Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 6 channel analog out on blu-ray sucks

This is topic 6 channel analog out on blu-ray sucks in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-07-2009, 06:42 PM:

I'm curious to know if anyone else has noticed that (at least on the Panasonic BDP-30) that the 6 RCA analog outputs absolutely suck ass. The high and low end of the frequency spectrum is GONE and it just doesn't sound flat at all. I was using the format 11 (dts) 6 channel input on a CP650 for this test.

Using that same player and taking the AC3 track direct into the same CP650 with the same disc produced excellent audio.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-07-2009, 07:17 PM:

It all depends on the processing and how the 6-channels were derived. They are not all created equal.

Compare your unit to the Denon DVD-3800BDCI. A "high-end" unit. Look at what it has for audio decoding...compare that to yours. Is it reasonable to expect there to be similar results? Price out what good D/A converters cost for audio...now price out what 6-channels worth cost...I'll wager that they far exceed the price you paid for the whole Blu-Ray player. That, effectively, is what you are listening to.

Steve

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-07-2009, 07:38 PM:

I actually thought about buying a Panasonic DMP-BD30 player when I was buying my Sony Bravia XBR series HDTV. But I opted for a 80GB PS3 instead -same $500 price, but a lot more capability. However, a PS3 doesn't have 5.1 or 7.1 analog audio outputs.

Regarding the audio problem, I'm wondering if there is an issue with how the DMP-BD30 internally decodes and outputs the audio.

The DMP-BD30 does not internally decode the full Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats. It just internally decodes and outputs the lossy versions of Dolby Digital and DTS via the 5.1 analog output. The player does bit-stream output DDTHD and DTSHD audio via HDMI. Maybe there's something missing in that as opposed to Panasonic BD players that full decoding and analog output of the next generation audio formats (DMP-BD50, DMP-BD55).

One thing to try is playing a BD movie with multichannel Linear PCM 5.1 audio to see if the audio levels are just as weak. Quite a few Sony Pictures Blu-ray movies feature LPCM 5.1 (Casino Royale, The Fifth Element and The Patriot are a few I have).