I am planning on buying a Panasonic BD 50 but am confused about the 7.1 Dolby TureHD conversion.

I have read that fiber optic audio can only support 5.1 audio and that Dolby TureHD is only available through the HDMI output. I was going to connect the BD 50 HDMI output to my TV and connect the component audio output of the BD 50 to the component audio input of the 990.

If I hook the BD 50 up this way will I lose the Dolby TrueHD sound? Can someone please recommend a better way to hook up the BD 50 player if my thinking is wrong? I would like to make sure I have the cables needed when the BD 50 is available locally.

Thanks again for all your help.

Optical (and coaxial) can only carry a Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 bitstream or PCM stereo. The BD50 can decode TrueHD, DD+, and DTS-HD (including Master Audio), but the only way to deliver that to the Model 990 is via multichannel analog cables. You will want to connect the BD50's multichannel analog output to the 990's 7.1 Direct input, as this will give you access to TrueHD, DD+, DTS-HD, and the multichannel PCM tracks provided on many Blu-ray discs.

This new Panasonic player will be a hot item for those of us that aren’t ready to dive into a new pre/pro or receiver. Even though the BD50 will cost quite a bit more then some other players it will save even more by enabling us to experience the new audio formats with our existing equipment. Hopefully this player will hit the market soon.

skitlboy,

After you score your BD50 we would really like to hear your thoughts on it.
I am really curious on how the DTS-HD MA is going to sound like through the 990.

Thanks again for your help. Component cables it is.

I'd be glad to post a review of the BD 50. I'm really anxious for this thing to come out. Right now I have a Toshiba HD-A30.

It is my understanding that using HDMI for audio you setup the player for bitstream. Would I set the player to PCM when I hook it up to my 990 using the analog inputs?

Thanks again.

I just downloaded an owner's manual for the BD50 and it looks like the analog outputs are only for 5.1. Not sure what to do now. Below is a link to the manual if anyone is interested.

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPER...MPBD50-MUL.PDF

Thanks again.

Because you aren't using the HDMI output for audio, the digital audio output settings aren't really going to affect you. The multichannel analog output only works because the player is decoding internally, and since the BD50 supports decoding for all of the possible formats it should be always doing that decoding to make the multichannel analog output active.

If you were using the BD50's HDMI output for audio, you would need to choose between "bitstream" (leave the new formats undecoded) and "PCM" (decode them internally and output multichannel PCM).
There are a few options.

One is to get the BD50 and connect it's 5.1 output to the 5.1 portion of the 990's 7.1 input. This will mean that the (small number of) 7.1 titles will be downmixed to 5.1 and that the 5.1 titles (the majority) will be played back with no opportunity to expand to 7.1.

Another is to get the BD50 and use splitters to connect the left and right surround outputs to the left side/back and right side/back surround inputs of the 990's 7.1 analog input. The 7.1 titles will still get downmixed, but now all titles will be played back in a sort of 7.1 (duplicating the side surround signals in the back surrounds).

A third is to wait for someone to start selling a player with the BD50's decoding capabilities and a 7.1 analog output. That could put you into 2009, though.

Link got truncated. Here is a link to the BD50's manual.

Thanks very much for all your help. I'm going to forget about getting the BD50 and go with the Denon DVD-3800BDCI. I has 7.1 analog outputs.

Thanks again.