DTS-HD MA 7.1 problems

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piako

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 5, 2006
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The brd of dark city is giving me issues for some reason. The audio track is all scratchy like when you jerk the needle on a LP. Picture is fine. Using a Sony set-top player (BDP-S470) over HDMI to a sony TV (I think it's a ex400 model lcd--forget), but new. Never had any issues with this setup until attempting to play this title. Unsure of cause. Will check avs forum.
edit:attempted firmware update, issue remains wtf
 
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stop using sony...just kidding. I dont usually do this, but I recommend hitting up the guys at avsforum.com for this. you are using a set top player and they have way more users that have experience with those over there.
 
let me get this straight, are you connecting a sony blu-ray player to a sony tv. No external speakers?? if you are just connecting to the tv, how do you get hd audio? the tv can do stereo only right?
 
Yeah, I don't get it either. How would you even select DTS-HD MA? Every Blu-ray would default to the hidden Dolby Digital 5.1 track and your TV will down mix it. your TV doesn't have a DTS decoder built in nor a MA decoder.
 
I picked up dark city blu-ray the other week when it was on sale, and the audio sounds normal to me.

Im using a ps3 (fat) which decodes the dts-hd ma 7.1 into pcm to send out over hdmi to my receiver.

Looking through the menus, the only available audio track is the dts-hd ma track and a couple commentary tracks. I dont know if theres a "hidden" dd track, but its not available via my remote or menus.
 
A blue ray player will decode and play whatever audio it has codecs for. Since I've only seen playback issues like this due to firmware that may be a place to start........

@Calvieee and Danman. The blu ray player has hdmi out the tv has hdmi in = audio and picture. Something tells me yall were being sarcastic but I though I might help if yall weren't.
 
the HDMI will do audio and video, but wont send HD audio to a 2 channel playback device like the tv.
 
If you google the issue you will see you are not the only person with this problem. Many people on many different players have the same issue. There doesnt seem to be a pattern. Multiple regions, different players, amplifiers etc.

I reckon there is an issue with the audio track and the way the different equipment handle errors. Similar to the way some mp3 players can play slightly corrupted mp3's fine while others pop and skip.
 
The people on avs said it may be a bad disk from the pressing, but I suspect the disk is perfectly fine. I also saw one dude on amazon who said he had the same issue. My player can play back other dts hd-ma 7.1 tracks perfectly fine so it's probably a firmware issue or something. I contacted sony and told them to get on it.

When BRD first came out and the profiles weren't yet complete I remember sony execs saying the only player they recommend is the ps3. Is this still the case? I also noticed corel's windvd-hd or blu ray software has like three service packs, lolwtf.

They also talked about some type of yearly rotating keys for playback. What a time waster all this hassle. Whatever it’s only a movie lol …
 
Piako,

How do you have your hdmi audio setup? Is it bitstreaming the audio? Or decoding to PCM before outputting to the TV?

You might try changing the audio settings on the bluray player to the opposite of how yours is setup currently to see if the tv likes that better.
 
I don't think he can even choose bitstreaming since his TV won't advertise it as a feature when the HDMI link is negotiated. Either way, he TV wouldn't be able to decode it so it has to be PCM.

You should select downmix in your BD player and let the player convert it to 2 channel PCM.
 
danman said:
Yeah, I don't get it either. How would you even select DTS-HD MA? Every Blu-ray would default to the hidden Dolby Digital 5.1 track and your TV will down mix it. your TV doesn't have a DTS decoder built in nor a MA decoder.
Click to expand...

Not every Blu-Ray has DD 5.1. In fact, quite of few of them don't (in English, anyway). I found this out when I bought a Samsung BDP-3600 and hooked it up to my old Yamaha DSP-A3090 receiver. I used a TOSlink to get the digital audio signal over to the Yamaha, but on about half the BR movies I had here I would get no sound at all if I set it up to deliver DD 5.1. I went looking through the disc menus and only found DD 5.1 tracks in French and Spanish. The English tracks were all DTS, etc. When the 3090 was made, DTS and HDMI didn't exist. I'm now upgrading to a Yamaha RX-V3900 which is HDMI v1.3a compliant and can process the latest lossless DTS and Dolby formats. Until then, I am stuck with Dolby Pro-Logic for some movies, a very noticeable audio downgrade.
 
AFAIK, all BD's have a hidden DD 5.1 track. Most of the times it's not selectable in the disc menu but as long as you have you BD player setup correctly it will be the default track played.
 
danman said:
AFAIK, all BD's have a hidden DD 5.1 track. Most of the times it's not selectable in the disc menu but as long as you have you BD player setup correctly it will be the default track played.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. I tried every combination of settings. I was able to get the French and Spanish DD 5.1 tracks to play, but no English version. If the French and Spanish worked, then clearly the hardware is set up right. The "hidden" track is actually Dolby Pro Logic, or one of the higher audio formats downmixed to Dolby Pro Logic, and not DD 5.1.
 
danman said:
What movie?
Click to expand...

OK, I just grabbed a handful of the BR discs I have here.

Movies with NO ENGLISH Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track:

Star Trek 3 disc special edition, ISBN 1-4157-5065-3
GI Joe 2 disc digital copy edition ISBN 1-4157-5030-0
Die Hard ISBN (no ISBN number on the package, but it says "Blu-ray Cat # 2248241)
I, Robot (Blu-ray Cat # 2250987)
Young Guns (no ISBN or Cat #)
Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs Blu-ray Cat # 2262522
The Boondock Saints Blu-ray Cat # 2253802

Movies that did have an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track:

Narnia, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe ISBN 0-7888-8491-3
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ISBN 1-4198-6419-X
The Blindside ISBN 1-4198-8600-2
Batman Begins ISBN 1-4198-4449-0

Hardly conclusive, but obviously there are a lot of movies that do not have a DD 5.1 in English (though most of the movies in the above list have French and Spanish DD 5.1, and in the case of Ice Age there is also a Portuguese DD 5.1 track.
 
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