5.1 Ch. Audio Setup - Help Needed

[A Mohapatra]

Experts please answer these 3 questions :

1. What is the difference between Component Home Theatre System and DVD/BlueRay Home Theatre System ?

2. As you know, Home Theatres, say 5.1 Ch. come with a DVD/BlueRay coupled with a set of 5 speakers and a subwoofer. But I already have a DVD Player and just need a set of 5.1 Ch. Speakers. My question is, for Dolby Digital/Digital Plus ,etc... decoding, does only the DVD Player play a role or does the speakers set also play a role? I mean, can any set of 5.1 Ch. speakers playback all of Dolby Digital /Plus/ Prologic etc... if the same is supported by the source (where source is a STB or DVD Player etc... ) or do speakers also have to be compliant with these sound decoding types.
Sorry for making it long but in simple words, I want to know if speakers have anything to do with decoding or their role is just limited to sound production as sent by source ?

3. Can I use Multimedia 5.1 Ch. Speakers set like THIS to get 5.1 Ch. Audio from HD STBs(say of TATA Sky HD or Airtel digital TV HD) or do I need to buy a Home Theatre Set ?

4. FINAL QUESTION : I already have a HD DVD Player of Philips. Now if I get a 5.1 Ch. Audio Set eg: PHILIPS DSP 2500(mentioned above) will the combination make up what one would get from a DVD Home Theatre System ?

 

[Jigneshg]

Mention ur budget AM

 

[venkatcr]

1. What is the difference between Component Home Theatre System and DVD/BlueRay Home Theatre System ?

A Home Theater (HT) system consists of the following components.

1. A source player such as a DVD, Media or Blu-Ray player.
2. A multi channel amplifier such as an AV Receiver
3. A display unit such as a TV
4. A set of speakers.

These components can be combined in different ways and sold with confusing titles. But, essentially, you need all these components in some form or the other to have a HT system.

Many companies today combine the player and amplifier into a single unit and sell it as such. Such a unit is usually called a Home Theater in a Box or HTiB. I suppose your Component HT System is referring to a HTiB.

2. As you know, Home Theatres, say 5.1 Ch. come with a DVD/BlueRay coupled with a set of 5 speakers and a subwoofer. But I already have a DVD Player and just need a set of 5.1 Ch. Speakers. My question is, for Dolby Digital/Digital Plus ,etc... decoding, does only the DVD Player play a role or does the speakers set also play a role? I mean, can any set of 5.1 Ch. speakers playback all of Dolby Digital /Plus/ Prologic etc... if the same is supported by the source (where source is a STB or DVD Player etc... ) or do speakers also have to be compliant with these sound decoding types.

Sorry for making it long but in simple words, I want to know if speakers have anything to do with decoding or their role is just limited to sound production as sent by source ?

You are confusing yourself with a lot of terminologies here. Let us understand the role of each of the component I explained above and that might make the picture clearer for you.

1. A movie is stored in digital format and has the video part and the audio part. The audio part is encoded using one of multiple methodologies. These methodologies can all be grouped into coding techniques created either by Dolby or DTS.

2. A player reads the digital media and, depending upon your connection type, sends the information as is or decoded to the amplifier. When the information is sent as is, the amplifier has to decode the data. When sent decoded, the amplifier would need to just amplify the audio and route the video to the display.

3. An amplifier can do many things. Essentially it processes the video and audio signals it receives from the player as required. It converts the audio into multiple analogue signals, amplifies them and send them to the speakers. For video, it can either send the signal without any modification to the display, or scale it and send it.

4. The speakers do NOTHING but play the amplified analogue signals that they get from the amplifier.

I hope you have understood. Speakers understand and play analogue signals. So they have no idea about digital formats, their coding or decoding. Of course, there are some speakers that do process digital signals, but that is outside the realm of this discussion.

3. Can I use Multimedia 5.1 Ch. Speakers set like THIS to get 5.1 Ch. Audio from HD STBs(say of TATA Sky HD or Airtel digital TV HD) or do I need to buy a Home Theatre Set ?

The audio has to be processed by a unit before the speakers. As I said, speakers do not process any signals.

