[Marius]

HI ,

right now I'm listening to http://oe1.orf.at/programm/295819 Austrian Radio1, live concert in Dolby Digital 5.1, but unfortunately down sampled to stereo because of the fact that my Marantz NA7004 is only stereo, as is the BDA1.

1 I've two questions: how to get this station on the  BDP1/BDA1 combo?,
2 How would we be able to listen to DD 5.1 live radio on Bryston gear.

Maybe this is a 3.0 question, but since I don;t have that yet and do listen through the BDP1/BDA1 combo, I thought I'd post it here...

Thanks!
Happy Carnaval (coming from the south of the Netherlands, sorry...http://www.bndestem.nl/extra/carnaval/)

Marius

[James Tanner]

Hi Marius,

Yes DD 5.1 is a multi-channel compressed signal and you would need a processor like the SP2 or SP3 to listen in that format.

james

[Marius]

Sure James, but is the Sp3 capable of receiving this signal from the internet (like the Bdp1 is able to receive stereo internet radio) or would I need some other machine, and is the Sp3 only processing that.

Marius

Hi Marius,

Yes DD 5.1 is a multi-channel compressed signal and you would need a processor like the SP2 or SP3 to listen in that format.

james

[James Tanner]

Sure James, but is the Sp3 capable of receiving this signal from the internet (like the Bdp1 is able to receive stereo internet radio) or would I need some other machine, and is the Sp3 only processing that.

Marius

Sorry I misunderstood - the SP-3 just processes.

James

[Marius]

Not to worry;-)

Now searching for a machine that does....

[Mag]

Not aware of any DD in 5.1, usually 2.1 matrixed through DSP, so why bother. If there is such a thing then I suppose you would need a multi-channel soundcard on computer or other plateform and then use 5.1 bypass on processor.

To my knowledge only sacd has un-matrixed multi-channel tracks, the sacd player converts digital stream to analog, through 5.1 output to 5.1 bypass of processor. The sound can be exceptional on a quality recording and mix, which surpasses anything I have yet heard. The exception being Hi-Rez downloads, which I have not heard.

[Marius]

Hi,

Well, to be honest I haven't heard any 5.1 recording at all, but please check for yourself on the link I posted above. Maybe they are wrong in their mention?

The live transmisson sounded wonderful in stereo , which makes me want to try and experience the 5.1 recording too.

Marius

Not aware of any DD in 5.1, usually 2.1 matrixed through DSP, so why bother. If there is such a thing then I suppose you would need a multi-channel soundcard on computer or other plateform and then use 5.1 bypass on processor.

To my knowledge only sacd has un-matrixed multi-channel tracks, the sacd player converts digital stream to analog, through 5.1 output to 5.1 bypass of processor. The sound can be exceptional on a quality recording and mix, which surpasses anything I have yet heard. The exception being Hi-Rez downloads, which I have not heard.

[Mag]

Listening to the matinee from site link. My BDA-1 indicates that the signal is 44.1/16 bit cd quality.

Typically, Dolby Digital in the low resolution bitrate found on most dvd's whether 2.0 or 2.1, even at 48k sampling rate, is worse than cd. At a higher bitrate, then it can surpass cd. A good example of this is the Pulse dvd by Pink Floyd. At the low bitrate the cd sounds better, which I also own, the higher bitrate IIRC 654 bits, out does the cd. This is upsampled through the BDA-1.

DTS of equivalent bitrate or higher usually sounds better than Dolby or cd. However re-mastered cd can sound pretty darn good. Now DTS if it were not compressed would most likely be the best of all formats. But the industry won't allow that because that would be like giving the consumer the Master tape.

The best multi-channel format from the consumer's point of view is sacd, when played through equipment capable of resolving the higher resolution.

[srb]

Listening to the matinee from site link. My BDA-1 indicates that the signal is 44.1/16 bit cd quality.

44.1KHz/16-bit perhaps, but not "CD quality".  I don't currently know of any internet streams that are uncompressed, or lossless compressed.  Lowly 128kbps MP3s will indicate 44.1KHz on a DAC, but they are still 128kbps vs 1411kbps worth of data.
 
Steve

[Mag]

While we're on the subject, with movies or concert videos. I have found using my standalone player with 5.1 output (computer soundcard does not have 5.1 output). That dts 2.1 gets matrixed to 5.1 which sounds best through 5.1 bypass on the SP2. With an SP3 it may sound better going through dsp as matrixed multi-channels should get upsampled to 48k/192k.

