Dolby Digital Or LPCM

TheHitMan-1973 · 20 Jan 2019 at 13:07

I have connected up my Sony HT-XT3 up to my Sky HD box and my Sony blu ray player

Watching Sky T.V on most channels i get Dolby Digital format , but when i play blu ray dvd i get LPCM format

Is this normal ?

PiKe · 20 Jan 2019 at 13:22

Yes, Sky is bandwidth limited so you end up with the compressed DD stream.

LPCM (basically uncompressed) is on Blu-ray because space isn't of a concern.

Nick1881 · 20 Jan 2019 at 15:29

You may find the blu-ray player has an audio option for bitstream.

LPCM means the player is doing the encoding, when you get DTS-HD etc on your amp then the amp is doing the processing. I like to have bitstream on so I can see what audio I'm actually getting.

TheHitMan-1973 · 20 Jan 2019 at 21:43

I have changed all settings on blu ray player but still comes up LPCM on amp not Dolby Digital , when watching Sky its saying Dolby Digital

Looked in menu on blu ray player , i have set Digital Audio Output to " Auto " the other option is PCM
Other settings i did change was Downmix to " Surround "

TheHitMan-1973 · 20 Jan 2019 at 21:46

Other option i had was

DB Audio MIX Settings " On "

PiKe · 20 Jan 2019 at 22:19

LPCM IS UNCOMPRESSED

Why do you WANT a compressed audio stream over an uncompressed one?

TheHitMan-1973 · 20 Jan 2019 at 22:35

PiKe said:
LPCM IS UNCOMPRESSED

Why do you WANT a compressed audio stream over an uncompressed one?

Which is better LPCM or DD ?

PiKe · 20 Jan 2019 at 22:41

Uncompressed :rolleyes:

cyclops12 · 22 Jan 2019 at 03:23

PiKe said:
Uncompressed

They're both uncompressed/lossless, as Nick said LPCM is the player doing the decoding and bitstream the amp is decoding.

I always bitstream from my 4k player as I also like to see what audio I'm getting.

Thehitman LPCM or bitstream it'll still be DD or DTS you're listening to.

fezster · 22 Jan 2019 at 13:07

DD (Dolby Digital) is not lossless. Neither is DTS.

However, their "HD" equivalents (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD) are considered lossless. They are still compressed, but the resulting sound when uncompressed should be indistinguishable to the original.

LPCM is uncompressed audio.

Whether the decoding is done on the player or the amp should be inconsequential in terms of what you hear. The only difference is what you see on the front of the amp.

james.miller · 22 Jan 2019 at 13:17

i believe you have to bitstream from the player if you want dts:x or dolby atmos, so there's that. On the flip side, if you like secondary audio then LPCM from the player is better otherwise the audio gets down-res'd. So it's not quite as clear cut as use either because they're both the same.

TheHitMan-1973 · 11 Feb 2019 at 20:02

So thats for people help , now i know its normal to get LPCM