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Dear Both,

Thanks for the feedback.. I really didn't realize I guess that it was the case on PCM for cheap players, it's a bit puzzling I guess since we've always been fine before even with a very cheap Bluray player purchased at very low cost shop.. I wonder if it's down to how it's being mixed on the bluray as well. See the specs of the Sony saying LPCM8ch support for all. That's for models we can get here in HK at least.
Sony main product page: www.sony.com.hk/products/blu_ray_player/index_e.jsp
Lowest cost: www.sony.com.hk/products/apps/product/si...ode=49865882&lang=en
Highest cost: www.sony.com.hk/products/apps/product/si...ode=49865929&lang=en

Samsung main page: www.samsung.com/us/video/blu-ray-players
does show LPCM8ch as well on the user manual but one trick is to put the blueray on PCM channel. (i.e. raw data on the bluray).

maybe the trick here for some of these low cost players? What's the models you guys are using BTW? IT would be really good to know for reference.

DevTeam

Manufacturers are dropping decoding due to license fees. The Sony BDPS5500 will only transcode into 2 channel, which is what almost all brands are going to. only Samsung and Panasonic have 5.1 or 7.1 decoding in their more expensive $100+ players. Cheapest Samsung, which i got, is the bd-h6500. it is 2014 model, although it seems to have been udpated as the new ones are labeled bd-h6500/za. Panasonic DMP-BDT360 decodes multi-channel, but that model is discontinued, leaving only the higher model, the 460 which will decode MCH codecs.
Note that all players will no doubt play MCH PCM if its on the source, which may be what you read on sony's website. Of course, most discs dont have pcm due to space/ size concerns.
Also, it seems many brands are leaving the space, since i dont see new players from Panasonic, Toshiba, Philips.
Hope this helps.

Thanks Rolandtk, for your research.

My BD player is the Samsung bd e5500.
I had a look at the manual ( click ) and found the following:


It seems that it only outputs MCH PCM if the provided audio on the source (e.g. Bluray Disk) is MCH PCM. Other formats are converted to stereo PCM.

edit: Typo

Unfortunately, it appears that this how most of the industry has shifted regarding decoding to PCM due to licensing fees.

[email protected] wrote:

Manufacturers are dropping decoding due to license fees. The Sony BDPS5500 will only transcode into 2 channel, which is what almost all brands are going to. only Samsung and Panasonic have 5.1 or 7.1 decoding in their more expensive $100+ players. Cheapest Samsung, which i got, is the bd-h6500. it is 2014 model, although it seems to have been udpated as the new ones are labeled bd-h6500/za. Panasonic DMP-BDT360 decodes multi-channel, but that model is discontinued, leaving only the higher model, the 460 which will decode MCH codecs.
Note that all players will no doubt play MCH PCM if its on the source, which may be what you read on sony's website. Of course, most discs dont have pcm due to space/ size concerns.
Also, it seems many brands are leaving the space, since i dont see new players from Panasonic, Toshiba, Philips.
Hope this helps.

Today I tried finding some blu ray players with the option for DTS/DD -> MCH PCM conversion, which is very hard, because most manufacturers just say that they support PCM but don't tell anything about conversion/transcoding options. At last I stumbled on (as you told), Samsungs BD-H6500 as the cheapest option...

Makes me curious : Will the BD-H6500 transcode DTS / DD content via USB and/or DLNA also to MCH PCM?
Because if it does, it will replace my Chromecast + Blu ray player at once, sparing me one HDMI input on the NanoAVR!

Regards,
Matthijs

Matthijs wrote:

Makes me curious : Will the BD-H6500 transcode DTS / DD content via USB and/or DLNA also to MCH PCM?
Because if it does, it will replace my Chromecast + Blu ray player at once, sparing me one HDMI input on the NanoAVR!

I can confirm myself now that this is the solution. Was able to exchange my bd player second-hand for a BD-6500.

Solves all my issues, because except being a blu ray player, it is a media player/smart TV (whatever you want to call it) as well, and does that pretty good! It can decode any delivered multichannel format (from either USB drive, Blu ray Disk, Network), into multichannel LPCM.

I have been happy with the BD-H6500 streaming of netflix and amazon. Reading the manual, it has some other nice features such as full keyboard/ mouse support through the USB port (which i tried) , and a decent but slow browser.

Notably, it has DTS:neo:6 built in, which means if you have a 2 channel source you can use the player to expand it to 6 channels, i was happy with how music sounded with it on.

Great feedback guys! Thanks again for sharing with the community.

DevTeam

Since the BD-H6500/ZA may well be the least expensive machine which transcodes to multichannel PCM, perhaps you could take a look at it and improve the hdmi handshaking issues? i always get a blue screen when i change inputs (ie from Amazon Video to Netflix, etc). thanks.

Roland,

Sure we could have a look at it. Which model do you have? There are quite a few it seems..
www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=sear...ywords=BD-H6500%2FZA

DevTeam

I believe there are only two versions, the 2014 without the "ZA" and no 4k, and the 2015, with the "/ZA" and 4k support.
www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-bd-h6500-za...3.p?id=1219093972026

Note that Sony sells a 6500 model as well.