Blu ray players vs Nvidia shield

[pantpank]

I have been using Himedia q5 media player to play Bluray/uhd rips from last 2 years and been quite happy with its performance as it plays every type of file smoothly. Today I played a Bluray dvd on my old Lg Bluray player and noticed that the sound was so much better and fuller. It had great dynamics and channel seperation was so good.

Thought the difference might be because this was original Bluray disc. But then I played some movies that my lg Bluray player is able play from the usb (it only plays dts/hdma and dd files from usb) and noticed the sound was better than the himedia player. The bd rip movie files that I have are large ones with original uncompressed audio (Atmos/truehd/dtshma).

The audio settings on the kodi app of himedia player has audio passthrough enabled with 7.1 channels.

I used to think that if you have enabled the audio passthrough, then it wouldn't matter what type of player you are using and the sound will be the same in either of them as the ave receiver decodes the sound. But today I noticed the difference and now thinking of buying a 4k Bluray player that plays all types of files from usb.

What could be the reason for the sound difference? Does the Bluray player have better sound quality than the media players? Has anyone noticed the difference in sound quality when played through Bluray player and any media player using kodi app like nvidea shield?

 

[revolty]

I have been using Himedia q5 media player to play Bluray/uhd rips from last 2 years and been quite happy with its performance as it plays every type of file smoothly. Today I played a Bluray dvd on my old Lg Bluray player and noticed that the sound was so much better and fuller. It had great dynamics and channel seperation was so good.

Thought the difference might be because this was original Bluray disc. But then I played some movies that my lg Bluray player is able play from the usb (it only plays dts/hdma and dd files from usb) and noticed the sound was better than the himedia player. The bd rip movie files that I have are large ones with original uncompressed audio (Atmos/truehd/dtshma).

The audio settings on the kodi app of himedia player has audio passthrough enabled with 7.1 channels.

I used to think that if you have enabled the audio passthrough, then it wouldn't matter what type of player you are using and the sound will be the same in either of them as the ave receiver decodes the sound. But today I noticed the difference and now thinking of buying a 4k Bluray player that plays all types of files from usb.

What could be the reason for the sound difference? Does the Bluray player have better sound quality than the media players? Has anyone noticed the difference in sound quality when played through Bluray player and any media player using kodi app like nvidea shield?

Hi,

I am not sure but maybe due to ripping of the file, some audio compression does take place. Therefore, original blu ray disc does sound fuller compared to BD rip. Suppose, the original Blu ray disc size is 45 GB; the BD rip will be of size 20-25 GB. Due to this ripping/compression; there maybe difference in sound quality. This is my 2 cents. Let the other FMs pitch in too.

 

[pantpank]

Hi,

I am not sure but maybe due to ripping of the file, some audio compression does take place. Therefore, original blu ray disc does sound fuller compared to BD rip. Suppose, the original Blu ray disc size is 45 GB; the BD rip will be of size 20-25 GB. Due to this ripping/compression; there maybe difference in sound quality. This is my 2 cents. Let the other FMs pitch in too.

I have many Bluray remux files which are as large as 55 gb. Don't think these have compressed audio. Could the difference in sound quality due to the media player (Cubetek Himedia q5 Pro) that I am using?
Has anyone who is using Nvidia shield as the media player to play Bluray/uhd remux files noticed the difference in sound quality when same files are played through usb of a Bluray player or through the physical Bluray/uhd disc of same movie?

 

[Love4sound]

I have many Bluray remux files which are as large as 55 gb. Don't think these have compressed audio. Could the difference in sound quality due to the media player (Cubetek Himedia q5 Pro) that I am using?
Has anyone who is using Nvidia shield as the media player to play Bluray/uhd remux files noticed the difference in sound quality when same files are played through usb of a Bluray player or through the physical Bluray/uhd disc of same movie?

Shield is on par with a blu ray player in terms of Audio and video quality. Not sure about the high end players like oppo but I have used Sony Blu-ray player for years and also recently tested the Sony 700 4k player. Shield is on par with both the players

 

[Michelangalo]

If you are okay with investing in bluray disc then go fora bluray player. You wont get the same quality from a bluray rip file or a digital copy, there is always some kind of compression going on. Though the difference is not extremely huge but there is definitely a difference.

