Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Toshiba A30 and A35 HD player...differences?

But is it really a "word"?? And if so, how is it supposed to be spelled? LOL

Some subtle points that may help clarify or muddy things up:

*You can apply bass management and DSP processing to multichannel PCM over HDMI if your receiver/processor allows this processing. This is the preferred way for bm/processing since the signal remains in the digital domain.

*It actually does seem to matter for DTS-HD High Resoulution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio where the decoding takes place. Firstly, none of the HD-DVD players from Toshiba can decode the full DTS-HD High Res or DTS-HD Master Audio; they can only decode the embedded "core" DTS bitstream . By sending undecoded bitstream to a processor/receiver that can then decode the full codec, you can enjoy the full capacity of DTS-High Res and DTS-Master Audio. In this regard, as the only bitstream-capable player, the HD-A35 would be superior. For DD+ and Dolby True HD, it shouldn't matter whether the player or the processor/receiver is doing the decoding since the full codec is utlized (sent as bitstream or decoded into PCM). By the way, for DTS-HD Master Audio, one needs HDMI 1.3 on either end for bitstream capability, whereas lower HDMI suffices for bitstream of other codecs. An interesting twist is that the discs may have extraneous video/PIP, audio, or text overlays that the players (? second decoder) can decode and mix with the main PCM , but it is not clear if this extra information can be sent as bitstream and decoded separately in the processor/receiver. In addition, players can only decode 5.1 channels so far. If we get 6.1 and 7.1 channels on the disc, using bitstream may be necessary to enjoy all the channels unless a firmware update to the players allows decoding of more than 5.1 channels into PCM.

John

Well it is not conjecture, in Toshiba's literature for their players it clearly states: "HDMI Audio support for 5.1 L-PCM". As to where the the decoding should be done really depends on the quality of the DACs and features of the receiver. For my receiver, when I use the THX feature, there is a noticable difference(improvement) when the receiver does the decoding.

Well I am definetly going to get the 35....went to BB last night to get one while raking up some reward zone points for this sale they were having...they dont carry the 35 in the store. Matter of fact they didnt even know about the 35. So I am going to go to amazon.com I htink...pick up the onkyo 705 as well maybe.

I remember reading that the A35 only decodes up to 5.1 from hi-rez DD, but I can’t recall if it was an official document, or just someone posting that, so thanks for sharing. I’d still like to find a 6 or 7 channel HD disk to find out for myself though. I don’t know of any out yet.

I’m wondering if what you find “better” isn’t in relation to THX post processing, or if you actually prefer the AVR over the player. If you do feel that in-receiver unpacking is better than in-player unpacking, then good for you and it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says – it’s your opinion. I on the other hand, refuse to take a stand one way or the other without being convinced by means of a blind listening session.

Mike the HD-DVD disc Face-Off is formatted in 6.1 DTS ES ... which would only play 5.1 DTS on our A2/HK635 combo.

Face Off

Very good movie BTW, if you haven't already seen it.