure about the XA2? Because I had an Onkyo DV-HD805 for a while and it didn't do DTS from +/THD either.

What exactly is the benefit of upconverting to DTS? Wouldn't it be better to send the "primary pass-thru" w/ 96KHz sampling frequency to my Denon 3803? The few discs I've tried have sounded great and decoded to DD/DTS depending on the disc. What should I be using for a setting? I'm using optical out to my receiver.

What exactly is the benefit of upconverting to DTS?

Not upconverting; downsampling.

My bad. I just read through some of the main BH-200 faq thread and I think I understand. Over SPDIF, DTS downsampling is the preferred method as it simply passes thru non-HD-DVD/non-Blu-Ray sound in its native format and downsamples the higher quality audio on HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to 1.5 Mbps DTS (highest quality feed for optical output). I think this is the basic gist of it?

Pretty much.

As I said above, it's a huge asset to me. My receiver doesn't support any HD codecs, but it fills all of my other needs so I didn't want to have to upgrade it. And while this doesn't get me HD, 1.5 Mbps is certainly close enough for me to enjoy.

1.5Mbps Audio is significantly better than the alternative for Optical owners. The alternative being DD5.1 at only 640Kbps, presuming the disc even has it.

The fact that it's a completely hackable, truly worldwide multiplayer. :D
Good point. How could I forget that. I second you. The ability to make it BD Multi-region is a must for me.

Stereo pcm has no problem over optical.
Good point. I forgot that. Most want would want PCM Multi-channel though.

The only 2.0 combo for the win.
Don't count your chickens (before they hatch)! :p

An honorable mention to the minimalist AV options on the rear; there's no reason any high-def player needs to have S-Video, composite or stereo audio. Kudos to LG for realizing this well ahead of the curve.

actually, there is a good reason to have at least one legacy video output:

if issues arise and/or hdmi goes out, that output, connected to an appropriate screen/monitor input, will let you access menus, etc to make a possible fix somewhere.

i've had to avail myself of this more than once.

1.5Mbps Audio is significantly better than the alternative for Optical owners. The alternative being DD5.1 at only 640Kbps, presuming the disc even has it.

Please don't get hung up on bit rates. It's been debated many, many, MANY times before, but DD and DTS handle compression differently. The bit rate shouldn't be be used as the sole basis to determine what is better.

I'm not going to tell you which is better (there's no way I can). I'd recommend doing a test to find out which you prefer (DD@640 or DTS @1.5). You might be surprised.

Personally, I prefer to pass the audio unalterated (not re-encoded to DTS) in it's native format. With the BH200, this works perfectly for all sources except TrueHD. If I want to get 5.1 out of TrueHD, I have to select re-encode to DTS, which also re-encodes DD and DD+ (which I don't want). Wish I could do pass-through for everything, but TrueHD... I think my A3 handled this better (pass-through for everything, but re-encode TrueHD to DD@640).

Most receivers that can handle DTS @ 1.5 will also be able to handle DD @640, so re-encoding everything to DTS doesn't make a lot of since to me. The only thing that should need to be re-encoded is TrueHD.

John

It would be easier to have it re-encode to DTS for everything then to have to go into the menu everytime you want to listen to a TrueHD track to change it to re-encode to DTS setting.

It would be easier to have it re-encode to DTS for everything then to have to go into the menu everytime you want to listen to a TrueHD track to change it to re-encode to DTS setting.
Easier yes, better, no.

I'm also getting some popping on my rears when it converts DD+ to DTS (happened with Fast and Furious). Passthrough (DD) doesn't pop.

John

if issues arise and/or hdmi goes out, that output, connected to an appropriate screen/monitor input, will let you access menus, etc to make a possible fix somewhere.
You can press the Resolution button to switch back to 480/576.

It would be easier to have it re-encode to DTS for everything then to have to go into the menu everytime you want to listen to a TrueHD track to change it to re-encode to DTS setting.
That is what it does. When DTS Re-encode is enabled (on HD-DVD/BD) everything gets transcoded to DTS. DVD is unaffected.

