BLU-Ray player- do all players support Dolby Atmos?

Most of the stuff on Amazon India would be import models and would not carry warranty......please keep that in mind
 
Ok, so here is another update - It seems that if your blu ray player has Bitstream support, you can play Atmos. In the case of Bitstream setting, the player will pass the entire audio content without any processing to the amp and the amp has to decode..

"
The Bitstream Option
If you select Bitstream as the HDMI audio output setting for your Blu-ray player, the player will bypass its own internal Dolby and DTS audio decoders and send the undecoded signal to your HDMI-connected home theater receiver. The home theater receiver will do all the audio decoding of the incoming signal. As a result, the receiver will display Dolby, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc...on its front panel display depending on which type of bitstream signal is being decoded.

The Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround sound formats are only available from a Blu-ray Disc player via the Bitstream setting option. There are no Blu-ray Disc players that can decode these formats internally to PCM and pass that on to a home theater receiver."

More on it here

https://www.lifewire.com/blu-ray-audio-bitstream-vs-pcm-1846396
 
Interesting Article!

My player is set on BitStream option all these years.....recently traded up from Pioneer BDP LX 55 to the Oppo 103.....

I have downloaded 2 different files of the same movie .....DTS and DD ...this lights up when playing each of them....cannot say much of Atmos as I dont use a Atmos AVR.....Bitstream makes a huge difference.
 
Ok, here is my findings:
  1. You DON'T need a blu ray player with Atmos support being mentioned. What we need is a player which can play Bitstream output instead of PCM.
  2. You need to make sure that your player can play Bitstream. The budget ones don't seem to support Bitstream but only PCM (I have a Sony and a Panasonic and the Sony budget does not support Bistream)
  3. Setting my panasonic blu ray on bitstream does enable my Marantz 6013 to recognise the atmos signal and play the atmos speakers as designed. My Panasonic is around 6 years old.

What i am confused about now is this:
  1. It makes no sense to have a blu -ray player supporting Atmos if you amp doesnt support it and you dont have the setup. The corollary is also true- if you have an amp with atmos capabilities, why do you need your blu ray player to do the decoding? Just let the amp do all the work in bitstream?
  2. When should i allow the blu ray player to do the audio decoding VS the amp doing the decoding? Isn't it better, if you have a good amp, to just keep the blu ray on bitstream and let the amp do all the work?
  3. If the above is true, then why do people even review a blu-ray player and measure the sound output quality? Just set everything to bitstream and let the amp do all the work.....

Anyways, just sharing my findings.. would not have go this far without all your inputs. Thanks a ton. Replicating the detailed article below in case the link breaks at some point of time...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.lifewire.com/blu-ray-audio-bitstream-vs-pcm-1846396

The Blu-ray disc format not only provides an enhanced viewing experience but also provides elevated surround sound listening.

Blu-ray Disc players provide several setting options for audio and video output, depending on how you have your player physically connected to your home theater receiver.

For audio, if you connect your Blu-ray Disc player to your home theater receiver via HDMI, there are two main audio output settings available: Bitstream and PCM (aka LPCM). In terms of actual audio quality, whether you have your Blu-ray disc player's HDMI audio output set to PCM or Bitstream doesn't matter. However, here is what happens when you choose either setting:

The PCM Option
If you set the Blu-ray Disc player to output audio as PCM, the player will perform the audio decoding of all Dolby/Dolby TrueHD and DTS/DTS-HD Master Audio related soundtracks internally and send the decoded audio signal in uncompressed form to your home theater receiver. As a result, your home theater receiver will not have to perform any additional audio decoding before the audio is sent through the amplifier section and the speakers. With this option, the home theater receiver will display the term "PCM" or "LPCM" on its front panel display.

The Bitstream Option
If you select Bitstream as the HDMI audio output setting for your Blu-ray player, the player will bypass its own internal Dolby and DTS audio decoders and send the undecoded signal to your HDMI-connected home theater receiver. The home theater receiver will do all the audio decoding of the incoming signal. As a result, the receiver will display Dolby, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc...on its front panel display depending on which type of bitstream signal is being decoded.

The Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround sound formats are only available from a Blu-ray Disc player via the Bitstream setting option. There are no Blu-ray Disc players that can decode these formats internally to PCM and pass that on to a home theater receiver.
You have the choice as to which setting to use (Bitstream or PCM), and as mentioned above, either setting should yield the same audio quality (keeping in mind the Dolby Atmos/DTS:X exceptions).

Secondary Audio
There is another factor to take into consideration: Secondary Audio. This feature provides access to audio commentaries, descriptive audio, or other supplementary audio tracks. If access to these audio programs is important to you, then keeping the Blu-ray player set to PCM will provide the best quality result.

If you combine the bitstream and secondary audio settings, the Blu-ray disc player will "down-res" surround formats, such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, to standard Dolby Digital or DTS in order to be able to squeeze both types of audio signals into the same bitstream bandwidth. In this case, your home theater receiver will recognize the signal as standard Dolby Digital and decode appropriately.

HDMI vs Digital Optical/Coaxial Connections
After you determine which audio settings you want to use to transfer audio from your Blu-ray Disc player to the rest of your home theater system, you also need to decide what type of connections you need to use.

If you use either the digital optical or digital coaxial connection option from your Blu-ray disc player to your home theater receiver (handy if your home theater receiver does not have HDMI connections), you can also select PCM or Bitstream output options as well for those connections.

However, in this case, while the bitstream output option can send a standard Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 surround sound signal to your receiver for further decoding, the PCM option will only send a two-channel signal. The reason for this is that a digital optical or digital coaxial cable does not have the sufficient bandwidth capacity to transfer a decoded, uncompressed, full surround audio signal like an HDMI connection can.

It must also be pointed out that digital optical/coaxial cables cannot transfer Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, or DTS-HD Master Audio in either bitstream or PCM form - HDMI is required.
 
No its atmos only. Cause even in the receiver it shows dolby atmos and the over head effects is amazing. As long as a Blu-ray player has been set to output a direct bitstream signal, your Dolby Atmos-enabled receiver should be able to decode the signal and send the height channels to the Dolby Atmos speakers.
Well i just explained it in a simple paragraph :)
 
Ok, here is my findings:
  1. You DON'T need a blu ray player with Atmos support being mentioned. What we need is a player which can play Bitstream output instead of PCM.
  2. You need to make sure that your player can play Bitstream. The budget ones don't seem to support Bitstream but only PCM (I have a Sony and a Panasonic and the Sony budget does not support Bistream)
  3. Setting my panasonic blu ray on bitstream does enable my Marantz 6013 to recognise the atmos signal and play the atmos speakers as designed. My Panasonic is around 6 years old.
What i am confused about now is this:
  1. It makes no sense to have a blu -ray player supporting Atmos if you amp doesnt support it and you dont have the setup. The corollary is also true- if you have an amp with atmos capabilities, why do you need your blu ray player to do the decoding? Just let the amp do all the work in bitstream?
  2. When should i allow the blu ray player to do the audio decoding VS the amp doing the decoding? Isn't it better, if you have a good amp, to just keep the blu ray on bitstream and let the amp do all the work?
  3. If the above is true, then why do people even review a blu-ray player and measure the sound output quality? Just set everything to bitstream and let the amp do all the work.....
Anyways, just sharing my findings.. would not have go this far without all your inputs. Thanks a ton. Replicating the detailed article below in case the link breaks at some point of time...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.lifewire.com/blu-ray-audio-bitstream-vs-pcm-1846396

The Blu-ray disc format not only provides an enhanced viewing experience but also provides elevated surround sound listening.

Blu-ray Disc players provide several setting options for audio and video output, depending on how you have your player physically connected to your home theater receiver.

For audio, if you connect your Blu-ray Disc player to your home theater receiver via HDMI, there are two main audio output settings available: Bitstream and PCM (aka LPCM). In terms of actual audio quality, whether you have your Blu-ray disc player's HDMI audio output set to PCM or Bitstream doesn't matter. However, here is what happens when you choose either setting:

The PCM Option
If you set the Blu-ray Disc player to output audio as PCM, the player will perform the audio decoding of all Dolby/Dolby TrueHD and DTS/DTS-HD Master Audio related soundtracks internally and send the decoded audio signal in uncompressed form to your home theater receiver. As a result, your home theater receiver will not have to perform any additional audio decoding before the audio is sent through the amplifier section and the speakers. With this option, the home theater receiver will display the term "PCM" or "LPCM" on its front panel display.

