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Sony BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray players (and BDP-BX2) - Page 38

post #1111 of 1348
7/7/10 at 4:12am
Hi folks,

I am hoping somebody here has Sony's BDP-S360 Blu Ray Player and would happen to know if it in fact does support internal decoding of DTS-HD Master Audio?

I bought this player a few weeks ago after moving the PS3 into the kids room. Both the PS3 and the BDP-S360 were/are connected to my Sony HT-SS360 Home Theatre system via HDMI. The HT-SS360 does not support internal decoding of any of the HD Audio formats... so when the PS3 was connected to it I set it to decode the audio and send it PCM to the receiver (HT-SS360) - this worked fine.

Tonight I tried to watch my first movie that uses DTS-HD Master Audio (which most titles seem to be using) on the new player... but my receiver would only accept 2 channels of audio.

The spec sheets at various sites for this player are conflicting... I have seen some specs say it does have DTS-HD decoding and some say that it only supports bitstream output via HDMI.

Anybody else here able to get this Blu Ray player to decoding DTS-HD MA and spit it out as 5.1 PCM to their receivers?

Cheers,
Chris
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post #1112 of 1348
7/7/10 at 4:46am
sounds like your receiver isn't set up correctly. PS3 can be setup to force 5.1 sound out regardless how your TV or receiver tells it not to. Other players typically follow what HDMI handshake says.

Make sure the HDMI audio out from your receiver to TV is turned off. Otherwise, your player will be forced to output 2-ch stereo.

360 does support DTS-HD decoding according to Sony's own spec.
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post #1113 of 1348
7/7/10 at 11:13am
Thanks Foxbat....

I will have a look at the receiver to see if there is something in the settings that need to be tweaked. You would think that if the receiver cannot decode DTS-HD MA then it would tell the player to do it.

Although the specs for the receiver say it cannot decode Dolby TrueHD - when I play a disc with TrueHD the receiver does show a Dolby mark as if it is decoding the audio... so not sure what is going on with the specs.

Thanks,
Chris
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post #1114 of 1348
7/7/10 at 2:48pm
Not sure what is the deal.... tried playing my AC/DC Live At Donnigton Blu Ray and set the audio to 5.1 PCM - still the receiver is only showing and playing 2.0 Channel audio. So either the player is not sending 6 channels of audio via HDMI (either decoded DTS-HD, TrueHD or PCM), or the receiver is not taken the 6 channels of audio - which I am sure it did when I had the PS3 hooked up to it.

Chris
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post #1115 of 1348
7/7/10 at 5:19pm
I figured it out..... although it does leave me with no solution at all.

The problem is that although the BDPS360 maybe decoding DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, it requires the ability to send those 6 uncompressed (decoded) audio channels via HDMI to the HT-SS360. Now the problem is that the player only has an 'Auto' or '2ch PCM' setting for HDMI Audio.... the Auto will handshake with the HT-SS360 in which the reply from the HT-SS360 is that it only supports 2ch PCM audio, which is in fact not true as it does support 6 channel PCM audio. There fore the BDPS360 thinks it can only accept 2ch audio and will send only 2 channels of audio.

When I had the PS3 connected, it too would only show 2ch PCM when set to auto (handshake) - but with the PS3 I am able to set the HDMI audio to 'Manual' and select a 6ch PCM format... so the PS3 would decode the audio and send it to the HT-SS360 as 6 channel PCM audio. But with the BDPS360 there is no option to manually select an audio format... it's either Auto to 2ch.

Basically - unless this is addressed in a software update - I am left with a useless Blu Ray, as of course more and more Blu Rays are coming with DTS-HD Audio. You would think that the design of these units would have been better planned as they appear to have been designed to go hand in hand... but that is obviously not the case.

Very unhappy with this...

Chris
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post #1116 of 1348
7/7/10 at 5:25pm
You will find that majority of the BD players support auto negotiation only. PS3 is probably the only thing out there to let you force any audio or video signal out. Time to get a new receiver.
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post #1117 of 1348
7/7/10 at 6:18pm
Well I think the smarter thing is for Sony to get their act together ;-)

The specs for the receiver show it supports up to 6 channels of PCM Audio, and the HT-SS360 manual states regarding playing HD audio formats:

"When you connect the component to the receiver using an HDMI cable to playback these high-quality sound formats, set the connected component to output the sound in multi channel PCM, if possible."

