HDMI on X360 : yes or no?

[pipo]

Well, I mean the Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD, that come on Blu-ray and HD-DVD movie discs.

But they will still output 5.1 anyway I guess? They won't be that stupid right?

 

[Gubbi]

But they will still output 5.1 anyway I guess? They won't be that stupid right?

If SACD and Audio-DVD is anything to go by, you will get nothing out of your digital connections that aren't encrypted.

And yes, that is really pissing me off as well.

Cheers

 

[pipo]

But surely they have learned something from the SACD sales?

Anyway, it's highly overrated for 99% of the market IMHO.

 

[ban25]

But they will still output 5.1 anyway I guess? They won't be that stupid right?

Yes, you can extract normal DD/DTS 5.1 from these codecs, giving you the same sound you would get from a DVD. For 7.1 Dolby True HD, DTS-MA, or LPCM, you're going to need HDMI or analog output. In the case of the PS3, the only option for >5.1 channel sound will be HDMI. For the 360, there pretty much is no option.

If your player doesn't decode the audio and transfer PCM over HDMI, you'll need a receiver that can handle the codecs (and HDMI 1.3). If the player does decode it, then you're fine.

 

[22psi]

I bet it'll come next xmas

 

[KOF]

I'm wondering if the 360 does indeed get HDMI eventually, there will be additional updates to enable DD Plus or True DD for the 360's multichannel positioning outputs. multichannel audio transfer encoded by DD or DTS over SPDIF is frowned upon because they are lossy. SPDIF can only have enough bandwidth for 24bit 192khz PCM for the stereo channel only at best. If the 360's HD-DVD add-on will have visual fidelity equal to that of dedicated players, but skimp on audio capabilities (SPDIF as opposed to HDMI) then I'll have to buy the Toshiba player instead just for that. SPDIF has been useful, but it's time for it to go. SPDIF was never the best technology for audio fidelity when it was first introduced either. (beaten by vinyl still, and even within the digital domain, I2S is still superior.)

For those of you who have LCD monitors and such, DVI-D or HDMI is the way to go. 1:1 pixel matching is the biggest advantage of HDMI.