Official Sony BDP-S480 Owner's Thread. All questions and comments go here - Page 5

Thanks very much for the info. I will look at the disc menus to see if I can make it 5.1 there. I suspected there was some new tech old tech issue... Jeff

Do you have Mix set to On, which is the default? If so, try turning it off. Mix tells the player to decode and output PCM. But, the S/PDIF protocol used over coax and optical is limited to stereo PCM.

Meanwhile, are you saying the S480 lacks an optical output? That's hard to believe. Regardless, using a direct coax or optical connection to the AVR would solve this problem. Set the Dolby and DTS outputs to Dolby and DTS (not PCM) and you'll be good to go.

Wolfpacker96 - The Sony players use the HDMI handshake to determine what audio format to send. With HDMI there's no setting to force a DD 5.1 output. The Mix setting forces player decoding for a PCM output with Blu-rays. That's done to facilitate mixing in secondary audio. So, Mix has to be off to get a bitstream output.

I will see if I have tried this combination of settings.
And yes, the S480 only has a coax digital out, and my amp only has a toslink optical input. If I make this a direct connection I'll have to send it through a different converter.

No, the 480 does not have an optical digital out, only coax. And his dvd/receiver only has optical in, no coax or HDMI.

But if you set it to bitstream in this situation, would it not output HD Audio? The monoprice switch he has can transmit HD Audio, and since his receiver doesn't have HDMI, the blu-ray player would think that it's OK to output HD Audio, when in fact, he needs DD or DTS. Just wondering about it. It's definitely an abnormal hookup, and I was just trying to think it through. My 480 works perfectly fine in my situation, which is to output LPCM via HDMI to my slightly older receiver.

The manual states for Mix off: Select this to output HD audio signals to an AV amplifier (receiver).

No combination of settings on the S480 gives me surround sound from the 6.1 bluray. The monoprice tech I chatted with told me that toslink can't handle 6.1, which doesn't seem true from some other websites I read (seems that toslink couldn't do 7.1 and maybe HD audio) but I don't think that's the problem. (this particular disc didn't have a setting for 5.1 either) I'm thinking that if I try to get a coax to toslink adapter, it's likely going to face the same issue, that even IF the bluray could sense that my amp is only 5.1 it will be behind an adapter and it will just happily send 6.1.

Might try a bluray player that has a toslink out on it.

Thanks for all the help.

Jeff

There is no bitstream setting on that player. When set to Mix, it decodes and outputs PCM. When set to Direct, the HDMI handshake determines what to send. If the TV is doing the handshaking, then it is probably telling the player to downmix to stereo. The usual solution is to turn off HDMI audio in the player. But, that won't work here because the audio has to get sent to the switch.

Jeff - I suspect the S480 won't work with the switch because, with that player, there's no way to force a bitstream over HDMI. I suggest you get a coax-toslink converter and dispense with the switch. Or get a new player where you can force a bitstream output. The converter seems cheaper and easier.


The tech is correct. Optical and coax are limited to DD 5.1 and DTS, although 6.1 DTS-ES is also supported. However, if you play a lossless 7.1 track for output over coax or optical, the player will send a lossy DD 5.1 or DTS version.


Nope. The converter will work. Set the player's digital outputs to Dolby Digital and DTS and you'll get surround sound over the coax output.

Hmmm - Ok, back to Monoprice for their $11.72 converter and a digital coax cable. They'll take it all back if this doesn't work...

Jeff

I'm new to this player which unexpectedly arrived the other day (no email shipping notice sent). But I'm not new to Sony players having owned a first generation BDP-300. The interim was a Samsung C5500 but the Amazon app never arrived. What I'm finding with this player is that if I select a service from the menu it sits then times out with a Network Error. Sometimes it connects. Netflix will do that but not if I press the Netflix button on the remote. Vudu always seems to work. Amazon took several tries before it would launch. The player is connected via Ethernet not wifi.

I believe there has been some discussion here about codecs for files and I recall how fussy the 300 was and the tricks to get around it. I also got a Canon PowerShot camera this Christmas which saves video in QuickTime MOV format. I would remux those to MP4 for the Samsung using ffmpeg and they would play. But not with the Sony. But if I take the MP4 and use tsMuxeR to remux as a M2TS file then video plays on the 480. Hope that helps some folks trying to get their videos to play. To remux with ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i input.mov -vcodec copy outfile.mp4

The audio will be recoded to AAC automatically.