So it appears they are expecting the Blu Ray player to be able to send multi channel PCM - yet the receiver handshakes at a lower number of channels than it can actually do and the BDP-S360 cannot be manually set to output multi channel PCM - sounds like poor planning to me.

I was under the impression that after having the PS3 work so perfectly with this receiver that a dedicated Sony Blu Ray player would also work in the same manner.... guess that is my bad for thinking Sony knew what they were doing.
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post #1118 of 1348
7/7/10 at 6:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamworksaudio View Post

Well I think the smarter thing is for Sony to get their act together ;-)

The specs for the receiver show it supports up to 6 channels of PCM Audio, and the HT-SS360 manual states regarding playing HD audio formats:

"When you connect the component to the receiver using an HDMI cable to playback these high-quality sound formats, set the connected component to output the sound in multi channel PCM, if possible."

So it appears they are expecting the Blu Ray player to be able to send multi channel PCM - yet the receiver handshakes at a lower number of channels than it can actually do and the BDP-S360 cannot be manually set to output multi channel PCM - sounds like poor planning to me.

I was under the impression that after having the PS3 work so perfectly with this receiver that a dedicated Sony Blu Ray player would also work in the same manner.... guess that is my bad for thinking Sony knew what they were doing.

If I'm understanding your problem correctly, try this. Under BD Audio Settings change from "mix" to "direct". This should stream the channels to the receiver for decoding.
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post #1119 of 1348
7/7/10 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjthenovice View Post

If I'm understanding your problem correctly, try this. Under BD Audio Settings change from "mix" to "direct". This should stream the channels to the receiver for decoding.

Thanks - but the Direct setting sends the bitstream - and the HT-SS360 does not decode DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD - thus the need for the Blu Ray player to decode and send 6 channels of PCM audio.

Chris
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post #1120 of 1348
7/7/10 at 8:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamworksaudio View Post

Thanks - but the Direct setting sends the bitstream - and the HT-SS360 does not decode DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD - thus the need for the Blu Ray player to decode and send 6 channels of PCM audio.

Chris

The Direct setting does not necessary send only bitstream... the actual definition is that Direct outputs the primary audio only.....if the handshake determines that your receiver can not decode the bitstreams, it supposedly will decode the DTS HD Master Audio and send it as PCM, but without the secondary audio. The limiting factor with these model blurays is that they can not decode DTS master audio and mix in the secondary audio as is required in Mix mode; so it decodes the DTS core and mixes in the secondary audio. On Dolby True HD soundtracks, it doesnt have this problem in Mix mode . It can decode it and mix in secondary no problem.. Don't ask me my why Sony did this... The problem in your case definitely appears to be an issue with your receiver though. Does it make any difference if you use a different HDMI cable or use a different receiver HDMI input? On your bluray player what is your setting for Audio Output Priority? I assume it is HDMI... if it isn't, then all you will get from HDMI is 2 channel.
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post #1121 of 1348
7/7/10 at 8:36pm
You need to select the correct sound field on the HT-SS360, which is A.F.D. Standard, which allows the BDPS360 (set to auto) to decode DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD, and the HT-SS360 acts like an amplifier.
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post #1122 of 1348
7/7/10 at 9:19pm
dsskid>>

Yes A.F.D Standard is the current field. The BDP-S360 is set to Auto. But when it handshakes with the HT-SS360 the reply is that it only supports 2.0 Channel PCM. I am assuming this... as every DTS-HD soundtrack is sent to the receiver is sent as 2.0 Channel Audio (PCM - as the HT-SS360 does not decode DTS-HD). When I do Auto with the PS3 it shows only 2 Ch. PCM as well - but with the PS3 I can manually tell it to send 5.1 Ch. PCM as well.

So the player is decoding the DTS-HD - but is only sending 2.0 Ch. audio...

