Still hanging onto that old Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player? Your faith has been rewarded now that the 4.20 firmware update adds Dolby TrueHD audio decoding. Support was rumored in past firmware updates, but as of 8/29, it's official, along with BD-Java fixes and BD-/RE BDMV compatibility. Remember when we thought $600 for a player with limited audio support and no Bonus View or BD-Live compatibility was cheap? Oh, how expectations change.

[Thanks, Mick]

For those burned by either DVD-Audio, SACD or HD DVD (or, heaven forbid, any combination of the three), you're probably taking a rather defensive approach to Blu-ray audio. Now that said format is the sole king of high-definition media (in the physical realm, anyway), it's just a matter of time before firms start pushing out full-fledged audio discs while trumpeting the incredulous sound quality. After all, with 50GB of space, you can fit an awful lot of high-resolution audio on there. We've already seen the first BD record released and we already know that Neil Young's entire archive will soon be loosed on the format, but are the puzzle pieces aligned for Blu-ray audio to take off? From our standpoint, we're still hesitant to say yes. With CD players still dominating dashboards and BD drives still a long ways from being commonplace in computers, BD audio is apt to remain a niche good for years to come. Even still, do you think it has what it takes to overcome?

Fans of high-def audio rejoice: The first Blu-ray recording has been released. Fans of anything other than Divertimento, hold your horses: The first release is from Thondheimsolistene, an orchestra from Norway. "Divertimeni", as it is called, will be released by the 2L label in full HD audio glory along with a SACD track for those not on the Blu-ray bandwagon just yet. Formats include 2.0 LPCM, 5.1 LPCM, 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, 5.1 Dolby True HD, 5.1 Dolby Digital at 48KHz, and it has been confirmed to work just fine on the PS3.

[Via MiC]

Check it, Blu-ray fans. That totally believable rumor about Transformers finally fitting into a BD sleeve was indeed accurate, and now we're starting to see the nitty-gritty details about what we can expect come September 2nd. For starters, the Blu-ray edition will feature a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track as well as a 5.1 PCM uncompressed track to complement the obligatory 1080p transfer. We're also told to expect a trailer for the BD release of Iron Man, BD-Live content and a lengthy list of supplemental material -- all of which is expected to be in beautiful high-def. Tap the read link for the full list of extras, and start saving that $39.99 (or so) right now.

[Thanks, Wii60Warrior]

The biggest complaint about Blu-ray is that it's a work in process, and while that is hard to argue, the manufactures aren't making us wait for revisions. With each new generation of player, Blu-ray fans wait with baited breath to see if it'll satisfy all their needs, but until Profile 2.0 players emerge, it's likely they'll be left at least partially unsatisfied. The BD-UP5000 is the latest player to try to be everything to everyone by not only playing both HD media formats, but also by enabling a few firsts for Blu-ray like internal decoding of all the latest codecs. While the BD-UP5000 does have a lot of promise, we feel it's not quite there yet.

With HD DVD and Blu-ray also came the ultimate audio options in a time when convenience trumps quality in most of the audio world. While SACD and DVD-Audio are all but a bust, audiophiles can turn to HD DVD and Blu-ray for the ultimate audio experience. But even if you aren't an audiophile, it's still worth it to many to take advantage of the master quality audio available on the HD discs that you've already paid for. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as it used to be, and after realzing how much confusion there was surrounding these next-gen codecs, we decided to try to help clear up the confusion. So if you want to know how to take advantage of everything on the discs you already own, but don't know why Toslink doesn't cut it anymore (and what's so special about about HDMI 1.3), then read on, will ya?

Pioneer is expanding its CES lineup with four new audio-video receivers, one of which supports the new high-definition audio codecs found in Blu-ray and HD DVD. The VSX-518-K, VSX-818V-K, VSX-918V-K, and VSX-1018TXH-K A/V receivers all feature Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration with an included microphone for tweaking acoustics in the room, three 1080p-capable component inputs, and Auto Level Control for equalizing volume between sources. The VSX-518-K, 818V, and 918V all feature P.H.A.T (Pioneer Hybrid Amplifier Technology) power sources and support for WMA9 Pro over 5.1 channels, with the 518 dropping support for XM and Sirius satellite, iPod, and HDMI inputs. The big news is the VSX-1018TXH-K, with its support for 130 watts over 7.1 channels using a Direct Energy power supply, HDMI upscaling to 1080p, six digital inputs, and support for the lossy Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution, and lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio codecs. The VSX-518-K is priced at $199, the VSX-818V-K at $249, the VSX-918V-K at $349, all releasing in April, and the VSX-1018TXH-K will come to market in June for $599.

