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kal
Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 18114
Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Person99 wrote: | | kal wrote: |
The other question of course is: How good are the DACs on the multi-channel analog outputs of most of these Blu-ray players?
Kal |
I honestly don't think this is a concern. Audio DACs are pretty well understood and mature technology. Everyone uses 1 of a few different ICs for this. |
I think that at the level of quality we're concerned with it is very much a concern. We're obviously fussy about quality and while the technology arounds DACs is well understood, there exists a wide variety of quality level of ICs available, from simple all-in-one chip DACs to really good quality discrete Analog Devices DACs that cost 10-30x the price and require more anxillary circuitry (often with good parts like high end film resistors and tant caps and the such).
The problem is when companies are building tens of thousands of units and they KNOW that people who want the best quality will use HDMI out, they scrimp on the DACs on purpose to save a few bucks per unit.
Maybe we're being incorrect when we say quality difference in DACs - what's more important the circuitry the moment the signal becomes analog. There are opamps and other analog circuitry involved that needs to be good quality. The cheaper sources will scrimp on this stuff.
We see the same thing with analog component outputs on sources more and more. Component output quality (and analog output quality in general really) is become less and less of an issue on source devices as people move more and more to 100% digital. The component out of the PS3 is a good example. It really SUCKS. So much so that the difference in quality beween the PS3 HDMI output with HDfury+RTC2200 and component+RTC2200 is substantial to my eyes. On some other devices the difference isn't as great.
The irony is that while technology marches on, the analog out quality of a lot of device is going into the toilet it seems.
I do agree with however:
| Quote: | | So, I'd gamble that lossless audio decoded from an average DAC is going to sound better than lossy audio decoded by the best DAC in the world. |
As for IR control of the PS3, this thing looks like the best bet and simple: It just plugs into the front of your PS3 to make it look like part of the PS3 and then you program your universal remote using downloadable PS2 codes. Minimal work really.
http://www.schmartz.com/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=2
Kal
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Andrew Low
Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 28
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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Disclaimer - I've yet to get a PS3 .. but I've got it on my short list.
My choice would be the 40Gig version which uses a more recent version of the Cell processor (65nm process) which runs cooler (quieter).
There is another IR solution for PS3 that deserves a mention in this thread. http://ir2bt.com/
Additionally - someone (Curt) should track down the Canadian referenced here http://www.remotecentral.com/articles/ir4ps3_full_function_ir_remote.htm and help him make this into a real product.
Roo
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benareeno
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 1614
Location: ottawa, canada
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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Indeed...I'm a stickler for noisy components, and the PS3 is simply a non-issue. Quiet fans and quiet drive mechanism...I'm very impressed with it!
Ben
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MYoung
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 369
Location: Madison, WI
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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Aren't there also issues with a receiver accepting HDMI for the sound and passing the 1080i/p for further processing by a scaler? Maybe not the 1080i, but the 1080p? Wouldn't you would need to buy a pretty wicked receiver to do that, verses the cost of just getting a stand-alone with analog output? The receiver would have to pass the video pristine and unprocessed to the scaler. I was concerned about that and being stuck with lossy audio when I got my PS3. It's a step back from my almost 2 year old HD-A1 with analog out! Then I realized that my floor-mounted 1292Q, along with my pretty crappy sound system, ensures that I cannot tell much of a difference between lossy and lossless.
I wasn't planning on using the PS3 for too much gaming, though Call of Duty 4 online is a blast! I'm also really looking forward to Grand Theft Auto 4, especially the online play! Actually, the PS3 has been living with the D50 in the basement lately. I need to save up for a HDfury and cables to get a more digital video chain. Plus, if there's going to be any wear or even burn-in from game playing, better on the D50 than the 1292Q!
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kal
Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 18114
Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Andrew Low wrote: | | There is another IR solution for PS3 that deserves a mention in this thread. http://ir2bt.com/ |
This one is nice. He came to market after IR4PS3 (see below) was announced.
I've been in discussions with the guy for some time now (if you follow the link to the official forum thread at remotecentral, you'll see a post by me asking the guy to !@#$&$ answer my emails).
We're in discussions. But I don't think anything will happen. I want to help him sell it and get him a sub-forum here. He was silly enough to announce the product and how it worked and then take months to beta test it (it's still not done) and others have copied the idea (like ir2bt.com) so I think it's likely dead in the water.
The guy's from Montreal - only an hour and half from me.
Kal
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jamsys
Joined: 29 Jun 2006
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kal
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Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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