question about adding blu-ray without an HDMI amp

[Stevie Simkin]

I wonder if someone can help me out here. I have a Panasonic 42PZ80 screen, and a Denon 3803 amp, which is not HDMI enabled. I am wanting to add blu-ray but without taking my universal player (Denon 2900) out of the equation, as I use its analogue outputs for SACD and DVD-A.

Am I right in thinking I can use an optical input on the amp for the sound from the blu-ray player, and plug the hdmi cable from the blu-ray straight into the screen? (one hdmi on the screen currently carries the sky hd signal). Then select hdmi2 on the screen and set up, say, VDP for the sound via the amp?

I know this will not give me lossless sound (True HD, etc.), but presumably it should sound at least as good as the current set-up sounds playing DVDs. Will all blu-ray discs have some kind of lossy dolby digital or DTS track that my poor old 3803 will cope with?

Any help before I invest in a Sony BDP350 would be much appreciated.

Stevie

[rwniel]

Yes, you can connect things in the way you mentioned (i.e. surround sound carried over optical digital output) - you'll get the core Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack depending on what's on the particular disk. Soundtrack quality naturally varies from title to title, but crudely speaking it should be somewhat better than the comparable dvd soundtrack due to the increased maximum bitrate.

You might want to consider the BDP-S550 instead though, as the multi-channel analogue outputs will at the very least allow you to experiment with the hd audio soundtracks so you can compare the differences in your particular set up.

Robert

[Stevie Simkin]

Thanks for the advice, Robert. Not sure I can stretch to the s550, but will give it some thought before I take the next step. Really appreciate the guidance, ta.
Stevie

[AndyWilson]

If you're using the analogue 5.1 channel inputs for DVD-A/SACD they won't be available for anything else so there's not really any point getting a 550...

...unless your amp has multiple sets of 5.1 inputs?

[Stevie Simkin]

If you're using the analogue 5.1 channel inputs for DVD-A/SACD they won't be available for anything else so there's not really any point getting a 550...

...unless your amp has multiple sets of 5.1 inputs?

sadly not. I think I will go for the 350 and look to upgrade the amp at some point in the future.

Thanks for the help
Stevie

[rwniel]

What I meant is unplug the Denon 2900 hence the experiment comment and rather than wonder about the soundtrack differences (which are really down to the combination of av amp/receiver and surround speakers).

Although multi-channel analogue audio switching can be accomplished using some video switch boxes (as it's basically 6 rca phono connectors per input, which you can find on boxes with 3 component, 1 composite and stereo audio) should you require multiple inputs. The Philips PH61148 works, for example which can be found on eBay (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=44).

Robert

[Stevie Simkin]

Ah. Now you ARE making me pause for thought. Funny that the Philips switcher seems to only be available in the US.

Is something more dedicated like this £200 zektor switcher likely to improve quality over the Philips, do you know?

http://www.tmfsolutions.co.uk/zektor_HDS4.1.htm

[rwniel]

Well, it is analogue so conceivably there could be a difference - I haven't tried the Zektor switch so couldn't say for sure though what those would be in practice though. It's obviously designed to accomplish a few different tasks including optical to coaxial digital conversion. There may be other manual component switch boxes than the Philips one and that are more readily available in the UK, but that one is the only one I know of where it's clear it also operates the other inputs (composite specifically) in parallel with the component video/audio ones.

Robert

[AndyWilson]

But if you're spending £200 on a switcher, why not just spend £250 on an HD compatible amp?

[Stevie Simkin]

Good point. Maybe I can't face the possibility that a £250 hd amp is going to sound better than the denon I paid three times that for 5 years ago.:eek:

[rwniel]

That's where you would need to audition different models in order to see what av amp/receiver gives you the performance you're expecting. A basic £250 av amp/receiver (like the Sony STR-DG820) isn't going to sound better than your existing Denon though especially musically. The current model is the Denon AVR-3808 ~ £1,000. Obviously there's been some trickle down to less expensive models over the years since you bought your Denon, but I'd want to be looking at something like the AVR-2309 as a starting point alongside maybe the Marantz SR6003 and Yamaha DSP-AX863se/RX-V1900 models.

Robert

[Stevie Simkin]

Well, I've invested in a zektor 4.1 to try and solve this problem, and I have connected it all up but without success so far:


To recap...Previously had a Denon 2900 with analogue cables out to Denon 3803 receiver analogue in for SACD and DVD-A. I bought the zektor to allow high def audio out from a sony blu-ray player (550) over its analogue connections, via the zektor, to the 3803, so that I could also keep the Denon’s analogue outs for sacd etc.

I have connected the 3803 to the zektor’s “out” sockets and then the 2900 and the 550 to sets 1 and 2 of the sockets on the back of the zektor but cannot get any sound out of either of them. The thing that I am wondering about is how I know which cable to plug into which socket when of course the zektor is labelled up with component inputs/colours rather than audio ones. I have tried carefully to match the colour codes to centre, sub, front L, etc. etc, on each item in the chain, but no joy.

Any ideas on what to try? Many thanks in advance. Stevie

[Stevie Simkin]

Not to worry - sorted it myself. For future reference, if anyone stumbles across this thread looking for clues, you need to plug the interconnects from receiver to zektor into another set of component inputs, not to the outputs. I wish it had said so in the manual.

Stevie