what is 5.1 decoder?

[ashishn]

I was reading review of KISS DP-1000 DVD Player at http://reviews.hi-jack.net/dp-1000_review/index_kiss_1000.htm. it mentions "Dolby Digital/MPEG 5.1 Digital Output" in the specs and then in the "cons" section, says no "No Dolby 5.1 decoder"

What is the difference and what is S/PDIF used for?

I am looking for a decent DVD player with DivX support and 5.1 support so that I can connect 5.1 speakers directly. I will take it to India so "decent" also means less problem as no support will be available

cheers,
Ashish

[waheed]

Ok, ive not read the review of the dvd player cos when i click on the link it says page not found.

"No 5.1 Dolby decoder" means that the dvd player has not got a decoder for decoding 5.1 dolby digital audio. thus, you will need speakers that have in built 5.1 dolby decoders.

S/PDIF stands for Sony/PhillipsDigitalInterFace and is used to send digital audio stream to the speakers. ie, your audio streams is not decoded and is passed through to the speakers. Again, you will need spekaers with in built 5.1 dolby decoder.

digital output on the other hand basically means the same as sending digital audio but with the decoding done by the dvd player.

because the link you provided is not working, i cant really say much more, however, most dvd players can decode stereo 2.0 dolby but not multichannel 5.1 dolby so im assuming that this may be the case for this dvd player.

if you dont have 5.1 dolby decoder in built in your speakers, you will need to look for an alternative dvd player.

hope this helps!!

[adam]

I think any recently made DVD player will support "Dolby Digital/MPEG 5.1 Digital Output." that player just doesn't have a built in decoder. Most dvd players don't. You will need a separate receiver, I think that's what waheed meant. This is the standard setup for a home theatre. Most people don't use onboard decoders in the players, just because not as many players have them and the quality is probably not as good as a separate unit unless you get expensive equipment. To find a divx player that also has an onboard 5.1 decoder? Might be difficult.

I thought S/PDIF was more for incoming signals, like streaming audio to your player from your pc. If you want to send a digital signal from your player, typically to your receiver, you'd use the optical out.

Where are you located now? Looking real quick online I think India uses PAL. If you are in a region that uses NTSC then you should really wait to buy a player because it probably won't even work over there, in that your player might not be able to output PAL or PAL-60Hz.

[ashishn]

Ok, I got the difference now.

I am in UK right now and have searched a lot on this site as well amazon for a not so expensive plyer with DivX. I think DP-1000 or Pioneer DV-575 are good ones. Toshiba SD340 on Amazon is a good price but it doesnt seems to be a popular one.

Sorry, registration is required for that page. here is the copy. I have attached the image of back of player.

KiSS DP-1000 Review
The DP-1000 is referred to as a little player in a point of view, but it's capabilities match
almost the DP-500, except for the Network. The network connection is absent so this player
requires you to feed Discs with DivX media or music and pictures.

This review is based on FW 2.8.3!
Future Firmware version can change this review completely!

To have an idea of how small this player is, let's compare it with an A4 sized paper.
You can see the size is a little bigger then A4 sized paper which is really small.



The player is best compared with the DP-450, based on Sigma's 8500 chip
and has the same functionality as the DP-450.

A good thing, this player features much for it's size:

• Full DVD/MPEG-4/DivX®/XviD/CD/MP3/Ogg Vorbis/CD-RW/DVD+-RW compatibility
• JPEG Picture CD viewing
• Progressive Scan Video Out
• Time Search
• Playback Control: Play/Pause/Stop/FF/RW/NEXT/PREV
• Repeat Playback
• Slow Motion
• Title/chapter select
• Parental lock, Multi Language, Multi Subtitle, Multi Angle
• Remote Control
• TV Type (PAL and NTSC)
• Configuration Setup Menu
• Aspect Ratio (4:3 Pan and Scan, 4:3 Letter Box and 16:9 Wide)
• S-Video Output
• Composite Video Output
• Component Output
• Dolby Digital, MPEG Audio Decoding
• Dolby Digital/MPEG 5.1 Digital Output
• S/PDIF Outputs
• Analogue stereo


Back Picture of KiSS DP-1000



Biggest things we miss
Even with its many impressive features, the DP-1000 isn't the best choice for high-end display owners.
The current DP-1000 model uses a SCART connection for high quality video output as do the other models from KiSS.
Popular in Europe, SCART is practically non-existent in North America.
What we miss is also a DVI connection. (Also on the other models)
A Scart to component cable (bought seperately) can serve as connection to high-End Displays
RGBHV (VGA) would offer the best quality.
We'd like to see the same model one day with component and DVI video outputs which greatly will
improve quality of the player.

The DP-1000 suffered from some bugs that already got fixed in the current firmware but the PSU (Power Supply Unit)
problem (makes noice in stand-by mode) and the lack of a power button are two immediate threats to customer
satisfaction.

Several movies can freeze the player (don't happen that often) which require you to pull the plug,
where other players have a power button. What some might experience as "cool" are the two buttons in front,
which give blue lights... If watching movies in dark rooms, they give too much light...



Region free option is included.
For that, you have to access the Hidden Menu with pressing the following combination on your remote:

Eject - Clear - 2 - 7 - 6


Inside The Player!


