Digital audio output from Bluray players into nVi

Posted by: emyyl88 on 24 January 2010

I am planning to add a Bluray player to my nVi centred system.

What kind of sound quality can I expect from connecting the optical or coaxial audio outputs of the Bluray player into the nVi's digital audio input? Say if I selected DTS 5.1 on the Bluray player, do I get by default DTS 5.1 on the nVi? And then can the nVi change that to Dolby Surround? What I am getting at is does it matter if the Bluray player had a 5.1 vs the latest DTS 7.1 MA output for its digital output?

Posted on: 24 January 2010 by SimonJ

Digital output via coax and optical is limited to Doldy Digital and DTS. Of the two DTS is the better as it can go upto 1.5mb bit rate. If your BluRay has a DTS HD MA sound track running at say 20mb, it will also have a DTS soundtrack running at 1.5mb, which whilst not as good it still pretty good. Some BluRays such as the Oppo BPD83 can downmix all HD content to max rate DTS 1.5mb so that you consitently get the best sound supported by coax or optical. To be fair alot of BluRay disks tend to favour DTS HD MA anyway so will probably already have a descent legacy DTS soundtrack. The important thing is you'll get a great picture if your TV is HD and the best DTS you can get with legacy AV amps for the time being so you can enjoy 85-90% of the experience with the kit you have.

Posted on: 28 January 2010 by emyyl88

Thanks for the info. I would be very pleased to get 85% through the nVi. I will probably go for a Philips 7500 as it has the DTS HD MA whereas the lower end Philips only has Dolby Digital. However it is not clear on the brochure specs that these apply to the coax/optical or just the HDMI output only.

I am still very happy with the nVi. Great sound and all in one box.

Posted on: 28 January 2010 by SimonJ

All BluRay player should have DTS HD MA, I would be very supprised if they don't. Not all can re-encode DD HD or LPCM to 1.5mb DTS. Good luck.