Too many formats, too much confusion.

I was hoping that there is a cheat sheet of sorts that describes the various formats and transport encoding, etc...

I know there is Bitstream, PCM, LPCM, and probably a bunch of others that I don't know.

There is also Dolby Digital, DTS, DDHD, DTSHD.. various combinations of which can be transmitted via toslink or coax, HDMI...

I'm confused. What's used for what, what handles what channels.. what's used for uncompressed, compressed etc...

You are very confused...

First of all, forget channel count, as it is really irrelevant.

A film soundtrack master is in PCM format. Some of the HD discs use this raw uncompressed PCM soundtrack.

All of the other "formats" are just different ways to compress the PCM data. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are LOSSLESS forms of compression and should sound identical to the PCM master. DD, DTS, DD+, DTS-HD are all LOSSY forms of compression in which data is thrown out to save space and bitrate.

To "bitstream" means that a player is sending the compressed data (DD, DTS, etc) to a decoder elsewhere (typically a receiver).

That's really all there is to it.

You need an HDMI connection (or a player that has analog outputs and the appropriate decoding) to transfer the "advanced codecs" -- DD+, DTS-HD, TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA -- or multichannel PCM. Digital audio cables (optical or coaxial) can only transmit 2-channel PCM or up to 6.1 channel DD/DTS.

Thanks for the clarification!

Are the decoders and D/A converters in a $200 DVD player typically as good as the ones in an $800 receiver? Am I giving up much by letting the player do the D-A conversion?

The only reason to use analog outs is for SACD/DVD-A and with the new TrueHD and DTS-HD formats on HD disc if you don't have a HDMI 1.3 receiver.

I would never use the analog outs from a $200 DVD player for just DD/DTS.

The only reason to use analog outs is for SACD/DVD-A and with the new TrueHD and DTS-HD formats on HD disc if you don't have a HDMI 1.3 receiver.

I would never use the analog outs from a $200 DVD player for just DD/DTS.


Since my projector doesn't have HDMI and my receiver is only HDMI 1.2, I guess a DVD player with multichannel analog outputs is in my near future :)

No, because you can have the player decode the advanced audio codec to PCM and send it over HDMI. This maintains the full resolution of the soundtrack and only requires a HDMI 1.1 receiver that can process multi-PCM. Your receiver sounds like it qualifies.

No, because you can have the player decode the advanced audio codec to PCM and send it over HDMI. This maintains the full resolution of the soundtrack and only requires a HDMI 1.1 receiver that can process multi-PCM. Your receiver sounds like it qualifies.


Will the player output video via component at the same time as audio over HDMI?

Yes