Please don't get hung up on bit rates. It's been debated many, many, MANY times before, but DD and DTS handle compression differently. The bit rate shouldn't be be used as the sole basis to determine what is better.
Maybe not but it's still a good basic indicator. I'm aware DD uses Normalisation, regardless the end result is the same, DTS usually sounds better than DD.

I know it's been debated many times (to the point of boredom) but I prefer to base my own opinion, and yes 1.5Mbps DTS/DD Plus does sound better than 640Kbps/768Kbps DD/DTS.

I'd recommend doing a test to find out which you prefer (DD@640 or DTS @1.5).
I always do.

Personally, I prefer to pass the audio unalterated (not re-encoded to DTS) in it's native format. With the BH200, this works perfectly for all sources except TrueHD.
And PCM too.

The PCM converted to DTS on Casino Royale for instance sounds much better than the DD5.1 on the disc. If it were possible to just enable DTS Re-encode for PCM and TrueHD I'd opt for that but it's not possible and I cannot be bothered to constantly go into the menu to switch back and fourth.

I therefore leave it on DTS Re-encode, the best setting for Optical users.

I think my A3 handled this better (pass-through for everything, but re-encode TrueHD to DD@640).
I prefer the LG approach, it chops less out of the bitrate. TrueHD to 1.5Mbps DTS instead of 640Kbps DD. Converting TrueHD to DD is still transcoding anyway.

Most receivers that can handle DTS @ 1.5 will also be able to handle DD @640, so re-encoding everything to DTS doesn't make a lot of since to me. The only thing that should need to be re-encoded is TrueHD.
And PCM.

I do agree though, it would've been better not to transcode everything but what we have works fine so I'm not really bothered. DD, DD Plus and DTS-HD converted to DTS sounds essentially the same.

Maybe not but it's still a good basic indicator. I'm aware DD uses Normalisation, regardless the end result is the same, DTS usually sounds better than DD.

Bit rate is actually not a very good indicator of sound quality. It's just a number and in a lot of cases (such as the one we're discussing now) it isn't a good indicator. For example, would you claim that 128 MP3 sounds as good as 128 AAC (or WMA)? Of course not, but they are the same bit rate.

DD@640 is on par with DTS@1.5. I actually think it sound a little better, but it's so close that I doubt I could pick it out in a double blind.


I do agree though, it would've been better not to transcode everything but what we have works fine so I'm not really bothered. DD, DD Plus and DTS-HD converted to DTS sounds essentially the same.
While the purist in me says no, it's not fine, I'm going to agree that it's close enough not to worry about it. Except I'm having a problem with re-encode to DTS. I played Superbad BD (DD+) last night with no problems, but Fast and Furious gives me trouble (probably because the sound track is a lot more demanding).

Does anyone else get popping (clipping)in your rear speakers (5.1) when you set the BH200 to re-encode to DTS while playing "The Fast and the Furious" HD DVD? It's a DD+ track. It happens through-out the movie, but an easy test is Chapter 3, Time 10:35 (right as he's about to park). Pass-through sounds fine (no clipping).

John

The PCM converted to DTS on Casino Royale for instance sounds much better than the DD5.1 on the disc. If it were possible to just enable DTS Re-encode for PCM and TrueHD I'd opt for that but it's not possible and I cannot be bothered to constantly go into the menu to switch back and fourth.

So your Casino Royale Bluray does downconvert the LPCM 5.1 tracks to DTS? I've had some issues in testing the disc, that my BH200 didn't pass any sound after the initial roaring lion opening... I was kind of assuming it didn't downconvert LPCM to DTS. (the DTS light on my receiver started blinking, instead of staying on solid, which was odd)

Or is this one of the "audio dropouts" I've been reading about?

WHy do you guys keep re-encoding things? I simply bitstream everything and let my AVR do the rest.

WHy do you guys keep re-encoding things? I simply bitstream everything and let my AVR do the rest.
The biggest reason is because they don't have a receiver that can decode everything. The other reason is they are using a receiver that doesn't take HDMI input, only optical. This means you can't send HD audio, so it has to be down-converted, cored, or re-encoded.

To always get a 5.1 signal from the BH200, the only setting that will do that is DTS Re-Encode. This isn't the way I'd like to handle it, but it is what it is.

John