# Upgrade Home theater?



## viki27385 (Oct 21, 2011)

Hi,

I am planning to buy Panasonic Vierra Plasma TV P50V20. It is Full HD.

I have a AV Receiver Yamaha RX-V461 which has Cinema DSP, DTS & Dolby 5.1 technology. It does not have any HD connection. Is there a need to upgrade the AV receiver?

How much is the difference in sound quality among coaxial, HDMI & Blue ray audio & video technologies

Thanks in advance


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Hi and welcome to the Shack!

It depends really on what sort of listening levels you like your movies at? Do you have a decent sub and speakers? If yes then there is a very noticable difference between the uncompressed audio of BluRay and DVD. HDMI is the only way to get these formats unless you have a receiver with multi channel analog inputs and a BluRay player with the Multi channel outputs.


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## viki27385 (Oct 21, 2011)

The speakers & sub are decent ones... I pretty much like their quality.. I remember once testing with a volume much higher than anyone at my home listens to.. it gave a clear sound even at those levels.. is there anything technically i should check to determine how its output sound quality would be for a HDMI connection?

In addition to the multi channel input option in my AV receiver, I also have coaxial & optical connectivity. Though Would any of them match the HDMI quality? I am not talking of negligible differences but substantial ones. 

The AV Receiver detected Dolby input only if I connected using coaxial. If I remember correctly it did not detect dolby with multi channel input. ( I have been away from my home for more than 2 years so I do not remember this part correctly). I have not used the optical input till now.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

It does not matter what digital input you have HDMI is the only way to get TruHD or DTS Master audio from BluRay movies. The sound quality between those and normal Dolby digital can be very substantial on a good system.
What model of receiver and BluRay player do you currently have?


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## viki27385 (Oct 21, 2011)

Receiver model is Yamaha RX-V461 

My current sub: yamaha sw-p130

I am unable to post the links as I am still a new member with less than 5 posts but it is available on google

Current Player is not a BluRay one.. I would be buying a Blu ray player.. 
My current player is Philips dvp3268/94


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I really think an upgrade of your receiver to something with HDMI would be a big improvement. What budget do you have in mind for a receiver?


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## viki27385 (Oct 21, 2011)

First of all thanks a lot for the help you are providing. A lot of my time has got saved which I would have had to spend on researching the new technologies that have come. 

As I am in India, I am posting price range in INR (upto 25K)
As of now the receivers that I see that fall in my range on ebay.in is

1. YAMAHA RX-V371 HOME THEATER RECEIVER
2. Denon AVR-1311 HD 5.1 Channel A/V 3D Home Theater Receiver

There would be many more receivers available... just that they are not available online

What should I keep in mind before buying a receiver... I am not planning to change my sub & speaker

sub yamaha sw-p130 details:

Advanced Yamaha Active ServoTechnology	
Inputs: Cinch, L+R	
High Cut Filter: 18dB/octave	
Auto Standby: 3 steps	
Output Power: 50W	
Frequency Response: 30Hz-200Hz	
Power Consumption: 60W	
Standby Power Consumption: 0,8W	
Woofer: 16cm Cone	
Magnetic Shielding 

speaker yamaha nx-e130 details:

Impedance 6ohms, 
Nominal input 30W, 
Maximum Input 100W, 
Magnetic Shielding


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Suggestion...
If your on a budget you might consider a BLURAY player with HDMI + 5.1 analog output. This will allow you to use your Yamaha reciever, The BLURAY will decode any DOLBY HD or DTS formats that will output to your 5.1 analog inputs. Then just use the HDMI to your new HDTV for video.... This way you will have your new TV and a Bluray player in your system without having to upgrade your reciever :T

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S550-1080p-Blu-ray-Player/dp/tech-data/B001FN3ZRQ/ref=de_a_smtd

So to correct a previous post, HDMI is NOT the only way to get TruHD or DTS Master audio from BluRay movies


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

RTS100x5 said:


> So to correct a previous post, HDMI is NOT the only way to get TruHD or DTS Master audio from BluRay movies


If I remember correctly this way will soon be blocked by way of encryption on the BluRay movies its self. Part of the copywrite protection.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

I cant find any info to support that... but anything is possible with these encryption happy idiots.... I dont see it happening...


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Because the multi-channel outputs are analog, it can be recorded and "they" want to keep the signal digital to prevent this.


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## gdstupak (Jul 13, 2010)

Downgrading a video/audio signal from hi-rez will be an option given to the movie studios on their Blu-ray discs, but I doubt that will be a very common practice.
Even if it does become common place, it's not happening yet, so for now why not save the money on a new AVR and just go with the analog cables.
Also, I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon touting how much better the sound quality is for the new lossless audio formats. I think the quality on DVD/Blu-ray's (along with CD's, MP3's, downloads..) has more to do with the engineering of the sound. Yes, technically the lossless is better, but to say that what we hear is substantially better is a bit overdoing it, in my opinion.


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## megageek (Oct 27, 2011)

Gdstupac, i agree. I think upgrading your reciever to a hdmi one should be the last thing on your list!! Spend the money on speakers or a larger subwoofer. This will have a larger effect on SQ...


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## gdstupak (Jul 13, 2010)

*surround sound format evaluation*

http://www.hemagazine.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM

Here is a great article done several years ago. This is not just simply a listening evaluation between hi-res Bluray and standard DVD but encompasses quite a few surround sound formats. This article may be a bit too technical for newer people that don't know the different technologies, here is a list of the formats used:
PCM (uncompressed, lossless)
Dolby TrueHD (compressed, lossless)
DTS-HD Master Audio (compressed, lossless)
Dolby Digital Plus (compressed, near lossless)
DTS-HD High Resolution Audio (compressed, near lossless)
Dolby Digital 640kbps Bluray (compressed, lossy)
Dolby Digital 448kbps DVD (compressed, lossy)

This testing is done in proper testing facilities with proper testing procedures and it does a good job of explaining why in home testing is not very reliable.
Here is a quote from the article that sums up what they found from the evaluation:
"The shocker came when we compared the lower 448 kbps Dolby Digital DVD bitrate to the original [PCM uncompressed]. There was an audible difference, but it was only ever-so-slightly noticeable (and this is with a high end audio system in an acoustically controlled environment that is so far beyond what typical home theater systems are capable of resolving)."

If there is a substantial difference heard in the home, I would attribute it more toward a better audio mastering/mixing job done for that title, a very good reason to go with hi-res audio for movies and music.


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