Quote:

---

I've just gotten some clarification on the HDMI 1.3 capabilities of the XA2.

At this point in time the XA2 CANNOT send undecoded Dolby True HD and DTS HD-MA bitstream thru HDMI 1.3 to a receiver that can do the decoding. The recently released 2.0 firmware update does not fix this. A firmware update fix is said to be forthcoming in September.

As previously stated, the XA2 can internally decode Dolby True HD and send it as multichannel PCM thru HDMI or as analog 5.1. It cannot decode DTS HD-MA but it can extract the DTS Core Only data.

The other issue is the authoring process for HD DVD discs. The great majority of HD DVD releases are authored in "Advanced Mode" which forces decoding in the player. The firmware will have to enable a bypass mode to let the player send the audio bitstream if the disc is authored in "Advanced Mode."

On the BluRay side, the only standalone player at this time with HDMI 1.3 is the Samsung BD-P1200. With the current firmware this player also CANNOT pass undecoded Dolby True HD and DTS HD-MA bitstream thru HDMI. It's not known if a future firmware update will enable this in this model.

As for the PS3, it too cannot pass the undecoded bitstreams thru its HDMI 1.3 port. Also, the PS3's HDMI 1.3 transmitter chip is an older model used only for this console and I don't know if it can be firmware upgraded to be able to pass these bitstreams.

All the BluRay players are able to pass uncompressed PCM thru HDMI.

Anyone who's looking to buy the new Onkyo receivers with advanced audio format decoding and HDMI 1.3 would be better off waiting for future models that have the bitstream transmission enabled. Those who already have the XA2 can in the meantime let the player do the decoding and just wait for the firmware update that enables bitstream transmission of the advanced audio formats.

---