The best way to judge is to borrow a bluray player and play a bluray movie, then get a digital copy of the same movie in a same format and play it. You should be able to make out the difference.

 

[pantpank]

If you are okay with investing in bluray disc then go fora bluray player. You wont get the same quality from a bluray rip file or a digital copy, there is always some kind of compression going on. Though the difference is not extremely huge but there is definitely a difference.

The best way to judge is to borrow a bluray player and play a bluray movie, then get a digital copy of the same movie in a same format and play it. You should be able to make out the difference.

Yeah I did that with Avatar movie Bluray. Played the remux file (30 gb) with lossless audio dts-hdma on my media player and then played it through Bluray disc on my old Lg Bluray player. The sound from the media player was good but that from the Bluray player was better.

 

[Love4sound]

If you are okay with investing in bluray disc then go fora bluray player. You wont get the same quality from a bluray rip file or a digital copy, there is always some kind of compression going on. Though the difference is not extremely huge but there is definitely a difference.

The best way to judge is to borrow a bluray player and play a bluray movie, then get a digital copy of the same movie in a same format and play it. You should be able to make out the difference.

Before I moved to shield I checked side by side with my Sony Blu-ray player. There is a difference between Blu-ray RIP file and the actual Blu-ray file. I have tested Pacific rim Blu-ray disk and the actual Blu-ray file through usb. There is no compression. Only on top blu ray players like the opo or equivalent models you will notice a difference compared to shield

 

[pantpank]

Before I moved to shield I checked side by side with my Sony Blu-ray player. There is a difference between Blu-ray RIP file and the actual Blu-ray file. I have tested Pacific rim Blu-ray disk and the actual Blu-ray file through usb. There is no compression. Only on top blu ray players like the opo or equivalent models you will notice a difference compared to shield

Yes, I meant actual Bluray files with lossless sound (truehd/atmos, dtsx/dts-hdma). Looks like I need to upgrade to nvidia shield tv then as my media player to play actual Bluray files.

 

[Tuhin Lavania]

Remux files are OG discs minus the bonus contents. Its exactly the same copy as a physical disc.
There will be no compression in a Remux file, hence the large sizes of the file.
I suspect the media player at play here.

 

[revolty]

I have many Bluray remux files which are as large as 55 gb. Don't think these have compressed audio. Could the difference in sound quality due to the media player (Cubetek Himedia q5 Pro) that I am using?
Has anyone who is using Nvidia shield as the media player to play Bluray/uhd remux files noticed the difference in sound quality when same files are played through usb of a Bluray player or through the physical Bluray/uhd disc of same movie?

Hi,

I agree with Love4sound. I too had Sony Blu ray player previously & later on, i got Nvidia Shield. I played Swades original blu ray & BD rip with DTS HD MA lossless sound in Nvidia Shield in back to back basis. I didn't notice any major difference.
Maybe, the player might be at default.
If you can get Nvidia Shield; nothing like it.

 

[Prashob]

But bitstreaming same rips through bluray and himedia should produce equal effects, i doubt something else is happening, any senior member may explain this.

 

[Love4sound]

But bitstreaming same rips through bluray and himedia should produce equal effects, i doubt something else is happening, any senior member may explain this.

Bitstreaming doesn’t mean same quality. Based on the player also the quality changes. Even I always had this doubt cause bitstream means the signal is sent to the avr with no processing whatsoever but that is not the case. Definitely here the problem lies with the media player. A 5k blu-ray player can bitstream but that doesn’t mean it will have the same quality of oppo or any equivalent Blu-ray player.

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

I clearly see a difference between Panasonic BDT380 and UB820. The latter is more sharp, less noise and colour rich.

 

[arunthegr8]

Though in theory remixing should not change the audio quality I see a significant drop in audio quality when playing the disc in my Oppo as opposed to playing the Remuxed mkv file of the same movie through the USB on my Oppo.

 

[rsklogin]

Hi,

I am not sure but maybe due to ripping of the file, some audio compression does take place. Therefore, original blu ray disc does sound fuller compared to BD rip. Suppose, the original Blu ray disc size is 45 GB; the BD rip will be of size 20-25 GB. Due to this ripping/compression; there maybe difference in sound quality. This is my 2 cents. Let the other FMs pitch in too.

You can always check the video file's meta on MediaInfo. It shows all the audio and video information.