TOPIC: Dolby to LPCM conversion

Hi, I have just bought a miniDSP nanoAVR-DL and am in the process of hooking it up. The problem I've come across is that several of the devices I'd like to use the room correction on output surround sound only in the form of Dolby Digital, not LPCM. Is there a relatively inexpensive way to decode these signals into LPCM so they can be fed into the nanoAVR? I do have a receiver, but that doesn't help since it needs to sit *after* the nanoAVR in my signal processing chain.

Thanks!

Christian

I've heard that some of the Oppo disc players with HDMI inputs can do this. I suppose they're "relatively inexpensive," compared to some to the crazy audio gear out there, though still a bit rich for my blood (maybe yours too).

Hopefully someone else can chime in with an even more frugal choice.

-- Jim

Well, I never really thought about it this way before, but maybe the cheapest solution would be to use a second receiver (second hand, say). that will decode whatever into LPCM.

Thanks -- both of these solutions (Oppo Blu-Ray Player and 2nd receiver) had occurred to me also, but I'm not terribly keen on either. The Oppo is quite pricey (around 400 pounds or so here in the UK), and I don't really have room for a second receiver.

A partial solutions appears to be that the Apple TV 4th gen is now capable of outputting multu-channel LPCM, so if I upgrade my ATV, that's something. I'm still stuck with the fact that my PVR (a Humax youview box) is not capable of the same, so I still can't see a way to run it through the nanoAVR at the moment.

Frustrating!

Any other ideas?

i see samsung have a bluray player with inbuilt pvr. maybe it will do everything you need from atv as well. i gave away my apple tv.

It's a bit of a tricky one indeed.. The oppo trick is the one we're using here. i.e. feed to the HDMI in that will do transcoding.
A nanoAVR with Decoding built in would really be great. The cost of licensing is just really prohibitive unfortunately..

DevTeam

Hi,
Did anyone find a solution to this?
There must be some box out there that can convert dd/dts to LPCM ?? (i hope)
I just purchased a nanoAVR to without ever thinking about compressed audio not working so, although it's a very nice dsp, i can't use it

Cheers,
Robert.

I am also thinking about this issue and want to warn everyone for 2 pitfalls, a bit late but maybe not too late for everyone:

lazygun37 wrote:
1. Some devices have an option "hdmi out: multichannel pcm" in the setup menu and this suggests that dolby digital etc. can be output as multichannel pcm but this is not always the case! For example my mediater med600x3d has this option but it doesn't work for dolby digital or dts, but only if the source was multichannel pcm, or one of a few obscure other formats like multichannel wma (by coïncedence I have one such audio file, and it worked for this one). So if you see this option mentioned in some user manual: watch out, it may still not be what you need! I guess the only way to be sure is to try it out before you buy.

2. I have looked at oppo players (BDP-103, BDP-103D, BDP-105D ) and they might be perfect for the job except there is a limitation that for some set-ups could be problematic:
I am thinking of a setup with digital active speakers, and dirac live processing on a nanoAVR HDA (assuming I can buy the nanoAVR DL Dirac Live Plugin together with the nanoAVR HDA box) and no surround receiver at all. Hence I will have to do the bass management with the oppo (as I understand the nanoAVR Dirac Live can not do it). But the bass management of the oppo is a bit strange: the bass of speakers set to small can only be redirected to the subwoofer channel or be thrown away, it can not be redirected to the front L&R channels, and I want to use a 5.0 setup with big main speakers (with excellent, deep and precise bass). Of course one solution is to buy one additional nanoAVR HD to do bass management but that is a bit expensive!
If instead of active speakers you want to use power amps and passive speakers without a surround receiver you will have the same problem.

Actually I was mistaken in my last post about something: the OPPO players bass management does not affect the HDMI output at all, so if you use the multichannel LPCM from the HDMI output any bass management must be done elsewhere.

The Oppo bass management only works on the analog outputs. It also doesn't work properly anyway.

You cannot, AFAIK, use the DL upgrade on the nanoAVR HDA (best to put in a support ticket to confirm though).

The DDRC-88A/BM is the best solution if you have sources not capable of multichannel LPCM.