4. FINAL QUESTION : I already have a HD DVD Player of Philips. Now if I get a 5.1 Ch. Audio Set eg: PHILIPS DSP 2500(mentioned above) will the combination make up what one would get from a DVD Home Theatre System ?

As long as you can connect the player to the Philips DSP 2500, you are good to go.

Cheers

 

[A Mohapatra]

@venkatcr :

Hearty thanks for such a brilliant explanation. Now I've fully understood the topic. So, that means using 5.1 Speakers I can get 5.1 Audio from DVD Player and for getting 5.1 Ch. Audio from STB I need to have such a setup which consists of a decoder that can decode the Digital input from HD STB and send the decoded analog content to speakers.

One last question : At what minimum cost are 5.1 speaker setups available which have digital(optical/coaxial) input ? Also, let me know a few fairly good/affordable brands.

 

[A Mohapatra]

Mention ur budget AM

Basically My Budget is around 10k. But I may go upto 15-17k if required.

 

[sivakuru]

Basically My Budget is around 10k. But I may go upto 15-17k if required.

At this budget one option that comes to my mind is the Logitech z5500.
It has DTS/Dolby decoding capabilities and is active. So no need for
amplifier. Just connect your DVD, STB boxes etc and you are good to
go.

The z5500 can be bought anywhere between 15 - 17k.

 

[yogeshtulsiani]

u can also get the onkyo ht-s3100 for 16,990 from e-zone
Onkyo HT-S3100

 

[venkatcr]

At a price point of 10K, whatever I explained is all meaningless.

The Logitech Z5500 is what is generally referred to as a sub-sat system made popular by Bose. Essentially the digital signal is sent to the sub woofer that has a processor and an multichannel amplifier inside. The processor/amplifier then drives the remaining speakers that are all passive.

The Onkyo HTS 3100 HomeTheater is what I called a HTiB. It consists of a AVR (HT-R340) that does the processing and amplification. It also has a 5.1 set of passive speakers that forms the HTP-360.

Cheers

 

[sanjayc]

If you can provide the exact model nos/name of your existing TV & HD/DVD player suggestion can be provided. I am assuming you have a High definition TV since you mentioned you are using a HD DVD player.

In case your TV has multiple hdmi/composite video inputs and the HD/DVD players has at least one coaxial/optical input for taking in the audio from TSky/Airtel HD STB, you can just buy a 5.1 speaker setup. I am assuming the HD/DVD player has analog speaker out connectivity otherwise an amplifier/av receiver will be required.

As someone already mentioned, the Onkyo system will be a good one for starters if you can do without HDMI.

 

[A Mohapatra]

If you can provide the exact model nos/name of your existing TV & HD/DVD player suggestion can be provided. I am assuming you have a High definition TV since you mentioned you are using a HD DVD player.

In case your TV has multiple hdmi/composite video inputs and the HD/DVD players has at least one coaxial/optical input for taking in the audio from TSky/Airtel HD STB, you can just buy a 5.1 speaker setup. I am assuming the HD/DVD player has analog speaker out connectivity otherwise an amplifier/av receiver will be required.

As someone already mentioned, the Onkyo system will be a good one for starters if you can do without HDMI.

Mine is Philips DVP 3388 HD DVD Player having one Coaxial and one Optical connectors but both are output connectors - that's the problem why I can't connect my HD STB to DVD Player. But yes it has the six 5.1 Ch. Speaker out connectors.

And my TV is Samsung LCD Model LA32B530P7R - Series 5. It has 3 HDMI connectors.

 

[NetFreak]

I was in a same situation till 2 weeks back.

I have Sony HTIB that did not have digital inputs. So I bought a receiver that can take HDMI input and send output to 5.1 speakers. Since I bought it from US, cost was 12k.

You can look for a similar receiver / amplifies (New or used). I am sure you will get a receiver that can take Optical input and generate output for 5.1 speakers in price range of 12k.

 

[ashokec]

To use with Airtel these are the low budget(5K) options I have found

HDCVT Audio Decoder (HDA-15A) -
Digitalbay| HDMI| HD Media player| HDMI Splitter| Digtal Bay

HDCVT Audio Decoder (HDA-18A)
Digitalbay| HDMI| HD Media player| HDMI Splitter| Digtal Bay

Regards