Bllu-Ray and HDMI receivers???

[NeilGabriel]

I think I get that I need a receiver with HDMI to get the best AQ from BR discs (unless the player has an internal decoder for them and I can use the mutli-channel outputs)). My question is, does the receiver need HDMI AND its own internal decoder for the newest DD and DTS. A lot of receivers have had HDMI for a while, but I assumer they don't have internal decoders for the newest audio formats.

[Willow]

Not to HJ, but to add, what is the major diff. between reg DD and DTS and the new formats. I'm thinking about getting a new AVR as well.

[venomclan]

I am not an expert, but there seem to be only a few on the market that have the codecs to process the new formats. The Integra pre/pro is the most popular and I think there is also an Onkyo carbon copy of it. If I am correct, just having HDMI is not enough to get all the new formats.
Venom

[lockmart]

You need HDMI 1.3a (some have 1.1 or 1.2). The only internal decoding Blu Ray player is the Panasonic BD-50 which isn't out yet. If you wait for that you can use 6 RCA cables for lossless sound, or buy a newer receiver and use HDMI and a capable Blu Ray (more to choose from if they don't have to do the decoding). You still have to find one that supports the feature though.

[fumoffu]

I got into a lively discussion with cheddar recently regarding issues related to this. Check out this thread for alot of info:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63888

But you don't need an HDMI receiver to get the best possible audio.

You can get a blu-ray player to transcode the DD,DTS into PCM and that is transmitted over HDMI (1.2) and then the receiver can do the DA conversion to analog. The one caveat here is that the player will need to support the codecs, and most don't support DTS-MA.

[lockmart]

Right the Panasonic BD-50 is the only one to support it without HDMI.....

[NeilGabriel]

Right the Panasonic BD-50 is the only one to support it without HDMI.....

The last I saw was an April release date for this but Crutchfield says they have no date. Any ideas out there??

[Bamadude]

...and most don't support DTS-MA.

Yes DTS-HD Master Audio is a curve ball. I'm in the HDMI 1.2 boat right now so I'll be waiting for more affordable players with all the decoders to send via PCM. I'm not upgrading my receiver again anytime soon.

[lockmart]

The last I saw was an April release date for this but Crutchfield says they have no date. Any ideas out there??

That sounds about right (April) from what I've seen on AVS. Since I had to upgrade my receiver anyway I went ahead and got the 1.3, but this Panny is a good option. I think I'll pick up the BD-30 when the 50 comes out now that the LFE issue is fixed with a firmware upgrade. Hopefully the price will drop with the new one and my receiver will do the decoding.

[Bamadude]

Looks like the Sony BDP-S550 (Fall '08) is going to decode DTS Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD with 7.1 analog out.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9877956-7.html?tag=more

[nodeuces]

Hopefully by then Sony will have proper firmware to get the PS3 codes up to DTSMA par.