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You're on the right track

Posted by andy_c on December 30, 2004 at 12:37:18

In Reply to: Time for Universal Player (Special Requirement for Video) posted by Robert C. Lang on December 30, 2004 at 03:00:57:

I'm not a video expert in any sense of the word, but by reading the forums where the video freaks hang out (such as avsforum.com), it appears that the digital video output of choice at present is HDMI. The previous generation of universal players, such as the Denon 2900 I used to have, do not have HDMI outputs. The latest generation, such as the Onkyo SP1000 I presently have, do have an HDMI output. The HDMI output carries with it not only digital video, but digital audio as well. Because of this, there are at least two ways the HDMI output of a universal player can be used.

1) Run the HDMI output to the HDMI input of a home theater processor, and run the processor's HDMI output to the HDMI input of the display. This makes use of the audio D/A converters of the home theater processor, rather than the universal player. Looking at the manual of the Onkyo, it appears that this will degrade audio quality in somc cases, even if the D/A's are as good on the processor as they are in the universal player. I don't know if this is a property the HDMI interface specification itself, or specific to the HDMI interface that the Onkyo has, but digital audio is restricted to 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz PCM on the Onkyo's HDMI interface. So DVD-A and DVD-V with 96 kHz PCM or higher are downconverted to 48 kHz before being sent out over HDMI. And I suppose that if SACD works at all over this interface, it must be converted to 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz PCM. Definitely bad news.

2) Run the HDMI output of the universal player to the HDMI input of the video display. Run the analog outputs of the universal player to the analog inputs of a multichannel analog preamp or home theater processor. Since you've bought a multichannel analog preamp, this is the technique you'll use. It uses the DTS and Dolby digital decoders of the universal player for video soundtracks, whereas configuration (1) above moves this function into the home theater processor.

BTW, I'm extremely pleased with the sound quality of the SP1000, especially on Redbook. It brings the sound quality of Redbook very, very close to that of SACD and DVD-A. Users on avsforum.com have found a "lip-synching" problem between audio and video with this player, but this only applies to configuration (1) above, not the configuration you'll be using. The problem is that the lip-synch adjustment of the Onkyo only affects the relative timing of analog audio and digital video, not the relative timing of digital audio and digital video over HDMI.

Good luck with your system!

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