Sony BDP-S2000ES Blue-ray question

BDP-2000ES will not decode DTS-HD MA but will decode the rest such as DTS-HD HR, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DD+ etc.. Hopefully, Sony will come out with a firware upgrade to fix this. Fireware V3.6 will not have DTS-HD MA fix.

Thanks for the responses. I do not yet own the player so I was not able to look at the owner's manual (did not check online, thanks for the tip). In a perfect world it would seem that the new-gen blue-ray players that advertise internal decoding should decode all the new surround formats and the older ones back to original DD/DTS and pass them out the analog 5.1 jacks to make them backward compatable, but the description on the Sony website was a little confusing in this regard. I've always used the processor built into my DVD player since my system's receiver will not decode DD/DTS but fortunately it has analog 5.1 inputs. No HDMI, either. Thanks Bigtee, looks like this player might just work ok in my sytem. -jz

According to the owners manual:

Bitstream Dolby HD, DTS HD, etc via HDMI

WILL NOT bitstream regular Dolby Digital and DTS via HDMI (it must come through using the digital output or via the 5.1 analogue outputs.)

The HDMI will pass analogue HD audio signals also.

The digital out will not do the new audio formats. I know of no machine that will do it.

For all the information, you can go to www.sony.com and look at the full owners manual.

I'm not sure I understand this.

Why doesn't the unit have a digital audio output like their non Blue Ray players? Then you could send the Blue Ray/HD video over the HDMI and have the choice not to use HDMI for the audio output. By using analog PCM, will the unit produce a analog signal that isn't DD, DD-DTS etc? Or will the processor convert the analog signal into digital format?

I'd rather not use the HDMI for audio input but rather s seperate digital output into my processor.

What am I missing?

Ckoffend, No that's not what I said. The 2000es WILL bit stream the new formats over HDMI. {The OLDER BDPS1 will NOT bitstream HD sound.} The new 2000es will bitstream the sound as well as 1080P resolution over HDMI. My last statement was the 2000es solved this by doing both.

The BDPS1 will only transmit PCM decoded sound over HDMI as well as 1080P video. The early players would not detect the new formats which the firmware 3.7 solved for this player (and it ouputs HD sound over its analogue outputs.)

Sorry for the confusion of mentioning 2 different players (even though they look just alike!!!!)

So based on Bigtee response, you only get extended resolution audio if sent via analog not via the HDMI as the HDMI does not have the capacity to carry both an HD video signal and a HD audio signal together.

So, the use of the 5.1 analog outputs will give you the best results for audio, unless you can output the HD audio digitally to a good pre/pro (presumably with better DACs than the Sony).

If you are taking the HDMI signal to your pre/pro, are you programming the pre/pro for video only from the HDMI or audio as well? I would not suggest using the HDMI for audio.

Personally, I would suggest taking the audio signal output separately from the HDMI cable for best audio results. Typically, a good pre/pro will perform best receiving the audio signal in a digital format as it will usually have better chips than the DVD player. Of course this depends on the player and the pre/pro.

If you look at the specifications page of your owners manual, you will see that it DOES bitstream DTS HD, Dolby Digital True HD, etc over HDMI.
The older BDPS1, which this player is based, did not bitstream over HDMI. However, with the latest firmware upgrade, it would decode and send it as a PCM signal over HDMI or out of the analogue outputs. The 2000ES solved this problem.