http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/ Engadget HD Comments for Poll: Which is better LPCM or Bitstream? http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
I chose DTS Core because it had a superior bitrate.

I don't understand why the PS3 can't do the same thing.

I know why it can't bitstream TrueHD or DTS-MA. But surely it could transcode those tracks or even LPCM to DTS-Core and mix in the user interface audio. This would be especially useful to those of us with older receivers.]]>Apr 11th 2008 12:57PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
Transcoding advanced audio, and mix in menu and secondary audio, to a lower bitrate lossy DTS is hardly considered a feature. All HD or BR players, PS3 included can do that already. XBox 360 is actually in the bottom of this todem pole as far as audio is concerned because it can't output LPCM (5.1 or 7.1) via its HDMI interface.

What this poll is about is about passing lossless audio, i.e. DTS MA, TrueHD and PCM, to AVR.

The sound quality should be virtually same. However, to those who say LPCM and bitstream is the same for AVRs, keep in mind that some low end AVRs can not apply additional processing for LPCM, like expand 5.1 to 7.1 while they can do so for bitstreamed audio.

]]>Apr 11th 2008 2:41PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 2:10PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
Very few people have HDMI 1.3 capable receivers. Most people that use receivers at all use an optical Toslink cable to hook up their audio. It would be nice to see Sony cater to the majority, here.

I will be upgrading my receiver within the next year to get LPCM output from the PS3. Until then, it would be nice to get some higher quality audio out of the Blu-Ray discs out there that have TrueHD and DD tracks, but no DTS track. There are a LOT of people in my current situation that would benefit from such a feature. A feature that the XBox 360 carries without so much as a hiccup.]]>Apr 11th 2008 4:11PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
Someone please explain in laymans terms?]]>Apr 11th 2008 1:13PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
-Uncompressed audio (PCM)
-Dolby TrueHD
-DTS-HD Master

In order to get this to your speakers you have to satisfy a few requirements.

-A Blu-ray/HD-dvd player that can decode uncompressed audio and send it via LPCM OR a newer reciever that can decode them, whereas the player would send a bitstream signal.

-The connection must be HDMI, no other audio cable can do it at this time and probably wont until something better comes out.

-The "source" (the BD or HD-DVD disc) has to be encoded with one of the three named audio sources above.

So basically as this poll is asking the difference between LPCM and bitstream, its asking how you send your digital signal to get the highest quality sound. Technically they should sound identical. Of course it really is hardware dependent on your setup by which components have which features.]]>Apr 11th 2008 4:19PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Seriously badly worded poll here, engadget. ]]>Apr 11th 2008 1:15PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:18PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:25PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:27PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:30PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:30PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:30PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:30PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 2:46PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 1:53PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
This is so specific to each receiver, that's why I didn't mention what bells and whistles it was. I'm sure some receivers support the same features regardless of the way the signal is sent.

At the same time, others may choose bitstream just so the TrueHD light is lit on their AVR. I know, it's sill but true.]]>Apr 11th 2008 2:02PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 2:17PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
I think the PS3 supports all the codecs now through the 2.30 update right? If that's the case it really will be the best BD player out there.

Anyway I sort of prefer LPCM because when I use bitstream the volume is always either too low or too high during a movie. But I'll try bitstream again when the update comes out next week.]]>Apr 11th 2008 2:20PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 2:35PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 3:18PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
So, for example, think of an iPod attachment for a car stereo. If you could "stream" a track from it to the headunit in the car, that would work for most tracks. But, as soon as it hit a DRM track, the player now has to be involved and handle the decoding for you. Yes, this is a bad over-simplification, but in the end you still get audio that you probably wouldn't notice the difference in (assuming same bitrate) and didn't even know which way was happening.

As for me, I would rather just have the player read all of the tracks, decompress them, and then shoot them out to the amp. This way I don't have to keep upgrading the amp to deal with all the new fantastic audio codecs that I can't hear over my 4 year-old and two dogs anyway.]]>Apr 11th 2008 2:38PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 2:48PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
I agree, it would be great for Sony to enable this for those with newer PS3s.]]>Apr 11th 2008 2:50PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
Quite frankly, I think this poll is flawed.]]>Apr 11th 2008 3:25PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 4:25PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
Yes, I have a kickin AVR and very good players. At the moment this argument is largely moot for me but the principle remains the same. Let ME decide, thank you very much, not some marketing wonk that knows jack ****.
]]>Apr 11th 2008 3:50PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
With the way the audio is handled in Blu-ray, LPCM output over HDMI will always be superior, from the standpoint of getting the best, most complete soundtrack out of the player. There is no arguing this point, and there is absolutely no downside to using player decoding and output over HDMI.

There are only two cases I can think of where an individual *might* be better off using bitstream, and they both involve limitations of their hardware. (1) The player can't decode advanced audio, but the receiver can, or (2) The receiver can't do bass management or other needed surround processing of audio input via LPCM format. Any receiver company that would put out a model today without full support of LPCM signals over HDMI deserves to go out of business, immediately. Again, however, these should be the rare exceptions. If your player can internally decode all advanced audio formats, as the PS3 will soon do, do yourself a favor and start using the uncompressed LPCM output to your receiver. You will likely avoid a lot of headaches in the future, with Blu-ray extras that depend on player mixing of audio.
]]>Apr 11th 2008 4:23PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 4:23PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
How do you know if your PS3 has the "other" chip that is limited as far as audio?

]]>Apr 11th 2008 5:37PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/]]>Apr 11th 2008 7:23PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 7:45PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
Definitely the best player. My only gripes are no LCD display on the unit, and the remote is bluetooth, which no universal remotes support (even Sony's best touchscreen models).]]>Apr 11th 2008 10:02PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/
The only thing I saw was that with 2.3 it was going to add DTS-HD support. Making the assumption that this means bitstream seems like a jump to me.]]>Apr 11th 2008 10:06PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 11th 2008 8:42PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 12th 2008 10:20AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 12th 2008 10:22AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/11/poll-which-is-better-lpcm-or-bitstream/Apr 17th 2008 4:15PM