2. home-theater
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Are lossless Codec's worth upgrading my processor

I have a lexicon DC-2 processor which has a number of the older codecs and lexicon's 7:1 surround capability....works great with HDTV. However, now I'm going to get a bluray player and of course today's technology has lossless codec's and HDMI 1.3.

I can connect a bluray player thru digital to my Lexicon DC-2 and still decode the non lossless codecs...well at least some of them.

The question is....how big is the difference in sound between the new lossless codecs and DTS, Dolby, etc. Is it night and day....or just a little better...or just marketing hype?

(Lexicon DC-2, NHT Power 5, NHT/James 5:1 speakers)
ghstudio
ghstudio OP
141 posts
 
Actually, I could buy the Panasonic 35 and save another $100....so I would have $275 towards buying the Integra gear...plus of course whatever I get for the DC2 (V4)
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
GH,

Sell the DC-2 for whatever you can get for it and buy the Integra and a Sony BDP-S350, it's the best acting (fastest load times, response time etc) player I have had and it can be had for ~$200 if you hunt, retail is only $299 and it will output bitstream for all codecs to the Integra.

The nearly ten year step forward in technology and Audyssey room correction alone will sound WAY better than the DC-2 even on it's best days, and you can do it for a very low cost out of pocket.
tlg
69 posts
 
I would like to know what percentage of todays new dvd releases are actually encoded with Dolby True HD and DTS HD? Is it one in five releases or what? There doesn't seem to be a mass market of this type of release yet.
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
Tlg,

NO DVD's are encoded in Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD MA, only Blu-ray's can handle the bandwidth necessary for these, and most do have one or the other, especially on the new releases.
tlg
69 posts
 
Is it true to say that to enjoy these new formats I would need to buy a large processor such as an Integra DTC 9.8 or Pioneer processor? I don't need a component with so many bells and whistles. Is there some small cheaper component that only strives on decoding these new formats?
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