[eskro]

but again, if you have an HD-Audio/Video Receiver,
would be sad not to see the CooL DTS-HD MA & True-HD lights on it

[PatrickVogeli]

as far as aq goes- if it is done right, lpcm=dts-hd and lpcm=truehd!

Now, that's the wholoe point! Since all stays in the digital realm, it should not matter who decodes the stream, wether the PC or the AVR, since the speakers should get the same.

Think of it like a zipped text file: it doesn't matter if you unzip the file in your pc and you send the text file to a phone OR you send the zip file to you phone and you unzip it there: the resulting text file is the same.

[dandirk]

but again, if you have an HD-Audio/Video Receiver,
would be sad not to see the CooL DTS-HD MA & True-HD lights on it

Yes, I hear you there... would love to be able to confirm easily if the full intended stream is being used.

but at the cost of a powersaving small ion nettop (vs full htpc) not so sure the lights are worth it to me.

I was honestly waiting for a nettop platform and xbmc to support bit-streaming to make the jump. Then I found out lpcm is pretty much the same (actually mlpcm)... it allows me to make the nettop/openelec jump with out too much concern.

[dandirk]

Now, that's the wholoe point! Since all stays in the digital realm, it should not matter who decodes the stream, wether the PC or the AVR, since the speakers should get the same.

Think of it like a zipped text file: it doesn't matter if you unzip the file in your pc and you send the text file to a phone OR you send the zip file to you phone and you unzip it there: the resulting text file is the same.

This is how I understood the lpcm vs bit-streaming difference. I am glad it is true because all those nettop ION boxes seem much less limiting!

[bluray]

Now, that's the wholoe point! Since all stays in the digital realm, it should not matter who decodes the stream, wether the PC or the AVR, since the speakers should get the same.

Think of it like a zipped text file: it doesn't matter if you unzip the file in your pc and you send the text file to a phone OR you send the zip file to you phone and you unzip it there: the resulting text file is the same.

not all software, htpc and avr are the same quality!

[eskro]

I'd love to see extensive testing/comparison of audio quality
from onBoard audio decoding versus AVR decoding,,,,,

[dandirk]

not all software, htpc and avr are the same quality!

Just curious cause I just haven't stumbled on a reported issue yet.

Do you know of XBMC having an issue decoding DD/DTS/HD streams to lpcm?

From what I have read this process isn't really "quality" restrictive aka like converting formats (downmixing etc anything that requires an audio DAC).

[dandirk]

Found this... its cnet so grain of salt...

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-13817_7-6462511-4.html

One last point: contrary to what you might hear elsewhere, there's absolutely no sound-quality difference whether the decoding takes place in the receiver or the Blu-ray player. The common analogy is to "zipping" a file on your computer; it's the exact same file if you unzip it on another computer. The only real difference is that if you use onboard decoding on your Blu-ray player, you won't see the "Dolby TrueHD" or "DTS-HD Master Audio" lights on your receiver. That's because the receiver only knows it's receiving a linear PCM signal; it doesn't know how that linear PCM signal was previously compressed.

Found this which says there could be a difference:

http://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/11/lpcm-i...bitstream/

[bluray]

Just curious cause I just haven't stumbled on a reported issue yet.

Do you know of XBMC having an issue decoding DD/DTS/HD streams to lpcm?

From what I have read this process isn't really "quality" restrictive aka like converting formats (downmixing etc anything that requires an audio DAC).

sometime, the hardware and software are the same but the outcome is not the same. i know there are several guys in here that cannot playback dts-hd/truehd fluently as me with more powerful hardware than mine.

the only way to find out for sure is to try it on your system (htpc/avr/hdtv/speakers) because every system is different. if lpcm sound is dentical to dts-hd on your system, you'll have your answer!

[publicENEMY]

Found this... its cnet so grain of salt...

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-13817_7-6462511-4.html



Found this which says there could be a difference:

http://hd.engadget.com/2009/07/11/lpcm-i...bitstream/

That engadget article is the worst article ever. Stupid would be an understatement. IMHO.

[DDDamian]

That engadget article is the worst article ever. Stupid would be an understatement. IMHO.

+1