3rd HD Lossless Audio format unlocked...finally!

[cheddar]

Great news for those who have one of the new onkyo receivers or pre/pros that decode DTS-Master Audio. There are three competing lossless audio options for HD Movie content. TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio uncompress without any loss in quality from the original source and uncompressed LPCM was never compressed in the first place. However, despite having every Fox blu-ray title released with a DTS-Master Audio track as its lossless option, there has been no way to actually listen to the track in all its glory (only the DTS core which is closer to plain vanilla DTS).

Now Samsung is the first of several players to release a firmware update for its player that enables it to bitstream DTS-MA over hdmi 1.3a to outboard decoders like the onkyos. And the article also hints that the ps3 might be able to decode the signal internally by Christmas, meaning many of us can listen to the track with only an hdmi 1.1 or above receiver or pre/pro. Just FYI for those who have the necessary components...

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Firmware_Upgrades/New_Samsung_Blu-ray_Player_Unlocks_DTS-HD_Master_Audio/1012

[bknauss]

Next gen DVDs seems to be really screwing the pooch with making things easy to understand on the consumer end of things. HMDI 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.3a, receivers that have whatever standard but don't have all of the features of that standard, DD+, TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS-HD:MA... they're doing a great job of making Joe Sixpack and his wife desire next gen DVDs.

And on another note, looks like the PS3 has more potential as a media player than a gaming system at this point. At least GT5 is in the somewhat near future!