Deano86>> Yes that is the correct description of the Direct setting.... so it theory I should be able to leave it on Direct.... the BDP-S360 should check with the HT-SS360, determine it cannot decode DTS-HD then the BDP-S360 decodes it to 5.1 PCM and send it as 5.1 PCM to the HT-SS360. However the problem is that it is decoding the DTS-HD and then downmixing it and sending it as 2.0 PCM.... so no joy with DTS-HD 5.1 Audio. And yes HDMI is set as the audio priority.

Maybe I need to sell this and go back to the PS3 till I find a Blu Ray player where I can manually tell the player to send 5.1 PCM instead of just going by the handshake info from the HT-SS360.

Cheers,
Chris
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post #1123 of 1348
7/7/10 at 9:53pm
I should add that this not only with DTS-HD MA and or Dolby TrueHD.... even my AC/DC Blu Ray when set to PCM 5.1 Audio still comes out at 2.0 Ch. - so the player really thinks the receiver only can handle 2 channels of PCM audio.

Chris
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post #1124 of 1348
7/7/10 at 10:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamworksaudio View Post

I should add that this not only with DTS-HD MA and or Dolby TrueHD.... even my AC/DC Blu Ray when set to PCM 5.1 Audio still comes out at 2.0 Ch. - so the player really thinks the receiver only can handle 2 channels of PCM audio.

Chris

I believe the LG BD590 or 550 will do what you want. They are good players as well. They allow you to set the pcm out to 2 channel or multi channel.
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post #1125 of 1348
7/8/10 at 11:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pmcduie View Post

Hi

I have a Sony BDP-S360 (owned for 9 months now) and have the latest firmware.
Over the last few days I have had trouble getting Blu-Ray discs to play, it generates an error "cannot operate this disc". Initially it was only one disc that did this "Yes , Live at Montreux 2003", others would play OK after this. But now all seem to be doing it.
Strangely DVD's play perfectly.

Equipment :
Sony BDP-S360
Denon AV2310 Receiver (Sony connected to HDM1 on receiver)
Panasonic 46" Plasma TH-46PZ800A ( connected via HDMI from Denon Receiver)

Any help would be appreciated.

Sounds like the reader is toast...get thee to a Sony service centre before your warranty expires!
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post #1126 of 1348
7/9/10 at 2:22am
In case anybody cares to know....

Well I was able to solve the problem.... Sony suggested I reset the HT-SS360 receiver and upon doing so the BDP-S360 was able to handshake with the receiver and setup a 5.1 PCM connection over HDMI with it. All 5.1 channel audio that is PCM (or decoded from HD formats to PCM) now works.

Must have been some setting I made to it long ago without me noticing till now.

Hurray ;-)

Chris
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post #1127 of 1348
7/9/10 at 5:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamworksaudio View Post

In case anybody cares to know....

Well I was able to solve the problem.... Sony suggested I reset the HT-SS360 receiver and upon doing so the BDP-S360 was able to handshake with the receiver and setup a 5.1 PCM connection over HDMI with it. All 5.1 channel audio that is PCM (or decoded from HD formats to PCM) now works.

Must have been some setting I made to it long ago without me noticing till now.

Hurray ;-)

Chris

Glad to hear that your situation has been resolved. Enjoy.
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post #1128 of 1348
7/14/10 at 9:43am
Can you believe in 3 months, it will be 1 year since a firmware update has been released for this player? I’m not complaining but am just saying how amazed I am that a player like this can be so rock solid on every BD that I throw in it (old and new) without any kind of update. When I used to have a Samsung BD-P1600, there were firmware updates issued every 3 or so weeks and problems still kept on happening. It was crazy. And based on what I read, I thought this was normal because of the claims that Blu-ray has never-ending specs and constant DRM changes. I, personally, am happy because it’s very annoying to always update a player. Not only does it take time to do, but you run the risk of damaging your unit. Like if the firmware file you downloaded was corrupted or if you have power outage during update, your player is toast!
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post #1129 of 1348
7/15/10 at 2:42pm
Sorry for the newbie question

Is the Sams club BDP-BX2 the same as the 360 or the 560? Looking to get my first Blu player and can't find which model the BX2 compares to.

