Looks like Lionsgate has removed all lossless audio from rental disks. There are several threads all over the place on the topic. Not sure if other studios have followed the same practice. I rented Hunger Games off an Apple TV so that's why I didn't notice it there.
Poor sound from rental Blu-Ray discs
Hi all, I'm back to the 'Gon after an absence. I just bought a Samsung 55" LED LCD 3D TV and Samsung Blu-Ray 3D disc player. My pre-pro is a Sherwood Newcastle P-965 without HDMI. The Blu-Ray player only has HDMI out and coaxial digital audio out (no analog out) so I am using the coaxial audio out into the pre-pro.
Here's the problem. When I play a standard rental DVD from Netflix, the audio sounds fine, multi-channel surround like I am used to. When I play a purchased Blu-Ray 3D disc, the audio is also fine. When I play a rental Blu-Ray disc from Netflix, the audio sounds horrible -- like monaural, or possibly center channel only, going through 7 speakers. There is no background music or ambiance or sound effects -- the movie sounds eerily quiet except for dialog.
I went into the Samsung Blu-Ray player's audio menu and tried all the settings: outputting as PCM vs. bitstream unprocessed vs. bitstream re-processed into Dolby or DTS; multi-channel compatible vs. downmixed into stereo; and downsampling on (48 kHz) or off (96 kHz). The best results were bitstream unprocessed, multi-channel compatible, downsampling off, with the pre-pro set to "Auto" decoding. This works fine for standard DVD or purchased Blu-Ray, but as mentioned, rental Blu-Ray discs sound horrible, like they are monaural.
The Samsung dealer says that rental Blu-Ray discs from Netflix do not offer lossless audio, even through HDMI. Can anyone confirm this? Is that why the audio sounds so poor on rental Blu-Ray rental discs?
One final complicating factor is that my pre-pro has been having faults recently, so it is probably time to get a new HDMI 1.4 pre-pro anyway. But I would still like to know why the Blu-Ray rental discs sound so bad when the standard DVDs and purchased Blu-Rays discs sound fine.
Here's the problem. When I play a standard rental DVD from Netflix, the audio sounds fine, multi-channel surround like I am used to. When I play a purchased Blu-Ray 3D disc, the audio is also fine. When I play a rental Blu-Ray disc from Netflix, the audio sounds horrible -- like monaural, or possibly center channel only, going through 7 speakers. There is no background music or ambiance or sound effects -- the movie sounds eerily quiet except for dialog.
I went into the Samsung Blu-Ray player's audio menu and tried all the settings: outputting as PCM vs. bitstream unprocessed vs. bitstream re-processed into Dolby or DTS; multi-channel compatible vs. downmixed into stereo; and downsampling on (48 kHz) or off (96 kHz). The best results were bitstream unprocessed, multi-channel compatible, downsampling off, with the pre-pro set to "Auto" decoding. This works fine for standard DVD or purchased Blu-Ray, but as mentioned, rental Blu-Ray discs sound horrible, like they are monaural.
The Samsung dealer says that rental Blu-Ray discs from Netflix do not offer lossless audio, even through HDMI. Can anyone confirm this? Is that why the audio sounds so poor on rental Blu-Ray rental discs?
One final complicating factor is that my pre-pro has been having faults recently, so it is probably time to get a new HDMI 1.4 pre-pro anyway. But I would still like to know why the Blu-Ray rental discs sound so bad when the standard DVDs and purchased Blu-Rays discs sound fine.
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- 13 posts total
- 13 posts total