DD on the other hand, sounds better downmixed to stereo to the BDA-1 then dsp to a soundfield such as THX Cinema PLII. Rather than going through the 5.1 outputs.

PCM 48/16 usually sounds better than dts or DD, upsampled with the BDA-1. Can sound just as good or better with stereo bypass than dsp to multi-channel soundfields, depending on the mix.

[Marius]

Hi Steve and Mag,

This is all too much a matter of different formats on different media for me now, so confusing...Not very user-friendly, the battle of the formats continues?

this list http://dolby-digital.the-media-channel.com/ click Dolby Digital in the left menu, has loads of very interesting live programs that would make it very worthwhile investigating though. If it would deliver the goods better than the live stream we used over the internet yesterday.

Apparently one needs a digital satellite receiver for this, and the one I have, opt the available other models don't give one a lot of confidence in buildquality, let alone sound quality, let alone come even remotely close to Bryston quality 

then again, this Dolby decoder seems of a certain quality: $5500 http://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/hardware/broadcast/dolby-digital-plus/dp568.html

Maybe this digital territory is something for future Bryston gear? James care to investigate? Or too volatile in technique-development.

Marius

[Mag]

Hi Steve and Mag,

This is all too much a matter of different formats on different media for me now, so confusing...Not very user-friendly, the battle of the formats continues?

this list http://dolby-digital.the-media-channel.com/ click Dolby Digital in the left menu, has loads of very interesting live programs that would make it very worthwhile investigating though. If it would deliver the goods better than the live stream we used over the internet yesterday.

Apparently one needs a digital satellite receiver for this, and the one I have, opt the available other models don't give one a lot of confidence in buildquality, let alone sound quality, let alone come even remotely close to Bryston quality 

then again, this Dolby decoder seems of a certain quality: $5500 http://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/hardware/broadcast/dolby-digital-plus/dp568.html

Maybe this digital territory is something for future Bryston gear? James care to investigate? Or too volatile in technique-development.

Marius

The format war is moving to Hi-Rez. Why, sacd wasn't supported by Sony properly and the sky rocketing prices of dis-continued sacd. Blu-ray which has the potential for uncompressed DD, dts, isn't being fully utilized from what I can see. Redbook cd is on the way out due to downloads. The majority of dvd's use the inferior DD format.

I was planning on purchasing a BDP-1 and getting some Hi-Rez. But I lost my job so I will be in dire straits soon without work.

Anyway, I have cable with access to all the Galaxy music channels. Just don't have it connected to my processor. There is also CBC radio live on demand podcasts with lots of good concerts. However I have lots of my own music to choose from even though I can't decide what to play half of the time. Heck, I probably have close to 100 cd in my discard pile that I will never listen to again, I hope.

[Phil A]

They don't make this any longer - http://dvd.ign.com/articles/038/038313p1.html
They sometimes pop-up on Audiogon reasonably priced.  I never owned one but thought it was a great idea to add 5.1 DD.

[Phil A]

Here's one for $89 on Craigslist - http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ele/2810692846.html

[terrycym]

Here's one for $89 on Craigslist - http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ele/2810692846.html

Were these not designed for laser disc players for decoding AC3?
They decoded Dolby Digital 5.1 where the normal output from a LD player was normally Dolby Prologic.
I have the Meridian unit.

[Phil A]

Not designed for LD - was really put out as a product when LD was on its last legs  If you read my first post it is a review which gives you a better idea of its use.  I have 2 LD players that don't see tons of use these days (I have not used either in over a year and still have about 20 LDs I bought at an estate sale 8-9 years back I have not watched).

[Phil A]

The Technics unit decodes Pro-Logic, Dolby Digital, and dts. It has 2 coaxial and 2 optical digital inputs. It also has 5.1 pass-through inputs for other formats (DVD-Audio/SACD).  This is what the first link I posted said about the unit:

“So when you've got a nice DVD player and a nice amp, but neither has a decoder, what do you do? Well, you could buy a new player or a new amp and be a little less retarded in your shopping process than I was. But that's an option I couldn't consider-- I was already over $1,200 down on my system. So the alternative is to get a standalone digital decoder, and that's what we're looking at here: the Technics SH-AC500D.”

[Phil A]

Here's another review with a bit more info:

http://www.audio-ideas.com/backiss/winter-2000/technics_sh-a500d.html