I'm sure you've downloaded the latest firmware, right? I'm having little to no issues streaming on any of the services that I've attempted, mainly Netflix. Also, when using WMPlayer or MediaMonkey as my DLNA server, it plays most things that I throw at it. won't do flac, which bugs me. Mediamonkey server will do mkv, not on WMPlayer. mp4 files play with either one. I haven't attempted any mov files, and the manual makes no mention of that file type, so it's likely not compatible. I'll try one over DLNA and see anything shows.

Yes, the first thing the player did when I installed it was download the latest firmware. As for Netflix when I was having problems the other night I tried the Netflix app on my Android tablet and it came right up (off the same router though wifi). I haven't used any of my different media servers yet. Files I usually play off USB sticks. Sony will favor what their media products produce whereas Samsung has a wider variety and I seem to recall that LG players had the broadest files support.

Hey, can anyone tell me if the S480 does 1.5x speed video playback with stereo sound (similar to PS3)? I am in the market for a new player, and this is critical to WAF.

Do you mean sound when fast-forwarding (I don't have PS3)? There is no sound when fast-forwarding at any speed.

I was messing around with vudu and was noticing my receiver is only getting 2 channels, not 5.1 and not PCM. Vudu is using Dolby Digital Plus which seems to be something between DD and Dolby TrueHD. My current setup is the Sony 480 going to my Pioneer receiver via HDMI. I have the Audio HDMI setting to Auto. This outputs multichannel PCM when playing a blu-ray and DD or DTS with DVDs or streaming video files that have DD or DTS.

With the DD+, I'm guessing that isn't compatible with a slightly older DD receiver. Shouldn't the blu-ray player know that my receiver can't handle DD+ and automatically output PCM? I haven't tried it yet, but if I set the Audio HDMI to PCM, I should be getting surround from Vudu then, right? I'd rather have that set to auto as the D/A processors in my Pioneer Elite receiver are much better than the ones in the Sony the DD and DTS discs sound much better when the receiver decodes the lossey codecs. Doesn't seem to be any setting for the vudu app dealing with this either.

Anyone have a similar setup? Suggestions on how to get surround from vudu? Thanks.

1) Does your receiver correctly detect Dollby TrueHD (and reports is as True HD on front panel) when the source is Blu Ray disc?

2) Try streaming "The Incredible Hulk" (2008) from Vudu in HDX (I don't know if there is free preview or if trailer is in HDX). It is encoded in regular DD 5.1 instead of DD+ (and a lot of older movies are the same way). Report your results here.

Someone posted a network connect solution on the Sony forum for the S580 and it worked for the S480 too. The problem seems to be AT&T's DNS server so when they recommended setting it manually to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and Netflix and Amazon now pop right up. That's Google's DNS server.

Maybe I didn't state it clearly, but I have an older receiver that can't decode the newer "HD Audio" codecs. The receiver does handle HDMI, so audio from blurays is output as multichannel PCM (and that what it states on my receiver). The audio from Vudu is showing up on my receiver as Dolby Pro Logic, which means I'm actually only getting 2 channel sound, not 5.1 discrete channels. Can the bluray player even decode DD+? None of the literature I can find states anything about DD+, only Dolby TrueHD. Does anyone know about that?

As far as testing, I opened the first 2 minutes of The Hulk, and I am getting DD. I went back to the 10 minute preview of Contagion, and no surround, though the info states I'm getting DD+. Thought I'd try a different movie and opened the 10 minute preview of Shark Night, and the receiver switched to PCM and I got surround and the info stated DD+. So I guess that one movie I tested was the problem, not my equipment. And I answered my other question about the Sony 480 decoding DD+.

While on the subject of streaming, should I be getting surround on any Netflix streams? I thought I heard a while back that Netflix was adding surround, but I still seem to be getting 2 channel on that as well.

No. Only panasonic players and a few standalone streamers and game systems have surround on Netflix at the moment.

OK, I see. Then you are probably out of luck, just like I am - I have even older receiver (Denon 3803) that doesn't even have HDMI and does not support DD+. So I have to use coax output out of BDP-S480. I have the same results - Hulk plays as DD and anything encoded as DD+ plays as stereo. It looks like DD+ cannot be down-converted to DD by BDP-S480 or our receivers.