The Bitstream Option
If you select Bitstream as the HDMI audio output setting for your Blu-ray player, the player will bypass its own internal Dolby and DTS audio decoders and send the undecoded signal to your HDMI-connected home theater receiver. The home theater receiver will do all the audio decoding of the incoming signal. As a result, the receiver will display Dolby, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc...on its front panel display depending on which type of bitstream signal is being decoded.

The Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround sound formats are only available from a Blu-ray Disc player via the Bitstream setting option. There are no Blu-ray Disc players that can decode these formats internally to PCM and pass that on to a home theater receiver.
You have the choice as to which setting to use (Bitstream or PCM), and as mentioned above, either setting should yield the same audio quality (keeping in mind the Dolby Atmos/DTS:X exceptions).

Secondary Audio
There is another factor to take into consideration: Secondary Audio. This feature provides access to audio commentaries, descriptive audio, or other supplementary audio tracks. If access to these audio programs is important to you, then keeping the Blu-ray player set to PCM will provide the best quality result.

If you combine the bitstream and secondary audio settings, the Blu-ray disc player will "down-res" surround formats, such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, to standard Dolby Digital or DTS in order to be able to squeeze both types of audio signals into the same bitstream bandwidth. In this case, your home theater receiver will recognize the signal as standard Dolby Digital and decode appropriately.

HDMI vs Digital Optical/Coaxial Connections
After you determine which audio settings you want to use to transfer audio from your Blu-ray Disc player to the rest of your home theater system, you also need to decide what type of connections you need to use.

If you use either the digital optical or digital coaxial connection option from your Blu-ray disc player to your home theater receiver (handy if your home theater receiver does not have HDMI connections), you can also select PCM or Bitstream output options as well for those connections.

However, in this case, while the bitstream output option can send a standard Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 surround sound signal to your receiver for further decoding, the PCM option will only send a two-channel signal. The reason for this is that a digital optical or digital coaxial cable does not have the sufficient bandwidth capacity to transfer a decoded, uncompressed, full surround audio signal like an HDMI connection can.

It must also be pointed out that digital optical/coaxial cables cannot transfer Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, or DTS-HD Master Audio in either bitstream or PCM form - HDMI is required.


With respect to the points you are confused...the answer is simple...marketing and business.....low end players for those on a budget.....high end players to do all processing etc....some of these players have analog out which can be hooked to old avrs or powered speakers...thats where the player does the processing......

Bottomline...although I dont really use all features of the oppo....just have it for its sheer connectivity options, Sound quality and the buttons the player has should the remote fail me one day! It also has good options to adjust including volume control....all this is somewhat not 100% future proof but its thinking long term.....
 
If the above is true, then why do people even review a blu-ray player and measure the sound output quality? Just set everything to bitstream and let the amp do all the work.....

The purpose of reviewing Blu Ray players isn't to solely check if it can bit stream a clean audio signal or not. It combines several things such as the transport quality, the software, the load times and video rendering capability. The latter is the most important.

Eg Sony X800 mentions it but Yamaha 681 does not.

I would not bother with the Yamaha. Not because it does not mention anything around Atmos, as this is less of an issue. The X800 is a stellar player.

I cannot find a Sony X800 listed on the India website. If you can source one, nothing like it. A far superior alternative is the Panasonic DP-UB820, though at a higher price. Unless you are spinning a lot of 4k HDR Dolby Vision disc (Provided your display can support it too), I would not bother.

29K for a Sony X700 is way too much.

There are cheaper alternatives from Samsung such as the BD-H6500 but I see that Samsung India do not even have Blu Ray players listed. This player rivals the likes of an Oppo 103D.

We are not a big Blu Ray market which results in very limited options for top notch players.
 
