Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Official Blue ray options - Denon, Arcam, Pioneer, etc.

I think many would take the statement No-difference in quality from Blu-ray players at face value and, for example, run out and buy a Sony S350 which doesn't decode DTS-MA and be disappointed when they hooked it up to their brand new HD621. The devil is in the details and blanket statements rarely tell the whole story.

I think most here do understand that the devil is in the details, as over 268 posts in the HD621 Thread will attest

The last time I checked it didn't decode DTS-MA;that was one of the criticisms of it. If there has been a firmware update enabling it, the S350 will be an alternative to the Panasonic BD35K. Some have reported that the build quality of the Sony is better. At least it's heavier and has feet. I apologize if I came off a pedantic. It was unintended.

Edit: I have been unable to locate a firmware update which enables DTS-MA decoding over LPCM; the latest update does enable BD-Live.

Latest firmware I believe from AVS for the 350. The Panny BD35 as you say, is / was driving that change

The overall main point I was making (in a LATE reply to David E's original post) is that spending $3,500 on the Denon or similar player is overkill IMHO for Bluray Playback on a Meridian HD621 / Processor system

Personally, I'm saving my pennies for a while down the line when Denon / Meridian or similar can offer REAL advantages for Bluray Playback in a Meridian system

Universal Playback of DVD's; DVD-A; SACD and CD is a different requirement and that may justify the cost mentioned in the opening post. However, I think many here already have very good players / sources for most disc format except perhaps Bluray, hence my focus on Bluray playback only

If you only need a Blu-ray player, and you don't need analog outputs, then I agree that the premium the DVD-3800BDCI commands may be better put to use elsewhere in your system - or your wallet.

I wonder if all of the digital waveform regeneration technology in the HD621 suggests that we won't see a Meridian Blu-Ray spinner any time soon, if at all? I know that many would still buy a �3k or �4k M player, but is the market for such a beast large enough?

That's a very tough one to call. I' sure a lot of market research is being done and development costs are being pondered upon.

I have to confess that I'm unlikey to be a customer - my HD621 will be fed by my PS3 which is good enough for me (when my daughter stops Playing Little Big Planet on it that is).

Cliff

[quote=CliffS.

I have to confess that I'm unlikey to be a customer - my HD621 will be fed by my PS3 which is good enough for me (when my daughter stops Playing Little Big Planet on it that is).

Cliff

[/quote]

Do you know if the PS3 internally decodes all audio formats (DD+, DTS HD, TrueHD, etc.) to PCM and is able to output LCPM audio over HDMI rather than bitstreaming it?

I have been told by some very helpful gentlemen in the HD621 string that my Bluray plyer needs to do this if I want to hear Dolby True HD in a G68/HD621 combo.

Yes, PS3 decodes. In fact, at present the PS3 cannot output bitstream Dolby and DTS HD.

Cliff

Hi Shuffleboard

This has been confirmed by others here previously, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, as we have a PS3 (albeit for games). Armed with that fact, my interest in the HDMI box discussions (pre HD621 announcement) jumped somewhat!

Cheers

George

I'm not up on the tech behind Bluray discs, but isn't there a parallel here with SDI and DVDs? Despite SDI mods allowing the digital content of the disc to be accessed directly, there were still clear differences between different SDI modded DVD players depending on the decoding chip used. Unless the same chipsets are mandated across all manufacturers, won't the same situation apply, ie not all players are created equally?

George

We had this conversation in another thread where I pointed to references stating that video and audio decoding is deterministic - in other words if the chips are implemented correctly the output is always the same, regardless of manufacturer. Thus, the only reason for differences between players would be faulty implementation or deliberate manipulation...

Mark