Topic: HD Video Card and PC Blu-Ray player.

[Touti]

This is what I have.  I bought it because of the wireless rear speakers.  I had been looking at it for a year as I didn't want to spend the 1200$ and then bought it on sale at 800$.

It has 1 optical and 1 coax input.  When I run the tests I mentioned above my system shows that it's receiving a DD5.1 signal but shows nothing when I try the DTS test.  It doesn't really matter, as long as I have DD5.1 I can live without DTS.  I could never really hear the difference anyway except that DTS is louder at the same volume settings.

Sony Dream System

[Najemikon]

But do you have an optical out on the PC?

Hang on one darn tooting minute! I just remembered something. I bought my Creative Audigy card specifically because it was one of very few cards that could process DTS. [runs to control panel to check] I have a setting in its audio console where I can choose between 5.1 or DTS, just as you have to choose it on the DVD menu.

As to a difference, I have to say I think it is very noticeable, especially in clarity and range. My Panasonic set is very "bassy" with a real thump to it, but when I choose DTS it invariably widens the sound stage and balances it. I always get the feeling like it was somehow lifted off the floor, if that makes any sense whatsoeverprobablynotI'llshutupnow... 

[RossRoy]

It must be the receiver that can't receive DTS on the coax, because I have a coax cable running from my PC to my receiver/decoder, and it shows and decodes DTS fine on the coax cable.

Mind you I did get an expensive coax cable, rated for digital use, might have something to do with it too.

[Touti]

Early last year I wanted to see if I could use the PC as an upconverting DVD player so I bought the spdif ad-on for my onboard HD audio and it has both coaxial and optical.  I already had the component video out which came with the mobo.

In the end it didn't work because nvidia drivers couldn't properly "tune" on the 720P resolution.  I've changed the TV since (had EDTV at the time) and I have the same problem now, NVIDIA won't work with 1080P resolution, I can't even select it in windows (doesn't show on the list) and when I try it in Media Center I get a black screen.

I'm getting ready to put Jurassic Park III in the PC to see if I can get DTS out of the card one way or another.  If I can't get it to work on Coaxial I'll switch the cables with the digital set top box and try with the optical connection.

It must be the receiver that can't receive DTS on the coax, because I have a coax cable running from my PC to my receiver/decoder, and it shows and decodes DTS fine on the coax cable.

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 bits.  Just a few minutes ago I read something on asus' support site about driver version 6.1.x.62 needed to support DTS.  This driver isn't yet available in 64 bits, I have version 6.1.x.61 so maybe that is why it's not working.

[RossRoy]

And for the record, I never listen to DTS on DVD. I do try it every now and then to make sure I really still hate it, but no, everytime I get the sense that it overly amplified for no reason, and that the voices get drowned out by the overly strong sounds coming out of the other speakers.

I know your answer "You set is not properly calibrated!" - to which I'll reply: But it is calibrated, it sounds great using Dolby Digital, even DVD Audio sounds awesome, but DTS to me always sounds unbalanced and artificially boosted.

[Najemikon]

And for the record, I never listen to DTS on DVD. I do try it every now and then to make sure I really still hate it, but no, everytime I get the sense that it overly amplified for no reason, and that the voices get drowned out by the overly strong sounds coming out of the other speakers.

I know your answer "You set is not properly calibrated!" - to which I'll reply: But it is calibrated, it sounds great using Dolby Digital, even DVD Audio sounds awesome, but DTS to me always sounds unbalanced and artificially boosted.

That's weird. A common problem with all-in-one systems is that the centre speaker is a bit weak and so dialogue can be difficult without enhancement. I often struggle with standard 5.1, but never with DTS. Clear as a bell.

Ahem... "Your set is not properly calibrated!" 

[Touti]

Just finished my tests and my system can decode dts from the coax cable.  I connected the optical and tried the sound tests from the driver and still didn't get anything.  I put the coax back and tested in windows media player with Jurassic Park III.  It works both with DTS and DD5.1

The image is a bit distored but that's because the resolution is at 1080x1024.  I'm gonna try setting it 720p in MCE to see if it works.  When I tried that 2 years ago it would do it and then not set it back to 1024x768 but that was on windows xp so maybe it will work now.  This is just for the sake of it because I don't really care since I'm gonna change the video card anyway.

[Touti]

  this whole discussion and the tests it pushed me to do was worth it.  It looks like I can save about 100$.  My HTS has 2 sets of input plugs, Video1 and Video2 which have the following plugs.

Video 1
Analog Audio in L&R
Analog Video in
Coaxial Digital In

Video 2
Analog Audio in L&R
Analog Video in
Optical Digital In

The manual says that the system senses the inputs and gives priority to the digital connections so if I understand well, this means I can use both the analog and digital connections on a given input.  If I send signals from both sources at the same time, digital will have priority, otherwise it will just decode whatever it receives.

