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Topic:
Blu-Ray Player Concern - Input needed
This thread has 6 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Wednesday December 30, 2009 at 10:34
bryan.garmon
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I have a SamSung LN46A550 1080P TV and want to buy a blu-ray player to utilize the 1080P picture quality. However, my receiver a Denon AVR-4306 only supports 1080i and does not support the new Audio formats introduced with Blu-Ray. There is no money for me to upgrade to a new receiver so my question is this:

Is it possible to use an HDMI connection out of the blue-ray directly to the TV for the video, but still pass audio back through the receiver?

Am I correct that HDMI is the only option for getting 1080P picture quality?
Post 2 made on Thursday December 31, 2009 at 06:16
Daniel Tonks
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Is it possible to use an HDMI connection out of the blue-ray directly to the TV for the video, but still pass audio back through the receiver?

Yes, but only via coaxial/optical digital output from the BD player.

Am I correct that HDMI is the only option for getting 1080P picture quality?

Yes.

With that said, if you really do have the AVR-4306, everything I'm seeing says it does officially support 1080p. And even though it doesn't support the new HD audio formats, it DOES support LPCM over HDMI which is just as good. All you need to do is make sure that the BD player you buy will internally decode Dolby TruHD and DTS HD Master, and pass that over HDMI as uncompressed LPCM. Most higher models will do this, but probably not the dirt cheap entry level ones. The PS3, for example, will work.

The end result will be perfect lossless audio, exactly the same as if you had a TruHD or HD Master decoder in your receiver.
OP | Post 3 made on Saturday January 2, 2010 at 21:51
bryan.garmon
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Daniel,

Thank you for the reply.

I've spoken with Denon Tech support several times and they confirmed that the 4306 does not support 1080P - only 1080i. It was some time ago but I thought at one point there was an option for me to pay $500 or something crazy like that to send it back to Denon and they would upgrade it to support 1080p - but I thought that was crazy expensive so I did not do it. I can't find any details on that at the moment but either way I don't have budget to do any receiver upgrades.

I ended up ordering a Sony BDP-N460 and a Digital Optical Audio cable to go with it. I'm waiting for it to arrive.

I'm a little confused by your comments. If I plug the HDMI from the Blu-Ray into the TV so I can get 1080P picture, then I plug the Optical Audio into the Blu-Ray and out to the receiver to pass the audio (including the internally decoded Dolby TruHD, I should be good right?

I'm thinking if I go HDMI direct from Blu-Ray to Receiver and try to pass uncompressed LPCM over the HDMI I'll get the audio, but lose the 1080P.
Post 4 made on Sunday January 3, 2010 at 13:30
Gene5301
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The optical or coax digital connections will NOT support Dolby True HD or any of the new Blu-ray audio formats due to bandwidth limitations. You will only get generic Dolby DIgital 5.1. You need to buy a player with the 7 channel analog audio outputs. These would connect to the external analog inputs on your receiver. I was in the same boat with my older Denon receiver. That is why I purchased (the now obsolete) Sony BDPS550 player.
Post 5 made on Sunday January 3, 2010 at 19:39
Daniel Tonks
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Just like the only way to get 1080p video is via HDMI... the only way to get lossless audio is also via HDMI (whether it be decoded internally or externally). Or via 7.1 analog output as Gene mentions, but it's getting very hard to find players with that.

Intrestingly, that's also the exact reason I purchased the S550 - for the internal decoding and analog outputs! :-)
Post 6 made on Tuesday January 5, 2010 at 17:06
Gene5301
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The new Oppo has gotten rave reviews and has analog outs. So does the Panasonic BD80, if it is still available.
OP | Post 7 made on Tuesday January 5, 2010 at 20:51
bryan.garmon
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Thanks Gene - I understand that by going the route of Optical Audio Out I lose the Dolby True HD which I'm fine with - I'm more interested in the better picture quality that will be possible by using HDMI directly to the TV. The player arrives on the 12th so I'll find out soon enough how this works. Thank you for the input.


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