Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Lossless Audio with 4K Movie options in 2016

So even though UHD/4K is HDMI 1.4 and HD621 is 1.3 it can still handle the Audio as long as the player can decode to LPCM and offers 2 HDMI outputs.

So if I go the PS4.5 it will unlikely have two HDMI outputs and won't be possible to use with a HD621.

If you want to TRY a UHD source you will need something like the HDFury before the HD621. I am able to get 4K video AND audio through the HD621 from my Amazon FireHD box, but not the Panasonic UHD player. The PS4.5 may, or may not, work this way.

If you want to guarantee audio, then you would want to use an audio-only HDMI connection, which is why many of these players have two HDMI outputs, to work with legacy audio. The 1.3/1.4 doesn't matter here.

But I thought you said the Panasonic was working.

Anyone know the status on the Philips player. It has two HDMI outputs for Legacy Audio. But can it decode to LPCM bitstream?

I thought the HDFury would be needed for players that only have one HDMI output. But why would you need HDFury if the player already splits it and can do LPCM Bitstream (if such an animal exists).

You need bitstream decoded to LPCM in the player, as M equipment doesn't decode bitstream. If bitstream LPCM were an animal it would be a Unicorn.

Only for audio. I couldn't pass video through the HD621, even with the HDFury...

Update:

I ended up with a Philip BDP7501 UHD Player that has the Aux HDMI for Audio Only. I seriously doubt the PS4.5 will have the dual HDMI outputs. If it does, I may still get one. The Philips was only $300.00 !!

When I tested my old Clux both the Optical Output and the SPDIF Modded outputs were dead. So I assumed the Mod board was still good.

I bought another brand new Clux and tried to move the Mod board over. It did not work. And the Optical Output is working on the new Clux.

I'm not sure if it's due to a change this newer Clux has in hardware or firmware, the MOD board went out with the rest of it, or I boogered the soldering job.

I was concerned that the Clux was not gonna work correctly anyway. Because the player has no control over how many channels to send to the Clux/Meridian where the PS3 did have that control. So I might have been sending 8 channels to a 6 channel setup. I thought of this issue like the day the new Clux Arrived. The Player does give the choice of Bitstream or PCM though, but that's it.

So thanks to this forum I now have a HD621 (again, ugh, I sold one years ago). Installed without a hitch.

Overall everything looks and sounds good.

P.S. Funny thing is, I was so excited about a 4K TV. But the 3D on this new OLED TV is just jaw dropping. A shame 3D is fading away, again.

What does actually happen to a 7.1 LPCM stream when the 861 is set for 5.1 and you have no control to down mix from the source? Does the HD621 disregard the two channels, down mix 7.1 to 5.1?

The EDID protocol informs the video source what the HD621's capabilities are, thus ensuring the source only outputs 5.1.

If you have no control to down mix, and the auto detect EDID information is ignored by source, then I believe that the additional channels are simply ignored. Ie you get a non optimal filtered 5.1 subset of a 7.1 source.

Hi Ian,

Just clarifying, do you mean if the source device is not capable of down mixing...?

In which case then by definition the device must be outputting 7.1 as it can't down mix, so I agree the extra channels would just be ignored.

I believe all Bluray devices can downmix but I'm not sure about other HDMI sources.

It may do that if the player is sending LPCM. I think the Clux is always seen as 7.1.

But my understanding is, with an HD621 you want to set the Player to Bitstream and let the HD621 decode it and it knows how many channels you have.

I don't believe Blu-Rays have multiple lossless Bitstreams. There is only one lossless bitstream but it can be decoded to the appropriate number of speakers.

When setting up HD621 with mConfig you set the number of channels (2,6,8) and the player is informed of requirements. The HD621 is not capable of decoding so it should be done in the player.

M