The Official Sony BDP-S550 Owner's Thread - Page 4

Pretty sure I actually saw somewhere that when mix is used it mixes the lossy core with the secondary audio, not the lossless track. Makes sense; has to be a lot less to process.
I think the manual may even tell you this in some bass ackwards way.

Just received box from FEDEX, hooking up in a few hours and I will report back..hope to confirm kingair's post w/Rambo.

I'm keeping an eye on both of these. I need 7.1 analog out, so whichever has the most complete codec ability and the best analog section will get my money.

Well, I've examined both Panasonic DMP-BD30 and BD50 thoroughly and found no additional DSP chip on the BD50. UniPhier has a lot of horsepower and it's highly programmable and unless Panasonic lies on their site it is able to decode DTS-HD:
http://www.semicon.panasonic.co.jp/e.../conform2.html

Since Denon 3800 also utilizes the UniPhier processor I doesn't surprise that it decodes all audio codes internally.
But if you can point me to the photos of 3800DB internal with those 2 DSP chips I'd be grateful.

Setting to direct should force the player to bitstream. I can get DTS-HD MA 3/4.1 48khz over HDMI to my receiver this way as well. However, when set to the default "mix" which should let the BD do decoding, DTS-HD MA 7.1 is only output as 5.1 LPCM over HDMI...contrary to what the manual says.

This is about the same as the Panny BD-30.
You have to turn off the secondary audio to get the player to bitstream DTS-HD Master and Dolby Tru HD to your reciever.

The manual in it's bass ackwards way says as a footnote on Pg 66:
"When "BD Audio Setting" is set to "direct" audio recorded by the source is output by bitstream. However, this audio maybe output as follows depending on the audio formats supported by the AV amplifier (receiver).
- When the AV amplifier (receiver) does not support HD Audio (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio) but supports Multi-ch LPCM, up to LPCM 7.1ch is output.
-When the AV amplifier (receiver) does not support HD audio or Multi-ch LPCM but supports Dolby Digital/DTS, a Dolby Digital or DTS bitstream is output.
-When the AV amplifier (receiver) does not support HD Audio, Multi-ch LPCM or Dolby Digital/DTS, LPCM 2ch is output"

On page 49 is says:
"BD Audio Setting
Selects whether to mix or not mix interactive audio and secondary audio (commentary) when playing a BD that contains such audio.
Mix - Outputs the audio obtained by mixing the interactive audio and the secondary audio to the primary audio
Direct - Outputs the primary audio only."

That you can get 7.1 analog DTS-MA, but since you have to set it to "Direct" you won't get commentary tracks? Unless you switch the setting each time you want commentary?

This is so complicated - I might just buy the panny because of this.

That link to Panasonic didn't help much. It shows "DTS-HD Decode" which could mean DTS-HD HR decoding only. As a matter of fact, I think the Panny BD10 or BD10A was capable of DTS-HD HR decoding but not MA.

I don't have pics of the 3800's innards but I do have this link from the website:

http://usa.denon.com/DVD-3800BDCILit_0324.pdf

On first page, mid-left portion it says, "New dual 32-bit floating point DSP". I believe Jeff was alluding to these DSP's when he posted this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post13054327

The Panny is the same way.

I too like a lot of early adopters here are trying to decide between the Sony 550 and the Panasonic 55. I think from all I read they are practically pretty much equal in performance and quality.

I will go with the Panasonic simply because I have had better luck with their tech support than I have had with Sony in the past, and I like the looks of the unit better. My AV stuff is exposed and that the Sony blue faceplate doesn't match my other stuff.

Even though I am an early adopter (I have a Tosh XA-1 that I got when they first came out), this time I am going to wait until the inevitable price cuts happen. I know that with the economy in the state it is, sweet deals will happen.

Just my humble thoughts.

So fi you only have a 5.1 analog setup, does just saying NO to rear speakers effectively tell the player to downmix? Also, any word on what the crossover is fixed at??

Well, I'm sure DTS-HD means both DTS-HD HR and DTS-HD MA. If a chip can only decode DTS-HD HR the manufacturers should state it clearly (at least Sigma does). UniPhier has really a lot of processing power and there really aren't any additional DSP chips on BD50. So I'm quite sure it can decode DTS-HD MA.


Thanks, you seem to be right about it. He might also have written about DSPs for sound processing (not decoding) and D/A converters. The PDF also ain't very clear although it does say the first DSP has "high bit audio decoder". It's a shame he doesn't respond to questions anymore.

It's really not as brillant blue as the photos make it out to be. All my other gear is black...you can't tell that it blue at all. It appears that the front bezel is a transparent dark blue tinted plastic, with black plastic behind it. From anyway I look at it...it looks black.

Changing these settings to DD and DTS bitstream for the coax/optical outputs does not affect the analog output. I use an HDMI connection to my projector.

