Future Proof AVR and Connectivity Clarification

KBS

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Future Proof AVR and Connectivity Clarification


Hi,

I need following clarification on Future Proof AVR. Please help.

1) Is it necessary to have AVR with Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio? With 7.1 Channel input of Onkyo TX-SR506 (No support for Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) can I achieve the same thing without much compromise?



2) Onkyo TX-SR506 does support only HDMI 1 (No support for 1.3a), Can I connect this to the TV with HDMI 1.3a support? What would be the impact?



3) Onkyo TX-SR606 does support HDMI 1.3a, Can I connect this to the TV with HDMI 1 (No 1.3a) support? What would be the impact?

Thanks in Advance
KBS
 
Last edited:
1) Is it necessary to have AVR with Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio? With 7.1 Channel input of Onkyo TX-SR506 (No support for Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) can I achieve the same thing without much compromise?
It is absolutely not necessary if decoding can be done elsewhere for e.g. on the disc player or the NMT. The disc player (eg BDP) can send decoded HD Audio as LPCM which can be decoded by the AVR. Now if the disc player is unable to decode into PCM then connect analog outs of BDP to analog in of AVR..

2) Onkyo TX-SR506 does support only HDMI 1 (No support for 1.3a), Can I connect this to the TV with HDMI 1.3a support? What would be the impact?
HDMI 1.3 specification has support for Deep Color and the HD Audio Formats. Possibly not a very big issue since 1.1 can carry LPCM..

3) Onkyo TX-SR606 does support HDMI 1.3a, Can I connect this to the TV with HDMI 1 (No 1.3a) support? What would be the impact?
HDMI enabled devices are supposed to have backward compatibility (at least in theory as HDMI.ORG says)..
 
Future Proof AVR and Connectivity Clarification



1) Is it necessary to have AVR with Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio? With 7.1 Channel input of Onkyo TX-SR506 (No support for Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) can I achieve the same thing without much compromise?



2) Onkyo TX-SR506 does support only HDMI 1 (No support for 1.3a), Can I connect this to the TV with HDMI 1.3a support? What would be the impact?



3) Onkyo TX-SR606 does support HDMI 1.3a, Can I connect this to the TV with HDMI 1 (No 1.3a) support? What would be the impact?

No, its not necessary for an AVR to have Dolby Hd and Dts hd decoding in it but if it has hdmi like 506 then it should have the capability to handle audio through HDMI so that if you decide for a Blu ray player in the future then you could do the decoding on the player rather then the Avr and pass on the processed siganl to your AVR either through HDMI or Analogue Multi Channel for it to be send to all the speakers.

Yes you can connect 506 to your tv and it wouldn't have any effect as HDMI is backward compatable so your TV would not create a problem.

Sr606 is a step up from 506 and it has inbuilt Decoders for HD audio also it has analoge upscaling and upconversion facility so you could route all the signals through HDMI to your display and also upscale all the analogue sources upto 1080i.
 
1) Is it necessary to have AVR with Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio? With 7.1 Channel input of Onkyo TX-SR506 (No support for Dolby-TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) can I achieve the same thing without much compromise?

You can connect the 7.1 from your BDP to the AVR, provided your BDP has the DAC and RCA slots. But, it is always (most cases) better to let the AVR do the DACn rather than depend on the BDP to do it. If you intend to watch a lot of BDs with real HD-Audio in the near future, it will be a good idea to go for a HD-Audio capable AVR.
 
Thanks a lot for your answers. I need more some more clarification. Please help



a) What's the use of 7.1 Channel Input? Is it analog ? Is it decoded by the Player itself?


b) If I prefer 7.1 Channel Input Over HDMI or Optical for Audio, am I compromising on Audio Quality?

c) What is LPCM ?


Thanks in Advance

KBS
 
Thanks a lot for your answers. I need more some more clarification. Please help



a) What's the use of 7.1 Channel Input? Is it analog ? Is it decoded by the Player itself?

7.1 input is very imp as you can use your amp as future proof.You can connect any device which can decodes future format as 7.1.You can use amp even onbrd decoding dont work.Even DVD-aud.You can output 7.1ch from PC as I am doing with my Xonar card with good SQ.
In short you can use your amp until it dies.

b) If I prefer 7.1 Channel Input Over HDMI or Optical for Audio, am I compromising on Audio Quality?


7.1 ch SQ will depend on other device's capability of decoding.egIf Blurayp has better decoders than AVR,You can get 7.1 output from BDp & input 7.1 to AVR. In this case you can get better SQ with 7.1 input over HDMI.
Same with optical. In my case my SC has Burrbrown DAC & are better than Onk330 AVR ,So I play mov from PC with 5.1 output to input of AVR.(no 7.1 for me)

c) What is LPCM ?

LPCM is decoded form of HD-aud.Like PCM in stereo music.
Bitstream is nondecoded form as Raw in DD/Dts.

In short BDP can decode sigle HD-aud stream to 7.1 as digital & later AVR will to DAC conversion.
 
Thanks for answers. Pls help me in understanding following.
I have ordered for Onkyo 606 .
Spec says support for HDMI 1.3a repeater. What is 'repeater' here? Please explain other variants.
What is Audio and Video Switching?

Thanks in Advance.
KBS
 
Thanks for answers. Pls help me in understanding following.
I have ordered for Onkyo 606 .
Spec says support for HDMI 1.3a repeater. What is 'repeater' here? Please explain other variants.
What is Audio and Video Switching?

Thanks in Advance.
KBS

Repeater is which can divert signal from 1connection to other without procrssing audio like switch.
 
Repeater is which can divert signal from 1connection to other without procrssing audio like switch.

yes spiro is right - that is what a repeater is technically supposed to do - just passing the signal untouched - but few actually do - somehow the signal is affected. The yammy 663 is supposed to pass the signal untouched but had problems with blacker than black and whiter than white levels being cut off.

The 606 is a darling though - i have been using it and am very happy with it.
 
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