The XBox 360's HD-DVD player can mix in user interface sounds with HD-DVD audio on the fly and bitstream the output. Meaning that it decoded the audio, mixed it, and then re-encoded it to either DTS Core or DD. The source audio could be DTS-MA, DD+, TrueHD, or whatever HD-DVD supported, and it could transcode that to DTS Core or DD.
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.
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.
that's exactly what the PS3 does do- it just outputs the result in LPCM instead of re-encoding it using a lossy codec like the 360. The ps 3 method is definitely preferable.
Transcoding HD audio down to DTS Core is a great feature for people with older receivers. Transcoding TrueHD down to DTS Core on the XBox 360 sounds awesome. Not as good as TrueHD would, of course, but miles better than a standard DD track.
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shape @ Apr 11th 2008 12:57PM
The XBox 360's HD-DVD player can mix in user interface sounds with HD-DVD audio on the fly and bitstream the output. Meaning that it decoded the audio, mixed it, and then re-encoded it to either DTS Core or DD. The source audio could be DTS-MA, DD+, TrueHD, or whatever HD-DVD supported, and it could transcode that to DTS Core or DD.
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.
foxb @ Apr 11th 2008 2:41PM
Shape,
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.
elvisizer @ Apr 11th 2008 2:10PM
that's exactly what the PS3 does do- it just outputs the result in LPCM instead of re-encoding it using a lossy codec like the 360. The ps 3 method is definitely preferable.
Shape @ Apr 11th 2008 4:11PM
Transcoding HD audio down to DTS Core is a great feature for people with older receivers. Transcoding TrueHD down to DTS Core on the XBox 360 sounds awesome. Not as good as TrueHD would, of course, but miles better than a standard DD track.
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.