palevskid

palevskid updated Denon AH-C551K

September 16, 2008 at 12:12 pm

New pro/con: Non-twisted type cable

Tapped as "want it"

palevskid commented on Denon AVR-888

September 15, 2008 at 8:06 pm

"I wanted this for a long time, and have been pretty happy once I got it... although I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it (got it as a gift). Anyways, hman raised a good point... the user documentation is horrendous, and I still probably don't know how to use half the features. more

palevskid updated Denon AVR-888

September 15, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Tapped as "love it"

Untapped as "want it"

Tapped as "have it"

palevskid updated 2 products

Updated Denon AVR-888

December 14, 2007 at 3:57 pm

Added a related product: Denon ASD-3W

Tapped as "want it"

New pro/con: Network Audio/Photo Ready (via optional ASD-3N/3W)

New pro/con: Multi-zone (two) capability

New pro/con: Analog to HDMI up conversion

Added Denon ASD-3W

December 14, 2007 at 3:57 pm

palevskid joined the site

December 14, 2007 at 3:16 pm

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axcohn

Hello palevskid,

I am a new owner of the AVR-888, and I'm hoping you can settle a disagreement my wife and I are having about a replacement DVD player (our current one doesn't support DTS). My wife is asserting, without evidence (I think), that a new DVD player we buy must have an HDMI output, rather than a component output. Her reasoning is that all connections leading to the new digital TV we get must be identical; otherwise, the picture will have the quality of the least good connection in the communication chain.

I doubt this. My opinion is if you feed the DVD output as component signal to the receiver, let the receiver do its upscaling (the AVR 888 uses Faroudja DCDi) and use an HDMI connection between the receiver and the TV, the receiver should convert the component signal to a 1080p signal before it sends it via HDMI signal to the digital TV. The TV sees only the 1080p signal.

Is either of us right?

Jul 05, 2008 6:36pm

Erik

Hey palevskid. Thanks for messaging me; I'd be happy to do my best at explaining what Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD-MA decoding is. :)

Let's start with a basic definition. Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD-MA are two new, competing multi-channel audio formats used by both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players to store surround sound audio information. A Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc has its audio stored in one or both of these formats.

Both of these formats are digital. To convert the audio signal contained on the disc into a sound you can hear with your ears somewhere along the way you need to decode it into multiple analog signals that can be amplified to drive your speakers.

This is where my point about the Denon AVR-888 comes in. Since the 888 cannot decode either Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MA, it means that you will have to rely on your HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player to decode the signal into another, lower quality format like Dolby Digital or even stereo (which all players can do btw) before sending it off to the receiver. The disadvantage is that you won't be taking full advantage of the advanced, hi-fidelity audio format stored on the disk.

Now, does this matter to you? It depends on how important sound quality is to you in general, and on the particular speaker arrangement you have set up.

To get the TrueHD and HD-MA decoding feature I suggest you look at the Denon AVR-988, or the value-price Onkyo TX-SR605.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions. I'd be glad to help. Here is some further reading:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/22/how-to-actually-use-dolby-truehd-and-dts-hd/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS-HD_Master_Audio