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Why doesn’t the TrueHD logo appear on my receiver?

I hear this question a lot so I thought I would address it. “Why doesn’t my receiver say I’m listening to my TrueHD/DTS:HD soundtrack?”

There are a couple of reasons this happens. The first is that you may need to select the high-definition track on the Blu-ray Disc for it to use that track. I don’t know why some movies don’t have the high-res track selected default, but they do this sometimes. This is especially confusing of Dolby TrueHD. For example: The Dark Knight has a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, but the default soundtrack is Dolby DIgital. TrueHD on Blu-ray Disc must feature a standard Dolby Digital core soundtrack. What this means is it will output a normal AC3 5.1 soundtrack if the receiver does not support advanced codecs. This is done automatically. So why did Warner not just include one Dolby TrueHD track as default? A mystery.

Another reason may be the high-res track is a multi-channel LPCM soundtrack. An example is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. These multi-channel PCM soundtracks are never the default soundtrack. Why? Because most legacy receivers and no TV (that I know of) accepts multi-channel LPCM audio. What you would end up with is the left and right channels only, which means you wouldn’t have anything in the voice channel. The default track is usually an AC3 (Dolby Digital) soundtrack.

A lot of the people who ask this have a Playstation 3. The PS3 decodes TrueHD and DTS:HD on board and outputs multi-channel LPCM audio to the receiver. Just read the last paragraph to understand why this could be a problem. But there’s more. Newer receivers do accept muti-channel LPCM audio, and this will appear as “PCM” on the receiver’s display (some say “Multi PCM”). What it basically boils down to is the receiver will only display what it is currently decoding or processing on its front panel. It doesn’t know what the Blu-ray player or PS3 is decoding, it only knows it it recieveing Multi-channel LPCM audio.

How can you make sure your receiver displays the advanced codec logo? Make sure your player can output bitstream audio over HDMI. Your receiver should also have the ability to decode the advanced codecs. Most of the new players do output bitstream audio, but they also decode onboard. You will have to change your settings on the player to enable bitstream output. Check your owner’s manual for details. But do keep in mind that regardless of the logo on the front of your receiver, if you have selected the high-res track and your player decodes it you can rest assured you are listening to the high-res track.

But there is one more wrinkle. I’ve heard some people say their receiver displays the Dolby Pro Logic IIx logo. Why would this happen? A couple paragraphs up I explain that multi-channel LPCM audio into a receiver that doesn’t accept this format will only have left and right channels. Dolby Pro Logic creates a surround-sound effect from stereo sources. This logo would appear if you had stereo LPCM audio entering the receiver. Check your player output settings and make sure it is outputting multi-channel LPCM audio. Check your receiver’s manual to make sure it receivers multi-channel LPCM audio. (Sometimes LPCM is called “PCM”.)

I hope this helps. If you have any questions about specific models refer to your owner’s manual. If you need any more help just let me know.

ZillionTV posed to take streaming media by storm

Watching what you want when you want it has long been the desire of home entertainment fans. The VCR first let families record their favorite programs while they were away, and then the DVD-R had mild popularity (at least in the States). TiVo revolutionized the category, and the cable providers soon followed suit with DVRs. But all of these solutions still limited you to watch what was broadcast on TV.

Now we’re in the midst of a revolution. Streaming videos is becoming ubiquitous with services like Joost and hulu.com. Netflix, Yahoo!, Amazon, VUDU, and Blockbuster are also providing different ways to stream television and movie content over the internet right to your home’s TV. So what makes ZillionTV different?

At first this reminds me of MovieBeam, the short-lived rental service that beamed rental movies right to your home. But it is different now because technology has expanded much in the past three years.

ZillionTV knows it is content that brings users to their service, so they have collected a wide array of content providers to their service even before it launched. Five of the six major Hollywood studios are signed up to provide content to ZillionTV. Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, Fox, and Disney are all on board. This gives them at least a fighting chance now that other services have the studios supporting them.

Another ZillionTV first is that some content will be available free of charge, provided you watch ads. This is already successful through services like hulu.com where the short adverts are unobtrusive. ZillionTV will also allow the user to customize what types of ads they receive.

ZillionTV will also stream 1080i video with the intention to go to 1080p. Sure this is the compressed video that looks about as good as DVD, but it is a start.

A few concerns I have include the cost. The set-top box is free, but it has a sub-$100 activation fee. Does this mean you do not own the box?

I’m also concerned that everything in your home theater how streams video. From your TV to your game console to your Blu-ray player to your AV receiver, how many devices do you need to stream 30 Rock? This is not to mention DirecTV, Dish Network and the cable providers also have video-on-demand competitively priced with these other set-top products.

So will the set-top streaming box last more than a few years? With inexpensive HDTVs from Vizio streaming video right to the display, what good is a box in the middle? It’s just one more remote, and another GUI to learn.

Learn more about ZillionTV.

Roku expands to Amazon

When first released, Roku’s digital video player was marketed and sold by Netflix as the Watch Now player for your TV. Since then Roku has separated themselves from Netflix to tackle other streaming media.

The digital video player still streams Netflix Watch Now content from your instant queue, but now it also allows the user to rent movies from Amazon Video On Demand. Amazon offers over 40,000 movies and TV shows online. Netflix has about 12,000 titles online. Amazon has more big-name titles Netflix doesn’t have rights to stream.



Rentals start at $0.99 for TV programs, and $1.99 for movies. Roku also claims you can purchase films for as little as $5.99, but I don’t know how the little box is supposed to store the content as it only has enough storage to buffer online streams. Perhaps the video streams and stays in your Amazon video library indefinitely. (I wonder what happens when a studio pulls streaming rights from Amazon for a title you “own.”)

This cheap ($99) player looks more attractive every day.