That being said there are 2 settings on BDP-S480 that you can try to tinker with (in Setup/Audio Settings):

a) "BD Audio MIX Setting" (I think by default it is ON but I am not sure)
On my setup if it is ON Dolby TrueHD from BD is played as Stereo. If it is OFF Dolby TrueHD from BD is played as DD 5.1

b) "Dolby Digital". This apparently affects signal outut via Digital OUT, so if you use HDMI it may not affect anything but it is worth tot try to flip between the settings. Or you can try using COAX instead in of HDMI. I have it set to "Dolby Digital".


So your receiver does support DD+. It just seems that some movies don't mark the stream correctly for your receiver to recognize it. Then you probably should not even try to mess with settings as I suggested above.


No, you shouldn't be getting surround on Netflix. For this your device should support 1080P streaming from Netflix. Only devices that support this that I know of are PS3 and Roku 2 - XD and XS.

But you should be able to get surround from Amazon streaming - most recent movies in HD use DD. However, Amazon HD is only 720P.

And YES - the coax to toslink converter does deliver 5.1 surround!!
( and Toslink connections are really finicky)
Thanks!

Jeff

Joeschmoe007 hinted on what I was going to ask. I am getting a Sony 480 tomorrow to hook up to a Denon 1802. It has DTS and a few other sound enhancers. I will be hooking up the audio with digital coax. Will I get true surround or is the Denon going to make it up for me? Or will I be stuck with 2 channel?

You will probably be fine for anything except VUDU where you most likely will be getting 2 channels unless movie is encoded in regular DD 5.1 (in this case you will get real 5.1 surround).

You may need to tinker with "BD Audio MIX Setting" option for Dolby TrueHD to be played as 5.1 from Blu-Ray discs.

I thought of upgrading my receiver but decided that it's not worth it.

Thanks Joeschmoe! I kind of feel the same way with recievers. Especially with the fact this is just a simple set up in a non H/T dedicated room.

Just to clarify since someone else brought up the question. My receiver, a Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS, does NOT decode DD+. The Sony 480 is decoding the DD+ and sending it to my receiver as multichannel PCM over HDMI. This is the same thing that is does for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD. So if you have a receiver with HDMI in, you can get the newer codecs with this blu-ray player. If your receiver only has toslink or coax digital ins, I'm not exactly sure what would happen with DD+. If someone else is interested I could go back hook mine up without the HDMI and see what I get.

karlsaudio, looking at the Denon receiver, it appears not to have HDMI in, so you'll be getting DTS on most blu-rays, which is still better quality than most of the older DVDs. If you want to watch a DD+ movie on Vudu you'll just have to check it out. Like I mentioned earlier, it may have just been a problem with the particular movie I picked as to why I was only getting 2 channel audio. It lets you have a 2 min preview on about everything, so if it's not working....

Wolfpacker96, No I don't have HDMI but it does have PLII with the digital coax in. I picked up my S480 this morning, hooked it up, got the language from Portugies to English (LOL), put in Tron Legacy and enjoyed a truly impressive sound!
One thing I was not aware of until now is that the player up converts DVDs and also plays SACDs!

One of the main reasons I got the unit was for SACDs. In your situation without HDMI you won't be able to play multichannel discs as this unit doesn't have 5.1 analog outs. If you have HDMI, you can send out multichannel PCM or SACD Direct if your receiver can decode DCM. I know digital coax can only handle 2 channel PCM, but I don't know if this unit will output a 2 channel SACD to PCM.

Also, for upconverting, you have to be connect via HDMI I think. At least that's the way it was for my older Sony DVD player with HDMI out. But I suppose you may have your player connected to a HDTV by HDMI, so that, of course, means upconverted.

Just curious, you mention PLII then talk about Tron Legacy having great sound. That blu-ray has DTS-HD Master Audio, so you should be getting DTS for that movie with your setup. Master Audio includes a compatible DTS lossy track if you didn't know. Of course, you have over a thousand posts on AVS, so I'm probably not telling you something you didn't know already.

You're right Wolfpack. I've gotten somewhat knowledgable with audio but, it is the inner workings of video I am a total noob at. Yes, my old reciever does have DTS and is the only way on this set up to get surround. I was seconds away from getting a el cheapo AVR to have it all HDMI but, I would rather save for one thats worth a darn! So yes, HDMI to the TV is all.