Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Receiver decoding vs source decoding

Why would you speak *to* a receiver ?

I guess I should have said "I can't speak to the quality, functionality or value of either of the speakers in question."

To chew him out for dropping your perfect pass, of course.

lol

I completely agree with the Capn.

You and the Cap'n can make it happen...

But you all be frontin' while I be rappin'

Best LOL of the day

I think that everyone is forgetting that with blu-ray it is better to let the player decode the audio as pcm and send it to the receiver if you have any interest in PIP or Web-enabled supplements. If it is sent bitstream then it is not possible to have the audio tracks mixed due to hdmi handshaking. At best your audio will just be downconverted from lossless to lossy and at worst you may not get any audio at all from this additional content. I hope my memory is correct from the article that I read back in February about this.

- Nick

Ok.. Please be patient with me as I try to understand the situation and make an intelligent receiver choice in a new system build.

My facts are this:

A Sony Playstation PS3 will be used as:
1. A gaming console
2. A Blue Ray player
3. A regular DVD player

An Epson Home Cinema 1080P UB projector will be used for:
1. PS2, PS3 Gaming
2. Viewing Blue Ray DVDs via PS3
3. Viewing standard DVDs via PS3
4. Viewing Bell ExpressVu satellite TV, both SD and HD

The speakers are going to be:
1. M80s fronts
2. VP150 center
3. QS8 surrounds
4. EP500 Sub

So given those facts:

1. Do I connect the PS3 directly to the Epson projector via HDMI for video and Digital OUT to the receiver for the sound ? will that give me the DD-HD and DTS MA (decoded by the PS3) or is that not possible via the digital out and I need to use HDMI only, or the 6/7 channel analog outputs.. does the PS3 even have those analog outputs ?

or

2. Do I connect the PS3 to the receiver via HDMI for both video and audio, then out to the Epson ? IF the receiver has internal audio decoding as well (DD-HD and DTS-MA) and video decoding, does it mean that I choose between the receiver chip (faroudja, HQV for video, burr brown, Aureus, TI etc. for audio) and the chip on the PS3 for handling the decoding ? which ever does a better job wins and I disable one or the other so that I don't have " double decoding" ?

Is Video decoding handled by:
1. The PS3 ? as the source of my Blue Ray and DVD and gaming.
2. The receiver ? with it's Faroudja, HQV Reon or whatever else
3. The Epson projector ? with it's PixelWorks, X.V Colour etc..



Given those facts, I am trying to determine if I my receiver needs to have:

1. Upscaling of standard DVDs, or is that handled by the PS3 or projector ? OR Not required because difference is almost NIL so don't even bother ?
2. High quality video processing chip ie: HQV Reon or is that handled by the PS3 or projector ?

To keep in mind:

1. The screen size will 72 and 90 + (have not seen the room yet, so I don't know exactly what size the screen will be)
2. 80% of movies will be Blue Ray, 20% will be standard DVD
3. Very little SD TV will be watched on this setup, other LCD and CRT TVs in the house for " the 6'oclock news"

Other things I am looking for in a receiver are:

1. Good power supply ie: preferably toroidal and enough juice to power Epic 500 with ease.
2. quality components and design
3. ability to connect IPOD, but not with fancy Ipod Docking station etc.. just connect the device and control playback from Ipod device. ( I guess a 3/8 jack is all that is needed ? )

And most importandly,

4. Keep the receiver price under $1500 Canadian.

Short list so far include:
1. NAD T675
2. Onkyo TX-SR805
3. Marantz SR7002
4. Yamaha RXV3800

Thank you all in advance to those who reply with words of wisdom.

Riker