Here we are almost two years with Blu-ray and we still don't have the perfect player. Sure, the
PS3 is going to finally
get DTS-HD support, but it still can't bitstream the latest codecs and it still need
a gizmo to use with an universal remote. There are some nicely equipped stand-alone players, but none that support BD Live yet. This only leaves HTPC software, which with the most recent updates supports BD Live and the next-gen codecs, or do they? As always, the devil is in the details and in the case of trying to enjoy
TrueHD or
DTS-HD on a PC, it's a pretty big devil. You see while the latest versions support both next-gen codecs, because of the lack of a protected audio path in Windows, the audio gets down sampled. As you might expect this still ends up sounding better than we're used to, but it's by no means lossless. Like just about all the limitations of Blu-ray, it's a temporary problem -- in fact the required hardware is expected in the second quarter of '08. The cool part is that
you'll have the option to either decode in the PC or in your AV/R. The bad part is that you'll have to upgrade your sound card and playback software.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dj496 @ Apr 12th 2008 12:25AM
But how can sound cards fix the problem of protected audio path in Windows? Isn't the problem the audio stream *before* it gets to the sound card? I thought it would be some windows update needed for that.
Nick @ Apr 12th 2008 12:54AM
It's probably a problem in both Windows software and the sound card hardware. The Windows problem is fixable by Windows Update, yes, but I think the sound card needs some equivalent of HDCP for the audio. To my knowledge, no current sound card has this chip. Think of the whole HDCP fiasco with the video cards from a while back. I think it's like that, but for sound cards.
Jove @ Apr 12th 2008 1:01AM
life will never be perfect. thats why we continuously improve. get used to it. blu ray is not perfect and other things will come after it. stop complaining about not having that perfect utopia you never had...
loosely_coupled @ Apr 12th 2008 2:17AM
Profile 2.0 shouldn't even matter when you are buying a BD player. As long as the profile 1.1 player you buy has an ethernet port/Wifi, then the company should provide a profile 2.0 firmware update in the future. Who even cares about all that "interactive" nonsense anyways?
mntwister @ Apr 12th 2008 5:04AM
Ben, the remark on the PS3 about it getting DTSHD, but it still can't bitstream, I am wondering what it matters if the sound format is decoded anyway? I don't see this as a downer at all, the only downer I see is not getting DTS MA to light up on a receiver.
Ben @ Apr 12th 2008 7:44AM
I wondered the same thing, which is why I created a poll.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
It looks like about 1/3 think bitstream is better.
colinhunt @ Apr 12th 2008 5:08AM
Yeah, audio gets downsampled to 48khz/16bits -- but most HD DVD/Blu-ray soundtracks are 48/16 anyway. So what's the big deal?
Ben @ Apr 12th 2008 7:43AM
That's a good point, that I didn't consider. I know the signal was downsampled, but I didn't realize the result was same sample rate that many discs use anyways.
dj496 @ Apr 12th 2008 9:40AM
No no no. Wrong! Most soundtracks are 24-bit! and 48kHz. The 24-bit makes the biggest difference in audio and that's why the studios records in 24/48. So we're still missing something significant.
Ben @ Apr 12th 2008 9:41AM
@dj496
No he seems to be right, I went back and looked at a sample of 10 new releases from big studios and 8 of 10 of them were 48/16, but yeah the rest were 48/24.
Either way, he has a point, it's not as bad as going back to AC3 or DTS.
andy @ Apr 12th 2008 12:04PM
I have another idea. If you bought a "7.1" soundcard, "HDMI video card" and "blu-ray 2.0" software, why not class action?
To me it seems like promising and failing to deliver. I'd give it a bit to see if they can sort it out in software, if not, sue MS, Creative, and ATI/Nvidia.
Why mess with it yourself when you can force the people who you paid to take care of it to do their jobs?
Neal @ Apr 12th 2008 2:02PM
Do you have a reference for the claim that "the required hardware is expected in the second quarter of '08"? I've been waiting for a complete solution for HD audio+video (or at least audio) over HDMI. Most of the new HTPC video cards do DD/DTS over HDMI but none do the HD codecs. Furthermore, I have to have an HDMI solution because my receiver does not have analog inputs.
Ben @ Apr 12th 2008 2:04PM
Yes, follow the read link at the bottom of the post, it is almost all the way at the bottom.
secede0 @ Apr 12th 2008 2:15PM
There is one BD player that can do everything--including DIVX. it Plays and bitstreams all audio codecs. And it has an SD slot that plays pictures and videos. And its 2.0 BD Live. So it can do everything the PS3 can do and more, movie-wise. Panasonic DMP-BD50 (release date: 05/01/2008 $600). In the model directly below that they have a HTIB, so I'm holding out till the release this one in HTIB form.
VinylVision @ Apr 13th 2008 9:22AM
High end users like me need two concurrent hdmi outputs - one that can be designated for video and another for audio. The reason is to enable playback equpment to be connected to separate external processors for both types of signals. And this applies to both pc and standalone playback equipment. The current combined output signal approach to protected path is crude, too limiting, and not the investment - plus still does not even work as intended for pc environments.