Supposedly Marantz's new Blu-ray player was at CEDIA, but if it was, we missed it. We won't let that happen again next week and we guarantee we'll get our hands-on the new BD8002 at CES next Wednesday. This players seems it may be one of best players ever considering it includes everything we can think of -- as it should with a MSRP of $2,099.99. At the top of the list is the players ability to decode just about every new audio codec out there including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, and output it via 7.1 analog outs or uncompressed via HDMI. The icing on the cake is the inclusion of the 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta video processor, which should help make it the best Profile 1.1 player yet when it's released the second quarter of 2008.

With all the talk of the PS3's inability to take advantage of the benefits of DTS HD yesterday we got to thinking, how many people can actually enjoy both of the latest codecs? While it's easy to just say my setup can do X and that's good enough, the problem is that most titles don't give you a choice when the studios don't opt to include both a TrueHD and DTS HD sound track. So compatibility isn't as much about choice as it is about not having to default to the 1.5Mbps compressed audio from the 90's because your setup can't decode both.

Not too long ago we asked you what the best Blu-ray player was and as many would expect one of the hottest answers was the PS3. At $400, with the PS3's ability to be updated to support just about any new Blu-ray feature, it seems like the best value; but there's one thing about the PS3 that is often overlooked. No, we're not talking about the lack of IR remote (easily solved with a $15 adapter) we're talking about the limited audio codec support. Sure, the PS3 supports Doby TrueHD decoding internally, but it lacks a big one, DTS HD. For whatever reason, the PS3 does not support bitstream output -- no, not even TrueHD -- only PCM, and since there's no DTS HD decoder built in, that leaves out one of the hottest new codecs. Sure, only ~15% of Blu-ray titles even include a DTS HD sound track, but judging by the upcoming releases from Sony, Disney, Fox, New Line and Lionsgate, we'd say this number is going to get a lot bigger. At this point, the best option is the Panasonic DMP-BD30 and a newer HDMI 1.3a A/V receiver with all the decoders built in, but who knows, maybe Sony will figure out a way to upgrade the PS3.

We gave this a go some time ago, but compared to the job Hi-Def Digest did, ours is pathetic. Not only do they go into detail about what every audio format available for both HD disc formats is all about, but they go on to give examples of discs that include them, and to top it all off, how to enjoy them. It's more complicated than you think because not every player or connection method supports every audio format. To be honest it's far more complicated than it should be and we wonder how anyone could make heads or tails of this mess without being very dedicated. Lucky for us, Joshua Zyber is up to the challenge and his article should help clear things up for just about everyone.

TV junkies rejoice, Sharp just announced their new 1TB, Blu-ray recording slickster. The ¥300,000 (about $2,611) AQUOS BD-HDW20 ships December 1st packing a 127-hour slab of silicon heroin to sooth your full HD television jones. Sharp's high-ender brings gold-plated HDMI output supporting 1080/24p video and DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD HRA, and high-def bitstream audio. We're also looking at IrSS infrared, 2x Firewire, recordings to 50GB dual-layer BD-RE/-R discs, and a lickity quick TV recording fix in just under a second. A 500GB model BD-HDW15 is also available for a bit less but really, why would you?

[Via Impress]

At Pioneer, there's Elite and there's "flagship" Elite. The SC-09TX is Pioneer's first flagship receiver in almost three years, and they've pulled out all the stops. You know the laundry list of goodies is drool-worthy: 1080p upscaling, HDMI 1.3, MCACC auto calibration, DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, for example. THX Loudness Plus is also onboard, so you can hear all the details in the soundtrack without having to crank it up to THX reference levels. Not that you couldn't get to those volume levels, though -- all seven channels can be driven continuously at 200 Watts via a custom ICEPower (an offshoot of Bang & Olufson) Class-D amplifier. To make sure the signal being fed to the amp section is up to snuff, Pioneer has put their Sampling Rate Converter inside -- think of it as a 192kHz audio scaler. If you want one of these receivers like we do, you've got a few months to save up -- the SC-09TX drops this winter at $7000.

One of the benefits in going from HDMI 1.2 to 1.3 is support of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio streams. The idea goes something like this -- you get your HDMI 1.3 compliant player (HD DVD or Blu-ray flavor), hook it up to your new HDMI 1.3 processor/receiver, and bask in the glory of reference quality audio. The reality? Not so clear. It turns out that at least some standalone players don't support the HDMI 1.3 specification fully, and skimp on streaming these formats either naively or in a PCM format, just like PS3 owners found for DTS HD. Technically, that's fair - manufacturers are not required to implement the full HDMI 1.3 specification to wear the HDMI 1.3 badge. But wasn't HDMI supposed to reduce confusion among consumers? The HDMI Learning Center suggests that "... consumers should ensure that their playback device ... is capable of decoding these new lossless Dolby & DTS audio formats ..." Caveat emptor, friends.