Thanks. I deleted my post because I am not using HDMI at all and I figured out those particular settings would not affect anything for me.

I received my s-550 and have it connected hdmi to a sony 910 receiver. If i have my bd audio setting to mix my display shows true hd and my receiver shows pcm but I only get my front 2 channels. If I change to direct I receive dolby digital 3/2.1 with all 5 speakers working. I called sony tech support with the same song and dance. He said the 550 would internal decode but I also need a 1.3 receiver....typical sony answer. My settings are as follows, if someone has some insight.

Audio Priority- HDMI
Audio HDMI - Auto
DB audio settings- Direct
Audio DRC- Auto

All other audio settings seem to pertain to outputs other than HDMI.

Thanks for the help

After a couple of hours on the phone with Sony Tech support and being transferred from front line tech to a specialist to an "engineer". They are going to try to test my config (S550 via HDMI to 5300es receiver ) in the lab tomorrow with Rambo (DTS-HD MA 7.1) and Nightmare Before Christmas (DD TrueHD 7.1).
Hopefully I can get some answers as to why I only get 5.1 LPCM from Rambo and funky stuff with Nightmare Before Christmas with bitstreaming.

Your logic is based on an erroneous premise - both the Panny BD30 and BD50 use the same Uniphier chip but only the 50 can decode DTS-HD MA. Both can bitstream it. So, either the 50 uses seperate hardware for processing audio or there is a software difference re enabling functions on the Uniphier. I suspect the former.

That's my reasoning for why it wouldn't be UniPhier. Can you imagine the market Panasonic would have cornered if MA capability was already in the player since the days of the BD30? Then they wouldn't have been months behind the Denon 3800. UniPhier is a talented chip but from all the difficulty EVERYONE has had in implementing MA decoding, I don't think it is possible for a SOC to do it at this time (at least not in the BD30/50 generation, can't speak for the upcoming BD35/55).

Is there a way with the 550 to get simulated 7.1 on a 5.1 track like with the PLxII? I'm a bit discouraged by the number of good 7.1 discs and am hoping that I don't have to rig something to make use all the speakers.

Digital signal processing such as PLIIx is applied by receivers, not players. Send the 5.1 audio to your AVR and add processing there.

As promised, I'm happy to report that I can confirm (at least w/Rambo) that the S550 decodes 7.1 DTS MA over analog. Pretty neat player...what a step up from standard DVD.

Well they both use EXACTLY same chip and there are no differences between their hardware. I had them both closely examined (I mean I really took them both apart when I was installing region free modifications on both). So unless you can tell me which chip is supposedly responsible for DTS-HD MA decoding on Panny BD50 then your premise seems to erroneous.

There are many examples of players using the same SoC and having different features. Sony BDP-S300 got Dolby TrueHD decoding capability after a software upgrade, whereas BDP-S500 or Samsung BD-P1400 utilizing the same chip were able to decode it from the beginning.
Then you you have all network media players utilizing the Sigma chip and also not being able to decode or even bitstream TrueHD until recently when they got the bitstream possiblility after an software upgrade.

Pannasonic BD30 and BD50 are perfect examples of cost cutting in designing of players. You got two players that are almost identical (so identical that region free modification designed for BD30 turned out to be also working on BD50) and yet one is much more expensive and has all expensive licenses and the other one don't (BD30 doesn't even decode TrueHD).
You also forget that UniPhier is younger then Sigma 8634, it's highly scalable and programmable and with all it's horsepower (remember that it can encode H.264 in real-time) there would be only one obstacle for MA decoding thi obstacle would be software (and license cost) and not hardware. Similar situation with PS3 and it's Cell processor.

PS. You are right, Denon didn't wait for UniPhier software capable of DTS-HD MA decoding and used their own chip for both TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding.

UniPhier isn't a typical SoC. It's much more that than and everything it does depends on the software. And because of the difficulty everyone had in implementing MA decoding Panasonic BD50 was delayed (probably also because the wanted to implement Profile 2.0 - not supported by Denon). They had the hardware but

The problem is my Onkyo AVR won't apply PLIIx to the analog multi-channel signal only optical and digital coax inputs. So I was hoping that the 550 had the ability to group the surround channels or simulate the 7.1 through its analog outs. If it doesn't I'm considering using a Y splitter on the Surround Left and Surround Right. Pretty lame...I admit,

I am in no rush to get a Blu-ray and I too have looked at the Pio's and also the Panasonic BD 50 and BD55. The thing that is pulling to go with Sony at the moment is the Sony Card $150 rebate deal..

Why? He didn't credit me !

At least you agree that Denon got MA decoding done in spite of UniPhier and not because of it. Looks like all the R&D put into UniPhier is going to pan out with the $299 MA decoding Panasonic BD35.

Let's hope UniPhier's legacy becomes "affordable MA decoding" instead of "LFE bug purveyor."

Crossover ? Anyone?