I'm gonna have to test that to make sure it works but if it does then I can buy a regular blu-ray player instead of using the PC.  My PC now uses digital coax on video1, I'm only using sound from the pc for windows and MP3's so I can change that to analog 2 channels and it won't make any difference.  Then I can connect the digital sound from the blu-ray player to the digital connection of Video1.

The advantages are.

1: I can get a sony blu-ray player for 279$+tx at Future Shop.  The cheapest HD video card + blu-ray drive for the PC comes to 267$+tx.  I'd save about 100$

2: I wouldn't need to use the wireless keyboard and mouse to control when I watch a blu-ray movie.  I have a Harmony One universal remote, I just need to add the blu-ray player in the devices and configure it.

3: Unpacking a regular dvd player and plugging it is a lot easier than replacing a video-card, dvd drive and fooling around with drivers.

4: I know I will be able to play ANY blu-ray movie which is not the case with most computer blu-ray drives.  My friends says 1 out of 4 won't play because of an incompatibility between drives and discs, he's waiting for an update on drivers.

Looks like I'll be "blu-raying" tonight for less than a 300$

[Najemikon]

Looking good and your friend has made a good point. Because Blu-Ray is so new, they're still working out the kinks. Make sure you get a Profile 2.0 or at least a 1.1 player (I think Sony will be and the Samsung I have is in the same price range if not, so it shouldn't be difficult to find one), and in any case see if you can find one with an ethernet port so you can connect it to your broadband and get firmware. My player has had two or three updates since I bought it and I understand, as you already heard, that the PC drives are not updated so much.

Lastly, does your DVD player "upscale" to 1080p? The Blu-Ray should do in anycase, but different models have different capabilities. Apparently the Toshiba is renowned for best results, but it was twice the price of anything else I looked at. My Samsung BR wasn't multi-region so I got a cheap Onkyo DVD player and that upscales much better than the Samsung anyway! I'd never heard of Onkyo but apparently they're sweeping up awards and do a £200 amp that beats far more expensive rivals, so the quality is there.

I wouldn't have bothered, but my all-in-one is barely watchable on the new TV, sadly. It just doesn't suit HD.

 

[Touti]

This is what I'm thinking of buying.

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDetailDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=1005427&navigationPath=n100421n100265

It's 279$ at Future Shop, it has Ethernet and USB connections and it's 2.0 Profile.  They usb if for a flash-based memory for BD Live content, I wished they had been smart enough to provide support for connecting it to a PC and use the hard disc for storage.

My Sony Dream System does upscaling on HDMI output but "only" to 720p, not 1080p.

[Touti]

btw guys, thanks to both of you for the discussion.  It was very useful, I know exactly where I'm going with this now and it's gonna be better and cheaper than my original plan.

[Najemikon]

That Sony is the one I planned on getting, but the guy at the shop recommended the Samsung as it was bit cheaper. I've not heard any sensible complaints about either. Great value, considering you can easily double it for top range models. I can't see what real benefit you get from those though.

Best of luck and welcome to the revolution! I have to say, I think Blu-Ray is astonishingly good, but I was very glad to see that my upscaled DVDs are astonishingly good "enough", so that it didn't risk becoming a money pit. In fact I still buy DVDs and stick to Blu-Ray for films that will really push the sound and vision. When I did the Oscar marathon, there were only one or two older titles I would want to upgrade to Blu-Ray (Lawrence of Arabia, Unforgiven, Gladiator, etc).

[Touti]

There is one big question I haven't asked yet.  If I get BR player today I will go open an account at Blockbuster and rent a few movies for tonight.

Any recommendations for my first BR experience ?

[Touti]

They blew up my balloon.   I can't use both analog and digital connectors as I thought.  When Sony says priority is given to digital they mean only from a hardware perspective.  When both are connected then only digital works, the system isn't smart enough to sense input on them in real time.

[Najemikon]

I haven't watched it yet, but apparently Iron Man is a top drawer title. Same with WALL-E, Dark Knight and Wanted. I have watched Hellboy II, which is just gorgeous. Not as good as the first film, but if you liked that or Pan's Labyrinth, the colours and textures are perfect for BR. In less effects heavy movies, I was impressed by Gone Baby Gone, Casino Royale and Zodiac. Those are good for seeing how BR shows off with standard films; I found it odd how much more depth there is to the backgrounds and when a character is watching a TV screen, that the image is clear enough for you to watch it as well! And have you ever paused when someone's reading a newspaper or other document, but the text is too blurry to make out? Not anymore...

I want to see some older stuff, but haven't had chance yet.

They blew up my balloon.   I can't use both analog and digital connectors as I thought.  When Sony says priority is given to digital they mean only from a hardware perspective.  When both are connected then only digital works, the system isn't smart enough to sense input on them in real time.

That shouldn't matter should it? You'll have HDMI to the TV and optical to the speakers from the BR, and when you want to use the PC, switch the channel on the audio?