Thanks for any help and for stopping by.
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post #1130 of 1348
7/17/10 at 8:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hopper810 View Post

is the sams club bdp-bx2 the same as the 360 or the 560?

360
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post #1131 of 1348
7/17/10 at 11:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrHT View Post

360

Thank You
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post #1132 of 1348
7/17/10 at 12:33pm
You're welcome!
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post #1133 of 1348
7/18/10 at 7:25am
Wonder if the S-570 firmware would load on the 560? Wish someone who could still return theirs if it bricks would try it.... It would give us Netflix and DLNA! I am betting the hardware would support it.

Better yet, Sony it's time for an update!
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post #1134 of 1348
7/21/10 at 5:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamworksaudio View Post

I figured it out..... although it does leave me with no solution at all.

The problem is that although the BDPS360 maybe decoding DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, it requires the ability to send those 6 uncompressed (decoded) audio channels via HDMI to the HT-SS360. Now the problem is that the player only has an 'Auto' or '2ch PCM' setting for HDMI Audio.... the Auto will handshake with the HT-SS360 in which the reply from the HT-SS360 is that it only supports 2ch PCM audio, which is in fact not true as it does support 6 channel PCM audio. There fore the BDPS360 thinks it can only accept 2ch audio and will send only 2 channels of audio.

When I had the PS3 connected, it too would only show 2ch PCM when set to auto (handshake) - but with the PS3 I am able to set the HDMI audio to 'Manual' and select a 6ch PCM format... so the PS3 would decode the audio and send it to the HT-SS360 as 6 channel PCM audio. But with the BDPS360 there is no option to manually select an audio format... it's either Auto to 2ch.

Basically - unless this is addressed in a software update - I am left with a useless Blu Ray, as of course more and more Blu Rays are coming with DTS-HD Audio. You would think that the design of these units would have been better planned as they appear to have been designed to go hand in hand... but that is obviously not the case.

Very unhappy with this...

Chris

Can your receiver decode the latest audio codecs?
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post #1135 of 1348
7/23/10 at 5:16pm
Hello.

I'm trying to upgrade the latest firmware for the S360, but apparently I can't go the burned disc route because I'm on a mac & the file is .exe, & I can't seem to make it work via ethernet as per Sony's instructions on their support page (I can't find my manual)... I'm connecting the player via ethernet to my mac laptop, which is wirelessly connected to my router/modem. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks
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post #1136 of 1348
7/23/10 at 8:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JPBV View Post

I'm connecting the player via ethernet to my mac laptop, which is wirelessly connected to my router/modem. Am I doing something wrong?

That's incorrect....connect the player via ethernet directly to the ROUTER/MODEM, not the laptop.
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post #1137 of 1348
7/24/10 at 5:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrHT View Post

That's incorrect....connect the player via ethernet directly to the ROUTER/MODEM, not the laptop.

Ah, thanks...I can't do that. The router/modem is 2 floors away. I'd drag the player to it, but I'll need a tv, right? Guess I'll call Sony Monday & see if they can mail me a disc.
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post #1138 of 1348
7/24/10 at 6:02am
I also work on a Macintosh and have the same problem as you. I request the update disc from Sony's web site right here:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...DPS360#install

Just scroll down the page a bit and click on "Click here to order the firmware update disc.."

Quote:
Originally Posted by JPBV View Post

Ah, thanks...I can't do that. The router/modem is 2 floors away. I'd drag the player to it, but I'll need a tv, right? Guess I'll call Sony Monday & see if they can mail me a disc.
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post #1139 of 1348
7/24/10 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dakotapix View Post

I also work on a Macintosh and have the same problem as you. I request the update disc from Sony's web site right here:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...DPS360#install

Just scroll down the page a bit and click on "Click here to order the firmware update disc.."

Thank you.
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post #1140 of 1348
7/25/10 at 10:50pm
Guys, i've searched this thread for a million different keywords and nothing came up. I just need to make sure the S360 has discreet commands. Can anyone confirm this for me?

Sorry if its been covered, I couldn't find anything on it.
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