If you utilize Bitstream, then the AV receiver is performing the decode. PCM is not better than Bitstream format in terms of quality. The Bitstream package is where the PCM data was sourced from. Aside from sound quality, there is one reason to prefer sending PCM over Bitstream—secondary audio.
On most Blu-rays, there are audio elements in addition to the main soundtrack—specifically, the audio that accompanies PIP picture-in-picture commentaries and the sounds that onscreen buttons make when you click on them. If you set the player to send Bitstream, you will not hear this secondary audio, but if you set it to send PCM, the secondary audio is mixed with the main soundtrack so you can hear it. The picture above is for the settings of the Devialet Phantom Gold speakers that we reviewed here.
The setting is also applicable for the Phantom Silver. As a result, your home theater receiver will not have to do any additional audio decoding before the audio is sent through the amplifier and speaker section. As a result, the AV receiver will not have to perform any additional audio decoding before it is sent to the amplifier section and speakers. With this option, the home theater receiver will display the PCM term on its front panel display. Then, if the user decides to use Bitstream as the HDMI audio output setting for their Blu-ray player, the player will bypass its own internal Dolby and DTS audio decoders and send the signal without decoding to their HDMI-connected home theater receiver.
The home theater receiver will do all the audio decoding of the incoming signal. There is currently no Blu-ray player that can decode these formats internally for PCM and pass them on to the Home Theater receiver, which in part finishes this PCM vs Bitstream confrontation. You have the option to choose which type of setting to use PCM vs Bitstream , and as mentioned above, each setting should produce the same audio quality , taking into account the exceptions of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
This function provides access to audio comments, descriptive audio or other supplementary audio tracks. If access to these audio programs is important to you, keeping your Blu-ray player set to PCM will provide the best quality result. In this case, your home theater receiver will recognize the signal as Dolby Digital standard and decode it properly. After you determine the audio settings you want to use to transfer audio from your Blu-ray player to the rest of your home theater system, you must also decide what type of connections to use.
So after you can determine which audio settings you want to use to transfer audio from your Blu-ray Disc player to the rest of your home theater system, you must also decide what type of connections you need to use. If you use either the coaxial or optical digital connection option of your Blu-ray player to your home theater receiver very useful if your AV receiver does not have HDMI connections , you can also select the PCM vs Bitstream output options for those connections.
The reason for this is that the optical digital cable or coaxial cable does not have sufficient bandwidth capacity to transfer a decoded, uncompressed, full surround sound signal, as the HDMI connection can. If you are using the optical digital or coaxial digital connection option from your Blu-ray Disc player to your home theater receiver useful if your home theater receiver does not have HDMI connections , you can also select PCM vs Bitstream output options for those connections.
The reason for this is that a digital optical or coaxial digital cable does not have sufficient bandwidth capacity to transfer a decoded, uncompressed, fully surround audio signal as an HDMI connection can. While Bitstream and PCM are very different, these two configurations are very similar when applied in audio production.
Here are several similarities to consider when choosing which is the best option for you:. However, there is another factor to consider as to which setting may be best for you to decide in this discussion PCM vs Bitstream.
This involves access to secondary soundtracks, such as audio commentary, descriptive audio, or other supplementary audio tracks. If access to these audio features is important to you then keep your Blu-ray player configured with the PCM audio output option that would be the best choice for you.
Alternatively, you can always switch from PCM to Bitstream at any time by going to the appropriate settings menu. While audio signals are produced differently in both cases, there is no audible difference between Bitstream and PCM files.
However, the Bitstream files are encoded to give you a surround sound experience when used with a compatible media player. On the other hand, most audio players only support the PCM format while transmitting sound. That means you should check the compatibility of your device when choosing between the two. HDMI is easily the best option for output. However, if you use either digital or optical coaxial outputs, Bitstream is the clear winner.
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Linear pulse code modulation LPCM is a method for digitally encoding uncompressed audio information, where audio waveforms are represented by a sequence of amplitude values from a sample on a linear scale in which the values are proportional to the amplitudes, as opposed to being the log of the amplitudes.
This means that the values are linearly quantized, thus approximating a very large set of possible values with a relatively small set of values that may be integers or even discrete symbols. LPCM is also used as a collective reference to audio formats that occur as a result of using this encoding method. LPCM is capable of very high throughput. LPCM audio is coded using a combination of values such as:. LPCM is also a part of the DVD and Blue-Ray sound and video recording standards, and is defined as part of a number of other digital video and audio storage formats.
These different types of audio encoding have to be supported by the Blu-ray player so that they can be read from the disc. These are the names we will see printed on the back of the Blu-ray box. On the other hand, audio decoding, or processing, is where the audio that is on the Blu-ray disc is read so that it can be played through our amplifier and speakers.
This process is often done by the amplifier or receiver, but can also be done by the player. If you want to know more about how an AV receiver deals with these audio formats, check out my guide to AV receiver listening modes. Until recently, there were seven audio formats supported by Blu-ray players.
Of these, three were mandatory and have to be supported by a Blu-ray player, and four were optional. The studios have a choice as to which audio formats they put on a disc. The only rule they have to follow is that the primary audio track has to be one of the mandatory formats which all players will support.
Then any further audio tracks can then be either mandatory or optional so your player may support them or may not. Therefore, when you are buying a Blu-ray player, you will have to pay attention to the audio formats that your player supports if you have particular soundtracks that you need to play. It is an uncompressed audio format so there is no loss in quality on the disc, but the big disadvantage is it takes up a lot of space.
It supports up to eight channels of audio, so can provide encoding for 7. Although it can support bit sample rates, often LPCM audio will be provided in bit to save disc space. However, the lossless HD versions are more likely to come from higher resolution masters as they can be compressed to use less space on the disc.
LPCM 5. If you need to know more about HDMI or any of the other connection types, you can check out my guide to home theater connections. Dolby Digital supports up to six channels of audio and so is limited to 5. The maximum sample rate supported is 48 kHz. It is a lossy format, or in other words, it compresses the audio to save space on the disc, but some of the original audio information is lost in the process. It is the most common form of 5. Although commonly used to refer to 5.
This version of Dolby surround sound has an extra rear channel encoded into the two surround left and right channels to create a 6. Like Dolby Digital, DTS encoding is limited to a maximum of six audio channels and it compresses the audio to make the footprint on the disc smaller.
However, in reality, the actual bitrate on the disc is often lower than the maximum.
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