The purpose of reviewing Blu Ray players isn't to solely check if it can bit stream a clean audio signal or not. It combines several things such as the transport quality, the software, the load times and video rendering capability. The latter is the most important.



I would not bother with the Yamaha. Not because it does not mention anything around Atmos, as this is less of an issue. The X800 is a stellar player.

I cannot find a Sony X800 listed on the India website. If you can source one, nothing like it. A far superior alternative is the Panasonic DP-UB820, though at a higher price. Unless you are spinning a lot of 4k HDR Dolby Vision disc (Provided your display can support it too), I would not bother.

29K for a Sony X700 is way too much.

There are cheaper alternatives from Samsung such as the BD-H6500 but I see that Samsung India do not even have Blu Ray players listed. This player rivals the likes of an Oppo 103D.

We are not a big Blu Ray market which results in very limited options for top notch players.

I will be evaluating the Yamaha as the dealer told me it’s region free and honestly I am simply not finding mid level players here in India... can you share your reasons for not liking the player? Majority of my content is blu Ray from the US.

Yes the market is really bad for blu ray players in India. The X700 is the newer model to the X800? Maybe that’s why it’s not available in India?
 
[QUOTE="originalamit, post: 814889, member: 89709" can you share your reasons for not liking the player?[/QUOTE]

No that I dislike Yamaha. There are far most established players in the Blu Ray space. That is all. You buy a Yamaha for their receivers, not Blu Ray players. Besides; for that specific Yamaha you're after, there is not a single mention of even open standard HDR10 (Forget Dolby Vision Support).

Like I said earlier, HDR10, Dolby Vision matters only if you have a display that supports it, or, if you intend on buying one soon enough that supports these standards.

Between the X700 and Yamaha, I'd pick the Yamaha. Between the Yamaha and X800, the latter would be my pick as it is a more proven product in the Blu Ray space.
 
Logically when it is said Bit streaming then Bluray player should be able to send Atmos audio to AVR for decoding.Atmos logo on bdp tells that bluray player can decode it.May high speed/bandwidth HDMI cables are must for Atmos transfer.
 
My Sony blueray player which was brought in 2011 is playing Atmos discs and outputting atmos sound very well
 
My Sony blueray player which was brought in 2011 is playing Atmos discs and outputting atmos sound very well

It will be helpful to the OP if you could share:

  • Model number of Sony BR player
  • AVR brand and model which supports Atmos
  • Which interconnects (HDMI) are used type and brand....
@spirovious has made a valid point about High Quality HDMI cables which can support large amounts of Transfer including 4k content.....

@originalamit check the HDMI cable if it does support High speed Data transfer which is required for Atrmos
 
It will be helpful to the OP if you could share:

  • Model number of Sony BR player
  • AVR brand and model which supports Atmos
  • Which interconnects (HDMI) are used type and brand....
@spirovious has made a valid point about High Quality HDMI cables which can support large amounts of Transfer including 4k content.....

@originalamit check the HDMI cable if it does support High speed Data transfer which is required for Atrmos

My bad, it was Samsung and not Sony player. Model number I think is E5300, but need to confirm once I am back home.
AVR is Denon x2300w
I am using HDMI cables which you usually get in regular electronic shops
 
It will be helpful to the OP if you could share:

  • Model number of Sony BR player
  • AVR brand and model which supports Atmos
  • Which interconnects (HDMI) are used type and brand....
@spirovious has made a valid point about High Quality HDMI cables which can support large amounts of Transfer including 4k content.....

@originalamit check the HDMI cable if it does support High speed Data transfer which is required for Atrmos
I am using the hdmi cables which amazon basics sells.. those mention high speed data transfer support...
 
For Atmos and 4K the cable needs to be HDMI version 2.x with 18Gbps transmission BW (data transfer rate @ 14.4 Gbps)
Cheers,
Raghu
 
For Atmos and 4K the cable needs to be HDMI version 2.x with 18Gbps transmission BW (data transfer rate @ 14.4 Gbps)
Cheers,
Raghu
I am using hdmi 1.4 and atmos works fine. hdmi 2.x with 18gbps counts for 4k HDR, dolby vision etc.
 
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