DTS HD 7.1 and Cyberlink PDVD 8

[candg]

Hello to anyone reading this, it is probably a really stupid question but here goes.

I have just bought the Golden Compass on Blue ray and playing it through Cyberlink 8. The setup menu of the disc includes a fixed audio option of 7.1 DTS HD. At present I am using the Coaxial output of my PC to feed the Yamaha 2700. The receiver atomatically identifies the soundtrack as 7.1 DTS and plays it fine (very good actually). My question is am I going to notice a HUGE improvement in sound quality when I connect the 7.1 analogue outputs of my soundcard and feed the analogue inputs of the receiver ? this I assume will allow me to play DTS HD 7.1 being fully decoded by Cyberlink.

Many thanks

Graham

[albriscoe]

I`ve just done exactly this, gone from optical to analoge and found the difference to be amazing, the main thing I think I noticed is how much the optical cable must have been compressing the audio as immediatley I have to back off the sub, separation seems to be much better all round as well.

Also I`m now able to listen the Dolbt true HD - LPCM amongst other choices which I couldn`t do with optical.

One thing I will say is that I used good quality leads that were quite large on the jack ends so I have to shave some of the plastic off to get them to fit in my m/boards inputs.

There`s no detriment to doing this though so no probs.

My advice is go for it

Allan

[candg]

All connected via 8 channel analogues now. So far I have not really noticed a big difference. I am playing Stardust which is in DTS master 7.1 and although all the channels are working and I agree that channel seperation appears to be better (more discreet seperation) I have not noticed a huge difference, but that is probably because Cyberlink is still downmixing DTS master to core DTS so I imagine that this accounts for the lack of huge improvement. Is there any software out yet which FULLY decodes the hi res formats withough then downmixing them to core ?

Many thanks

Graham

[Donnacha]

PDVD8 should fully support DTS MA (it says so when I play a DTS MS disc) and not downmix to core. I think PDVD 7 used to do that. It does by all accounts downsample the rate, which doesn't make an audible difference, again by all accounts.

[tutu]

PowerDVD down samples analogue and optical to 16-bit/48Khz ASFAIK. It does not transmit Dolby TrueHD/DTS Master HD over HDMI either, which is due to the protected audio path in Vista either not being complete or requires a new revision (v2). The appropiate hardware is also required to support it, such as a Realtek 889A.

[candg]

My Cyberlink tells me that it is playing a DTS master disc, but Cyberlink just reports what is on the disc, but it does not actually decode DTS master as far as I know.

Graham

[Donnacha]

How do you know that? Doesn't PDVD version 8 claim that it decodes DTS - MA? What makes you think it doesn't?

[candg]

I am pretty sure (although would be glad to be proven wrong) that even version 8 dowmixes TDS MA to core DTS. I am sure I have read this here somewhere or on the blue ray forum.


Anyone any further information ?
Graham

[Prism666]

PowerDVD 8 fully supports DTS-HD Master and doesn't need to play the core track. 7.1 soundtracks come out in full 7.1 and the screen also reports DTS-HD MA

However, PowerDVD still does downmix high bit tracks to 16bit tracks. This is not the same as playing the DTS core. A DTS-HD MA soundtrack is still a DTS-HD MA soundtrack - just at 16bit instead of 24bit. Most people probably wouldn't notice

[dazm41]

well on the cyberlinlk web site it says dts master is supported on powerdvd 8 ultra but reading the manual can't find any mention only std dts

[candg]

Still not convinced somehow, as some time ago I emailed Cyberlink to ask about this and the response I had was that it did not actually decode DTS ma. Still would love to be proved wrong though. My understanding is that t the bext software to do this is Total Media Theatre...still experimenting with this. This is all vey confusing though..the Blue ray forum has similar discussions going on.

Graham

[candg]

This posting implies that Arcsoft is the only program to currently do it.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=50030


As of May 07th, Total Media is Profile 2.0 and has achieved DTS HD Master certification (supposedly the first player to do so)....without HDMI!!!!!
!!!!

I'm reinstalling mine now! It's supposed to allow DTS HD Master without down resolution! It also includes seperate bass management and speaker remapping

Here's the link http://www.arcsoft.com/press/viewrel...?releaseid=231

Wake up PS3, you have a new roommate - the HTPC has arrived !!!!
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[Prism666]

Originally Posted by candg

Still not convinced somehow, as some time ago I emailed Cyberlink to ask about this and the response I had was that it did not actually decode DTS ma. Still would love to be proved wrong though. My understanding is that t the bext software to do this is Total Media Theatre...still experimenting with this. This is all vey confusing though..the Blue ray forum has similar discussions going on.

Graham

I think your confusion might be the difference between downsampling and playing DTS Core. Its true that Powerdvd does downsample DTS-HD MA but that doesn't mean its playing the DTS Core track. The DTS track contains two audio streams. Powerdvd 7 played the lossy DTS core track (1.5 MBits/sec) whereas Powerdvd 8 plays the lossless DTS-HD MA track at a much higher bit rate (up to 24.5 MBits/sec)

Arcsoft can also do this now

[candg]

Thanks Prism

any links to that information ?

Graham