Pros:
- It's made by KiSS, really as far as I know, only the second company that is working on adding new features,
not just re-releasing generic chipset patches with own backgrounds like other companies do.
- Very quiet DvD drive (important when enjoying a movie)
- Multimedia file support (Many supported types play very well)
- Firmware 2.8.0 (improves the player tremendously)
- Superb menu Structure (Design pov) (better then all other brands we've seen yet)
- Region Free by default (Hidden Menu)

Con:
- Uses a European standard for high-end video output, size of the player
- No Dolby 5.1 decoder
- FF/RW on MP3 not supported
- Time Searching in SVCD buggy (or not functioning)
- NO support for MP3 v2 tags.
- Some make noise on PSU (RMA)
- Lack of Power Button
- Blocks once in a while
- Original dvd's and cd's also cause skipping sometimes.
- There's 2MB and 4MB versions!!

Mpeg-Playcenter Advice:
At a price around 175 Euro, this is one of the good players (not cheap but good).
The quality of hardware used in combination with the features is correct however
I rather saw a price around 150 Euro...

The player is one of the top notch players available today without network.

Buy?
If all you want is a good player without HDD and all that network functionality, yes!
Although the list of "cons" is quiet long and might give a bad idea about the player,
the list of things speaking "for" the player, is very long... so yes, definately worth the buy.

[cor1]

1. SPDIF outputs ENCODED digital audio just as it is on the DVD over a wire. Only difference from the optical is the transmission medium (and of course the connector type which can restrict DVD-receiver mating). Don't ask which is the better of the two! There are serious flame wars on almost all Audio-Video forums caused by this. For normal people both are fine.

2. ENCODED 5.1 output is NOT sound! If you input it in a speaker - via an amp - you get bugger all. Most DVD players will output a 2 channel sound (to send to your TV or to a stereo amp if you want bigger speakers). They do that by DECODING the digital stream and down-sampling the 5.1 into stereo. They will also have an SPDIF and/or optical (a.k.a. Toslink) connector (for output only). This meant to be input in a Receiver which will DECODE the 5.1 (or 6.1) and has its own 6 discrete outputs with sound (5 are usually already amplified) that you connect to your 5 speakers and to the subwoofer.

3. Some - proportionally few - players will have a 5.1 decoder built in. You recognize them by the fact that they have at least 7 pairs of sound output connectors (6 for the 5.1 and another pair for stereo). Thus you not need a receiver. It may seem like economy but is it? The sound they output is NOT AMPLIFIED! So you need to buy a 5 or 6 channel amp (depending if your subwoofer is ACTIVE i.e. has its own amp).

4. While there are such amplifiers on the market, they are rare. Why? Because nowadays Receivers (DECODER + AMP + other stuff irrelevant here) are plentifull. They start from cheap under £200 ones and go to not so cheap £000's.

5. Another way to use a DVD player with its own decoder - but no AMP remember! - is to use powered speakers. For "room" viewing there aren't many of those but PC speakers are an example of this.

6. So, if you want to use surround sound your best bet is:
- the best DVD player you can afford WITHOUT a decoder
- a Receiver (my advice is buy one that has both Dolby and DTS and also there's more than one "flavour" of each of those e.g. Dolby 5.1 and Dolby 6.1).
- passive MATCHED speakers (the 5 part of the 5.1)
- active subwoofer

7. Do your research on the web before you buy ANY of the above. More expensive TENDS to translate in better quality but not always. Look for "professional" reviews (magazine web-sites) but remember these people do not pay for them and they sure as hell don't take them at home for 2-3 years. Also look for real users feed-back on all of these. I recommend http://www.avsforum.com/ but there are lots more.

Hope this helps.

[cor1]

OK, you posted the image and review while I was typing.

This player CANNOT be connected direct to 5 speakers + subwoofers.

But it does have both coaxial and optical digital outputs (leftmost outputs) so you can buy any reciever (though nowadys most of those have both also).

But you see what I mean about "professional" reviewers?

On the "we didn't like" part they say:

... We'd like to see the same model one day with component and DVI video outputs ...

Well, it already has component outputs. These are the 3 ones next to the SCART in the image and it also lists Component Outputs in the Features list above the image. Go figure...

[Madz]

Just to fing in 2¢: The last time I saw players w/ built-in decoders was around the time DVD hit the market. Just prior they were selling "Dolby-Digital-Ready" receivers. They'd do Pro Logic and whatnot right out-of-the-box, but required an external decoder or player/decoder combo to do DD. A migration technique back when DD was still quite expensive? These days, you can buy one of those "home-theater-in-a-box" kits, set it up, and you have DD.

As for coaxial (sp/dif) vs. toslink, to me it's use whatever your equipment has. My DD receiver has 3 sets of both input-types, but my settop DVD's only have coaxial, so that's what I'm limited to. My CD & LD players are both toslink-only, but my MD recorder (was big into MD about 5 years ago), has both types of I/O's.

[waheed]

Ashishn, you may want to consider getting a external decoder. Check out the Creative DDTS-100 Decoder, capable of decoding 5.1, 6.1 and even 7.1 Surround Audio. It can even decode the newer 6.1 surround sounds Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES (Discrete and Matrix), though you will need analogue connection for 6.1 or 7.1 surround.

see:

http://www.savastore.com/products/product.asp?catalog_name=Savastore&product_id=102743...pid=45&tid=201

[ashishn]

Hi cor1,

Your response is really useful and I agree demand for new features from professional reviewers will never stop.

I will go step by step first with buying DVD player that satisfies visuals first and then to sound.

I have decided to go ahead with Toshiba SD340.

Will post the review soon.

Ashish