Do I need an A/V receiver that can encode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA for my PS3?

Question

So the PS3 can encode these HD audio formats but cannot send them (without encoding) to an A/V receiver for it to encode. I understood this.

In this case, all I need is an A/V receiver that is HDMI 1.3a capable, right? In other words, I do not need an A/V receiver that can encode these audio formats, right? As long as that A/V receiver has HDMI 1.3a input and output, it will be fine, right?

Answer 1

You are correct that the PS3 can send HD Audio formats in its original PCM or Loss less resolution through the HDMI 1.3a of a receiver. Up to this point, you get all the audio format in its original HD audio, but to process Dolby True HD, your receiver should have True HD decoding, so that you know for a fact it is being processed that way. If it does not have the TrueHD processing in the receiver, it may take that lossless audio stream and decode it on regular Dolby Digital and DTS.

From Home Theater Magazine:

you must have HDMI 1.3 terminals on both the disc player and the receiver or pre/pro, and, of course, the receiver must be a model that includes decoders for those formats. If any of those criteria aren’t met, you can’t output the native bitstream. Instead, you must rely on the disc player to decode the audio to multichannel PCM, transferable over any version of HDMI, after which the receiver or pre/pro performs all of its digital processing and digital-to-analog conversion and amplification. While there is no theoretical loss in resolution in the conversion to PCM, this is a viable option only if the player has all of the proper advanced audio decoding on board, and, as I noted earlier, not all models do. Failing that, we’re back to standard Dolby Digital or DTS quality.

Answer 2

Sceptic is wrong, the PS3 CANNOT send dts-ma and TrueHD in bitstream format for the receiver to decode.

You do NOT need an HDMI 1.3a receiver with a PlayStation 3, you only need one with HDMI 1.1 or higher that accepts audio across HDMI.

HDMI has had multi-channel PCM spec'd since the initial version, 24/192 up to 8 channels. TrueHD and dts-ma only go up to 24/192 in 6 channels and 24/96 in 8 channels. The PlayStation 3 decodes both these formats and outputs them as Linear PCM with no loss.

The only reason you'd want to make sure you have HDMI 1.3a on your receiver is if you're planning to buy a standalone player which will bitstream dts-ma and TrueHD to the receiver for decoding, or if you use your receiver as well to switch the video and you expect Blu-ray to untilize Deep Color at some point, which it will not.

So the long and the short is, as long as your receiver can accept audio through its HDMI port, you do not need to worry about the version of HDMI providing you've got a PS3. In the PS3's audio settings for HDMI it should be set to "PCM"

The Home Theater Mag article linked above is only talking about when you have a player that cannot decode and can only bitstream (like the BD-P1400 from Samsung) in which case you would need the receiver to do the decoding and it would have to be HDMI 1.3a, as previous versions of HDMI don't have dts-ma and TrueHD in the specifications.

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

Answer 3

yes you are correct about tht . for hd only a reciever with a hdmi port will be all u need to look for in a revciever . but if u want full hd sound as well u need a reciever tht can do it.

if u are looking to get a reciever get a nice one as it is one of things u dont upgrade very often . so get something nice like a sony bdps-500b (not too sure of the model number )

also investing in a good reciever like this ensures perfect sound and the ability to upgrade to a 7.1 system just like in the cinemas

good luck