On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:13:39 -0800, willbill wrote
(in article ):
Sonnova wrote:
On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:59:48 -0800, willbill wrote
(in article ):
Sonnova wrote:
I have an HD-A2. I use coaxial digital to connect to my Harman-Kardon
AVR-7000. This receiver uses Lexicon surround-sound processing - which is
is why I bit the bullet and paid close to $2000 for it and is excellent.
I've never tried the 6 analog outputs from the player.
the Toshiba HD-A2, that you have,
does *not* have 6 analog outputs!
correct me if i'm wrong. 
It might not, I've never actually looked.
fwiw, i thought that it did but then went
out to www.toshiba.com and checked and
discovered that of the 6 current models
only the most expensive of each line
has 6 analog outputs!
so i can't justify one for it's ability
to upscale normal DVD movies
you might consider doing an a/b of inputting
surround audio via coax digital (which you apparently
presently do) vs. toslink optical (also digital)
I've never heard any difference between TOSLINK digital, and Coax digital
odds are that you will find a noticable improvement
with the toslink optical input.
I doubt if there is any difference. In fact, when TOSLINK first appeared,
many audiophiles found just the opposite to be true. I.E., that TOSLINK
sounded distinctly inferior to either coax or glass-fiber, and indeed, some
tests showed that the bandwidth of many early TOSLINK setups was much
narrower than that of either coax or glass-fiber. However, that difference
has been long since addressed. The optical transducers on both ends of
modern
TOSLINK connections have been significantly improved.
you might actually try connecting sound
with toslink again with your current AVR
I do use TOSLINK from my HD-A2 to my H-K AVR-7000 and I have tried coaxial.
No difference.
the main key thing that i listen for
is that the sound is less flat
but going back to your HD-A2, do you find the
surround sound of the HD-DVD movies, that you've
so far gotten, to be noticeably superior to that
of ordinary DVD movies?
Absolutely, but not for the reasons that I suspect that you think. Most DVDs
are Dolby 5.1 encoded. AFAIK, all HD-DVD releases are DTS. DTS sounds
superior to Dolby 5.1.
to my mind, better surround audio is the one real
trump card that they can play with hi def movies.
but so far they don't seem to have done it;
at least not yet. they certainly have plenty
of great source material in the vaults
Cinema sound does not impress me that much. It is highly processed, and on
older films overdubbed to the hilt. As long as they do a good job on the
surround effects, and the dialog is good and clear, I'm not that critical.
Like I said, I do notice that music sounds better from DTS than from Dolby
5.1, and I suspect that the new lossless compression schemes used by both
High-Definition DVD camps (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) are even better. But with
movies, the main emphasis is visual and most modern films sound better in my
home theater than they did in the cinema. That's about all I think one can
expect. A film soundtrack is certainly NOT going to sound like a great
recording of the NY Philharmonic, and I don't expect it to.
bill