Dolby TrueHD backwards compatibility

[marblecatdog]

Ok so my question is that I'm thinking of buying a blu-ray player soon and I know that many of the new blu-ray disks use Dolby TrueHD (or the DTS-HD audio) but my receiver can only do Dolby Digital or dts 96/24. Is this going to be a problem? I really like surround sound and would be upset if I had to go without, is there a way to get a version my receiver can handle from these kind of blu-ray disks? Also if if matters all my audio singles get transmitted by optical, my reviver doesn't have HDMI (its an older set, but it is still really good sounding and such). Thanks!

 

[americanaudiophile]

All blu-ray discs are backwards compatible to your receiver so that will not be a problem. The digital audio outputs will not send out the HD audio at all. If your receiver has a discrete analog 5.1 or 7.1 input then make sure that the player you get has a set of outputs that would connect there. This way the TrueHD or DTS-HD processing is done in the player not the receiver and you get the better sound without having to buy a new receiver.

 

[marblecatdog]

So the optical connections will work, they just will not transmit the newer HD audio, just the older one like on DVDs right? And my receiver has analog connections, but they are only 5.1 not 7.1, so if I use a blu-ray that has a 7.1 track, do those last two channels just get mixed into the 5.1 channels or what?