I know this subject has been discussed ad nauseum, however most of the threads I have read have been a little over my head with some of the terminology. My primitive understanding is that there is theoretically no difference in sound quality between using a 5:1 analog connection and an hdmi connection to transmit any sound format to a HT receiver. Is this correct?

There are far too many variables to consider for there to be an answer to your question. Why don't you plug both analog and digital cables in and switch back and forth between inputs and see which you prefer.

I know this subject has been discussed ad nauseum, however most of the threads I have read have been a little over my head with some of the terminology. My primitive understanding is that there is theoretically no difference in sound quality between using a 5:1 analog connection and an hdmi connection to transmit any sound format to a HT receiver. Is this correct?
No, it's not correct.

"Theoretically", yes, there can definitely be a difference because of which DACs are used to decode the content. With an analog 5.1 connection the player is doing the decoding. With an HDMI connection, the receiver/pre/pro is doing the decoding.

Thanks, I'm actually trying to avoid the urge to buy a hdmi-capable receiver when I buy a new dvd player. Sounds like I'll be good though if I can get a player that does a good job decoding the lossless formats.

No, it's not correct.

"Theoretically", yes, there can definitely be a difference because of which DACs are used to decode the content. With an analog 5.1 connection the player is doing the decoding. With an HDMI connection, the receiver/pre/pro is doing the decoding.


No, The player is decoding both times. With HDMI, the receiver is doing the DAC.

No, The player is decoding both times. With HDMI, the receiver is doing the DAC.
No, as you say, with HDMI, the receiver's DACs are doing the decoding. With a 5.1 analog connection from the player, the player's DACs are doing the decoding.

The decoding from Dolby or DTS to PCM can be done either at the player or the receiver with HDMI. But the digital to analog conversion is done in the receiver in both cases. So with HDMI, it depends on whether you are sending the raw bitstream or the decoded PCM whether the decoding is done in the player or receiver.

Ed

The decoding from Dolby or DTS to PCM can be done either at the player or the receiver with HDMI. But the digital to analog conversion is done in the receiver in both cases. So with HDMI, it depends on whether you are sending the raw bitstream or the decoded PCM whether the decoding is done in the player or receiver.

Ed

Pardon me for disagreeing, but if the signal is sent via analogue cable, from the analogue outputs to the AVR, it is ALREADY converted from digtal bitstream to an analogue waveform. It is NOT converted in the AVR as ekb states.

Yeah, doesn't the fact that they're called ANALOG connections tip anyone off? :confused:

Pardon me for disagreeing, but if the signal is sent via analogue cable, from the analogue outputs to the AVR, it is ALREADY converted from digtal bitstream to an analogue waveform. It is NOT converted in the AVR as ekb states.Yeah, doesn't the fact that they're called ANALOG connections tip anyone off?
ekb is specifically talking about an HDMI connection. He said nothing about a multichannel, analog connection.

Pardon me for disagreeing, but if the signal is sent via analogue cable, from the analogue outputs to the AVR, it is ALREADY converted from digtal bitstream to an analogue waveform. It is NOT converted in the AVR as ekb states.
If you read my post, you'll see that I was talking about an HDMI connection which is strictly digital.

Ed

edit : thanks sivadselim - you just beat me to the reply.

The decoding from Dolby or DTS to PCM can be done either at the player or the receiver with HDMI. But the digital to analog conversion is done in the receiver in both cases. So with HDMI, it depends on whether you are sending the raw bitstream or the decoded PCM whether the decoding is done in the player or receiver.This is a little bit complicated, but I'll try and explain it in more detail.

First of all, I was misinformed and my responses in this thread are completely incorrect, which is why "sound dropouts" and "ekb" both tried to correct me.

This explanation assumes that the player and receiver participating are both fully capable of utilizing all the capabilities of the latest version of HDMI. This is important to understanding my explanation.

Regarding audio, with an HDMI connection, you can pass both an undecoded, compressed digital PCM bitstream or an already decoded, uncompressed, multichannel digital PCM bitstream via HDMI from a player to a receiver. What's unique here is that the HDMI connection, due to it's increased data transferring capacity, is capable of passing already decoded, uncompressed multichannel digital PCM to the receiver. This is similar to the capability of an S/PDIF (coax or toslink) connection to pass decoded, uncompressed 2-channel digital PCM to a receiver where it is converted to analog form by the receiver for output.

If you pass an undecoded, compressed digital PCM bitstream to the receiver via HDMI, then the receiver will decode, process, and convert the signal to an analog form for output. This is identical to the way an S/PDIF connection (coax or toslink) works with a receiver.

But an HDMI connection is capable of passing more data so it can pass the hirez music formats DVD-A and SACD as already uncompressed, decoded multichannel digital PCM to a receiver for analog conversion, as well as the new lossless hirez audio formats, DDTrueHD, DDPlus, and DTS-HD as either a compressed, undecoded digital PCM bitstream to a receiver for decoding and analog conversion, or as an already uncompressed, decoded multichannel digital PCM bitstream to a receiver for analog conversion.

If you pass an already decoded, uncompressed multichannel digital PCM bitstream to the receiver, the decoding is done in the player and what is transferred to the receiver via HDMI is already decoded, uncompressed multichannel (up to 8 lossless channels) digital PCM which is then converted to an analog form for output by the receiver. One advantage of this is that the receiver can apply bass/time management and DSPs to the decoded, uncompressed multichannel digital PCM input while still in the digital domain.

This is different from passing already decoded, uncompressed AND converted analog audio from a player to a receiver via a multichannel analog connection. When you pass already decoded, uncompressed, and converted multichannel analog signals from a player to a receiver via a multichannel analog connection, the receiver can often only simply output the exact analog signal that it is sent by the player without being able to apply any bass/time management or DSPs to the multichannel analog input. Some receivers CAN apply bass/time management and DSPs to the multichannel analog input in the digital domain, but this requires converting the analog input back to digital for processing and then back to analog for output.

Now, to comment on the capabilities of players versus receivers. This I may get a bit wrong as it is confusing as all hell, but I think it is, basically, correct.

All players can pass via HDMI either undecoded, compressed digital PCM or already decoded, uncompressed, multichannel PCM.

Some HDMI-equipped receivers, though, cannot decode undecoded, compressed digital PCM sent by a player via HDMI, particularly the new lossless audio codecs (DDTrueHD, DDPlus, and DTS-HD), but they can process and convert already decoded, uncompressed, multichannel digital PCM sent by a player via HDMI to analog form for output. So, in this case the player would be doing the decoding to uncompressed, multichannel digital PCM and the receiver would be doing the digital to analog conversion.

Some HDMI equipped receivers, on the other hand, cannot accept and convert the uncompressed, decoded, multichannel PCM sent via HDMI to analog form, but they CAN decode, process, and convert to analog form the compressed, undecoded digital PCM sent by a player via HDMI. In this case, the receiver would be doing both the decoding to uncompressed, multichannel digital PCM as well as the digital to analog conversion.

Some receivers are capable of doing both. But, in each case, the receiver is doing the digital to analog conversion. What differs is where the compressed, undecoded PCM is decoded into uncompressed, multichannel digital PCM, which can be at either the player OR the receiver.



NOW, SOMEONE PLEASE CORRECT WHAT IS WRONG HERE AS I'M SURE I GOT SOMETHING WRONG. :o