Most consumers know Blu-Ray offers HD video quality, but it also offers HD surround sound formats that can have huge impact on the sound performance of your home theater. However, bringing these HD surround formats home can be a bit of chore due to complexity, connections issues, and just setting up the player.

Unlike standard DVD, where one digital audio connection serves all the audio formats, there’s more then one way to setup a Blu-ray player to integrate HD surround into your home theater.

For those not completely familiar with the HD surround formats here’s a quick list:

Compressed Surround
(higher-quality sound than standard Dolby Digital and DTS)

• Dolby Digital Plus
• DTS HD

Lossless / Uncompressed Surround
(offers identical sound to the studio masters)

• Dolby True HD
• DTS HD Master Audio

Uncompressed surround’s audio quality is truly spectacular with the improvement especially evident in concert Blu-Ray discs like Dave Mathews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City Music Hall, where the sound quality is better (or equal to) the best audiophile recordings.

Hard to Reach Perfection
Never before has home surround sound reached such a pinnacle of perfection. It’s a shame that, at the same time, it is highly complicated to integrate these new surround formats into a home theater. A little knowledge can definitely go a long way.

Manufacturers can help make it easier to setup Blu-ray players and receivers. A menu with a series of quick questions for easy setup could alleviate many connectivity issues, and ensure consumers take full advantage of everything their hardware provides.

Connecting the New Surround Formats
There are two ways to get the latest surround sound formats:

1. Bitstream over HDMI
   Hardware Needed:
1. HDMI 1.3 Blu-ray Player (Specification/Profile 2.0)
2. HDMI 1.3 Receiver capable of decoding Dolby True HD and/or DTS Master Audio
3. How it works:
   The HDMI 1.3 Blu-Ray player outputs the “bitstream” surround sound via an HDMI 1.3 connection to the receiver that decodes the signal.
   

2. PCM over any HDMI connection (The most backward compatible option)
   Hardware Needed
1. A Blu-ray player that internally decodes Dolby True HD and/or DTS Master Audio 
2. A receiver that handles PCM multi-channel audio over HDMI (very common), or has a 7.1 channel analog input (somewhat common).
3. How it works:
   A Blu-Ray player decodes the surround signal internally, then sends the signal through an HDMI connection as multi-channel PCM. Some Blu-ray players have 7.1 analog outputs for use with receivers with 7.1 analog inputs. HDMI is the easiest and best connection.
   
   Note: If the Blu-Ray player decodes the HD surround formats, you don’t need to have an HDMI 1.3 receiver as all versions of HDMI support multi-channel PCM sound.

It would seam that option #2 with its backward compatibility with non-HDMI 1.3 receivers would be the best solution. The problem is that only the PS3 and a couple of other recently released (or soon to be released) Blu-Ray players decode HD surround internally. The good news is that more Blu-Ray players are coming out that offer both the PCM and bitstream capabilities. The bad news is they tend to be the more expensive players.

There is some confusion in many online forums that Bitstream provides better sound than multi-channel PCM, or that Bitstream is the only way to get the latest surround formats. The reality is both PCM and Bitstream are different delivery methods that offer the same high-quality sound. What Bitstream delivery does is make it possible to offer an affordable Blu-Ray player that doesn’t need the extra processing and cost that internal decoding requires.

The PS3 is a Steal
While the PS3 is indeed one of the cheaper Blu-Ray players out there, at $400 the PS3 is sold at a loss with the idea to make up costs in game sales over time. The actual estimated price of the PS3 has varied from $800-$1200, and it is most definitely not a $400 player. That is why it is such a steal at $400 and unfair to compare Blu-Ray players that cost $400 to it.

It’s also worth noting that across many industry reviews the PS3 continually bests any standalone Blu-Ray player out there regardless of price. When Blu-Ray player prices get down to $150-$200, the affordability and simplicity of having Bitstream sent over HDMI for a compatible receiver to decode becomes obvious as it players that offer internal HD surround decoding will always cost more.

Is the PS3 Perfect?
The PS3 is by no means perfect. A minor quibble is its lack of an IR remote input so you have to use a Sony controller or PS3 remote, forcing those with universal remotes back to multi-remote fun. Also, it does not support HDMI 1.3 so if you prefer the receiver decode the uncompressed signal you’re out of luck.

The Sad Truth
The sad thing is that it’s so overly complex to setup a Blu-Ray player and receiver for most consumers that it can be down right intimidating, which will only slow the adoption rate of the new technology.

This complexity can also have the negative side effect that could result in consumers having capabilities they don’t use/activate.

Don’t Forget to Select Uncompressed
After you get it all connected, when you pop in a movie, don’t forget to go into the audio setup on the Blu-ray disc to select the “Uncompressed Surround”, “Dolby True HD”, or “DTS Master Audio” option, as it’s not always the default setting.

Summary
There are multiple ways to bring Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio home. If you’re in the market for a Blu-ray player, figuring out which player meets your needs, and best integrates into your home theater, can lead you down the path of Lossless/Uncompressed Surround enjoyment.

Some Blu-Ray Players That Decode HD Surround Internally
Note: Any Blu-ray player with the latest Blu-ray profile 2.0 specification should be able to transmit all the HD surround formats over bitstream via HDMI. You may want to look for online/magazine reviews of players your interested in to be sure.

The players listed below decode HD surround internally:

• PS3 $399 (With May08 Software Update)
  Decodes Internally: All HD Surround Formats
  
• Pioneer BDP-05FD $799
  Decodes Internally: All HD Surround Formats
  
• Pioneer BDP-51FD $599
  Decodes Internally: All HD Surround Formats
  
• Sony BDP-S500 $599
  Decodes Internally: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS HD
  
• Sony BDP-S350 $399
  Decodes Internally: Dolby True HD