[Adz523]

Yes - should be available at the same time.

james

James, am I right in cpncluding that Bryston is addressing the additional processing power in the SP2 to lay the foundation for the next upgrade to handle the Hi Def audio formats to be released in the near future from DTS and Dolby Digital?

[James Tanner]

Hi,

Dolby and DTS have not sent any information to us regarding their next generation HD formats.  Basically, they have been announced, but not released.  The only thing I know about Dolby HD is that it allows for 7.1 channels of 96/24, and it uses lossless compression.  
 
For the SP2 as far as I know it should be able to handle it as a firmware upgrade.  
 
Complicating things further, they may only allow Dolby HD over HDMI.
 
Anyway, this new format is designed to run on HD-DVD and BluRay, which are both set for release in mid 2006.  I expect we'll get some more information before the end of the year but if any of you out there have input I am all ears.

james
.

[nicolasb]

Complicating things further, they may only allow Dolby HD over HDMI

Is it even physically possible to send that kind of signal over S/PDIF? I didn't think there was enough bandwidth.

Does this mean that the SP2 (and upgraded SP1.7?) will be able to accept an audio signal via HDMI? If so, is that another, later upgrade, or will it be included in the next one?

[James Tanner]

HI,

Yes we would have to add the HDMI connector when and if the high res digital becomes available.

james

[James Tanner]

Hi,

Some more input:
 
Both of the new DD and DTS Hi-Res formats are extensions of the current DTS and DD standards, that are designed to take advantage of the vast amount of extra space available on the Blu-ray and DVD HD formats.  Both allow more than the 8 channels of audio that the new disc standards are limited to, and include compression ratios that vary from the current rate up to lossless.
 
The problem is that the software industry attitude out there seems to be that 95% of the population doesn't know the difference between good audio and better audio, and that most software producers will opt to use the extra space for something profitable, like more trailers and/or commercials.
 
The SP2 would require a high bandwidth digital connection like HDMI or IEEE-1394 in order for the benefits to be realized.  

A conspiracy theorist, would probably see this as nothing more than industry forcing the public to use one of the "copy protection" schemes that are mandatory with these connections.

james

[nicolasb]

Copy protection sucks, but a high-bandwidth digital audio protocol is many years overdue. A high-bandwidth, asynchronous digital audio protocol would be better still.

[gaderson]

Copy protection sucks, but a high-bandwidth digital audio protocol is many years overdue. A high-bandwidth, asynchronous digital audio protocol would be better still.

Yeah, a IEEE1394 would be nice, especially if it was 'backward compatible' with the various SACD/DVD-A players' outputs.  But, with HDMI, you're stuck.  I've been reading about some of the new scalars (the new DVDO VP30) and whether it could strip out the audio from the HDMI and output it to the S/PDIF outputs, and the answer was NO.  Since the HDCP (license) only allows HDMI inputs to go out as HDMI (or DVI-D).  That would then mean we'd need at the least a HDMI pass-thru for the next rev of the SP2, ruining the video seperate from audio that I love about my SP1.  But, someone at CEDIA did note that when questioning various manufactures about their HD disc players that IEE1394 outs were in the mix (but, not defenitive).