HD E1 Questions

MIB

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Always been pro HD DVD (had the XBOX addon but sold as poor sound - before the fix). Was waiting for the XE1 to be under £300 but just missed the recent deals so thinking of getting the HD E1 as seems like a bargain for £179. Have a last few questions for owners before I buy.

I don't have a HDMI amp so did want the 5.1analogue for better sound on the XE1 but I read a post suggesting that DD+ on the E1 was output at 1.5mbs via toshlink and the difference between this and the higher sound formats was negligible. Can anyone comment on the sound performance of the E1 HDMI vs Toshlink and the E1 vs XE1 analogue.

Also don't have HDMI board for Plasma yet so was just going to use component which would miss out on scaling of SD DVD's. I believe the internal scaling of the PHD8 is pretty decent but will I notice an improvement with the upscaling of the E1 (HDMI) or is the investment in the Reon scaling of the XE1 worth the extra? Getting confusing with the fact that HD DVD / Amps & TV's are all capable of scaling and kowing which is better at the job.
 
I haven't yet got a Surround sound system so can't answer that question.

As regards upscaling it seems a decent upscaler to me. Far superior than my old 'supermarket special' which I keep to play Region 1 DVDs.

No doubt the XE1 is even better in this regard, but it is allot more expensive.
 
The only way to get the better sound through the E1 is with the HDMI cable.

The XE1 has the analogue outputs which go to your amp to give the new HD Sound formats.

If you just connect the E1 to your amp via optical, you will just get the DD or DTS standard sound (albeit at the higher bit rate). DD+ is the HD sound format.
 
before i got my hdmi enabled amp i outputed the audio via optical to my old denon amp via optical and the sound via optical as 1.5mb dts sounds very good. I have since upgraded to an hdmi enabled amp and the dolby true hd soundracks sound better as you are getting the full bandwith, the dolby digital+ tracks sound no different through hdmi than they did with the optical. I guess its because dd+ goes up to 1.5mb and the he-1 can output 1.5mb dts over optical.
 
As it's vaguely related i'll post in here...

I'm currently considering 2 AV amps - the Yamaha DSP-AX761 and the Onkyo SR-TX705E... both accept audio over HDMI however only the Onkyo has the HD sound formats. I assume if i went with the Yamaha then i would have to use the player to decode the sound formats from the HD DVD and pass this to the amp, whereas with the Onkyo i would let the amp decode the audio signal and thus it should technically be better?

The way i view it:

XE1 + AX761 will be similarly priced to E1 + SR705E and i'd assume that the former would give the best results as the analogue audio inputs will give the full sound and the XE1 should have a better picture... however the audio will be totally digital on the latter combo and i can't imagine a massive difference on video? Logical?
 
As it's vaguely related i'll post in here...

I'm currently considering 2 AV amps - the Yamaha DSP-AX761 and the Onkyo SR-TX705E... both accept audio over HDMI however only the Onkyo has the HD sound formats. I assume if i went with the Yamaha then i would have to use the player to decode the sound formats from the HD DVD and pass this to the amp, whereas with the Onkyo i would let the amp decode the audio signal and thus it should technically be better?

The way i view it:

XE1 + AX761 will be similarly priced to E1 + SR705E and i'd assume that the former would give the best results as the analogue audio inputs will give the full sound and the XE1 should have a better picture... however the audio will be totally digital on the latter combo and i can't imagine a massive difference on video? Logical?


The E1 can decode to an uncompressed PCM output which it sends via HDMI if the yamaha can handle that then you don't need anything better. Main reason I see to get the XE1 is if you have a 1080P display or have an amp that can't take a HDMI input for audio.
 
As it's vaguely related i'll post in here...

I'm currently considering 2 AV amps - the Yamaha DSP-AX761 and the Onkyo SR-TX705E... both accept audio over HDMI however only the Onkyo has the HD sound formats. I assume if i went with the Yamaha then i would have to use the player to decode the sound formats from the HD DVD and pass this to the amp, whereas with the Onkyo i would let the amp decode the audio signal and thus it should technically be better?

The way i view it:

XE1 + AX761 will be similarly priced to E1 + SR705E and i'd assume that the former would give the best results as the analogue audio inputs will give the full sound and the XE1 should have a better picture... however the audio will be totally digital on the latter combo and i can't imagine a massive difference on video? Logical?

although the onkyo can decode the hd audio at the moment there is no way to get the hd audio to the amp in bitstream format. So the only way to listen to hd audio is for the player to decode the audio and send to the amp as lpcm via hdmi or analogue audio. I think there are updates planned in the near future which may allow the x-e1 to output hd audio in bitstream format.
 
The only way to get the better sound through the E1 is with the HDMI cable.

The XE1 has the analogue outputs which go to your amp to give the new HD Sound formats.

If you just connect the E1 to your amp via optical, you will just get the DD or DTS standard sound (albeit at the higher bit rate). DD+ is the HD sound format.

Thanks Greg

I didn't word my post too well, ment that the optical allowed for higher bit rate 1.5mb DTS (higher than on the XE1) not DD+:)
 
before i got my hdmi enabled amp i outputed the audio via optical to my old denon amp via optical and the sound via optical as 1.5mb dts sounds very good. I have since upgraded to an hdmi enabled amp and the dolby true hd soundracks sound better as you are getting the full bandwith, the dolby digital+ tracks sound no different through hdmi than they did with the optical. I guess its because dd+ goes up to 1.5mb and the he-1 can output 1.5mb dts over optical.

Thanks Chic - thats just the sort of info I was after :smashin:

Are there many True HD discs or are they mostly DD+?

You say True HD sounds better - is it a small improvement or really obvious?
 
Thanks Chic - thats just the sort of info I was after :smashin:

Are there many True HD discs or are they mostly DD+?

You say True HD sounds better - is it a small improvement or really obvious?

most of the hddvds i have have only dolby digital+ , the warner hddvds i have have both dolby digital+ and dolby true hd.

its hard to say, i wouldn't say its night and day difference, the surrounds seem to have a little more from them and the sound field seems more fuller to me. Even dd+ is a big step up from standard dd. So if a disc doesnt have a truehd soundtrack i am not bothered as long as it has dd+, but if the disc has both i go for the truehd track.

I just watched king kong last night which is dd+ and that soundtrack is fab, plenty of good surround moments and plenty deep bass. It far superior to the dvd audio.
 

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