HDVD v. Bluray: Audio, round one to HDDVD?

[Peench]

I was reading an article in the most recent Sound and Vision this weekend about the new HDMI 1.3 standards. On page 67 I found this snippit very interesting:

One key feature has been missing from the handful of first gen HD DVD and Blu-Ray Disc players: the ability to pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Bitstreams to an external surround-sound processor or receiver for decoding. But with HDMI 1.3, these limitations disappear. (Current Toshiba HD DVD players with the company's v2.0 firmware update can decode Dolby TrueHD soundtracks internally and output them as a multichannel PCM signal via HDMI, while first-gen Blu-Ray players can't decode either Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio.) With manufacturers of high-def disc players apparently picking and choosing support for built in decoding of these new high-rez formats in their machines, HDMI 1.3's ability to deliver the native bitstreams from a disc to a surround-sound processor is a welcome development.

So am I reading this correctly? The first gen Blu-Ray players will NOT decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, while the first gen HD DVD players (if firmware updated) can decode at least the TrueHD signal?

[dmiller68]

That's what I read... Do these Blu-ray players even play Blu-ray discs? I don't think I have read one possitive thing about those players.

[Jon Liu]

lol, DM!

Blu-ray is getting better though. It's taking a little while, but they are getting better!

[SpOoNmAn]

Jon sometimes I wanna smack you, in a friendly way(not 2 friendly mind you). Who cares if they are *getting* better. Arent they costing 800 and 1,200 a pop!?!?

They should atleast be *as good as* HD DVD players at 4 to 5 x the price! I am disgusted!

[CamDawg]

Originally Posted by SpOoNmAn

Jon sometimes I wanna smack you, in a friendly way(not 2 friendly mind you). Who cares if they are *getting* better. Arent they costing 800 and 1,200 a pop!?!?

They should atleast be *as good as* HD DVD players at 4 to 5 x the price! I am disgusted!

Spoon, that's the same point that I make pretty consistently on another forum. Regardless of how big of a fanboy someone is or how much of the Sony/BR kool-aide someone has drank, it doesn't pass the common sense test to pay 2-3 times as much for a BluRay device when it performs, at best, just as well as it's competitor.

[Crippler]

At $1200 pills, these things better cook me breakfast and help whore up my Gamerscore. Is there ANY good press about BluRay?

[BiffCo]

]Is there ANY good press about BluRay?

Well, I can only speak from what I've heard/seen on BR cases, but thus far, Blu-Ray is the only format to release discs with completely uncompressed PCM tracks and lossless DTS-HD tracks. Not that you can actually receive benefit from them, as the players don't decode them internally and require a compatible HDMI receiver that decodes Dolby Digital+, TrueHD, and DTS-HD. I don't believe there's a receiver out there that decodes any of these signals as of yet.

If I make it to CES this year, I expect to see a plethora of receivers that have these decoders.

-Brad

[GoatMother]

Just buy the PS3 as a blu-ray player. From people who have owned the Toshiba, Samsung and Panasonic at AVSforum the PS3 is definitely the way to go. Best bang for the buck. Screw paying $499 yet alone $1299 for something that ONLY plays HD movies.

[ProPain]

where can I get one?

[WormholeXtreme]

Plenty on Ebay but they cost as much or more than the stand alone BD players. I really hope a combo player is introduced next year. There are a few titles I would like on BD aside from the 3 that I bought back in June, but I returned the Sasmung in July and the only option I would consider right now would be the PS3, but even that is too much for just BD playback when the HD DVD players are so inexpensive.