# To Stream or not to Stream. That is the question



## devicente (Jun 28, 2007)

I'm in a position to up grade my AVR. I waiting for Emotiva's UMC-1. I hope to also upgrade my Bluray player to Oppo's or LG's new LGBD390. I currently use my PS3 which outputs PCM to my AVR. (Integra DTR 7.7) Does any know if there is a difference of having a Bluray player send the signal Bitsteam to an AVR that can decode the new high def audio or should the player do it. I know that with my current equipment the player has to decode it. But if i upgrade to the UMC-1 and Oppo's Bluray and have the Processor do the decoding instead of the player is there a difference? Is one way better than the other? Should i just keep my Integra and PS3. I really don't do any gaming with the PS3. Mostly just for movies.:huh:


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

In most cases the AVR will have better decoders for the uncompressed formats so it is better to get a receiver that has the newest formats.


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## CharlieU (Jan 26, 2007)

devicente said:


> I'm in a position to up grade my AVR. I waiting for Emotiva's UMC-1. I hope to also upgrade my Bluray player to Oppo's or LG's new LGBD390. I currently use my PS3 which outputs PCM to my AVR. (Integra DTR 7.7) Does any know if there is a difference of having a Bluray player send the signal Bitsteam to an AVR that can decode the new high def audio or should the player do it. I know that with my current equipment the player has to decode it. But if i upgrade to the UMC-1 and Oppo's Bluray and have the Processor do the decoding instead of the player is there a difference? Is one way better than the other? Should i just keep my Integra and PS3. I really don't do any gaming with the PS3. Mostly just for movies.:huh:


The Oppo is the only player I have that can do bitstream or LPCM of high def audio, so my test sample is pretty small. In my experience, there is no difference. Like you, I was using a PS3 as a BD player, but I also had the Oppo 980 for CD, DVD-A and SACD. I used a Toshiba HD-A30 to play my DVDs because it had the best upconversion of the three players. The BDP-83 allowed me to get rid of the PS3 and 980, plus relegate the Toshiba to just playing HD DVDs. As you can see, I had other reasons to make the change to the Oppo. The PS3 is still a great BD player and you won't gain anything playing BDs on a dedicated player. If you just have the itch to upgrade, you can't go wrong picking the Oppo.


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## wbassett (Feb 8, 2007)

I talked to one of the lab guys at Onyko and this may surprise a lot of people what he said-

Yes he said that typically the AVR will have better codec hardware than the player, however this is what surprised me... he said unless the player was really bad he'd doubt anyone would notice whether the player is doing a better job at the decoding or the AVR is. In the case of the PS3 he said he didn't think it mattered where it was done.

I'm not trying to be a PS3 fanboy or anything at all like that. I just found his comment very refreshing that someone would state an honest opinion like that and not some company pre-canned response. We then spent the next hour playing around with test setups and trying out the Onyko's HDMI passthrough while the unit is off (standby). This guy really loved his job because their hours were until 5PM and we talked and tested until well after 6PM!

Anyway, As much as I know people will club me to death with a dead fish I agree with him! Like he was saying, if a person has an AVR that doesn't do a good job decoding you'll be better off with the player doing it and vice versa. The best thing you can do is if you have the ability to turn the decoding off on each device, try each and see if you notice any difference in quality.


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