Any new developments for Parasound at the HE show?

[audioarchitect]

Everyone. Its like beating a dead horse, but has anyone received any news from Parasound regarding D3 or any upgrades to the Halo processors. Also any announcements planned for the HE show in June?

I personally dont understand their approach with this at all, but with the release of the NAD Master series and everything Anthem is doing, Halo has been has fallen WAY behind. I still love the stuff, but its becoming an increasingly harder sell. Anyone help here?

[Chris D]

We may hear information this weekend, from what I hear. If I get any public information I can share, I'll let everybody know right away.

Up until this month, Parasound was still relatively keeping pace at the front of the pack with capabilities for Parasound processors. All the newer stuff was still more minor and "nice", like Room EQ software, not major capabilities.

However, I now understand that Anthem has the capability for a HD-DVD player to play a disc with new high-def sound formats like Dolby Digital Plus, the player to do the sound decoding and processing, and send the decoded sound signal via PCM over HDMI to the Anthem processor. This is the first I've heard of one of the new HD audio formats being kept purely in the digital realm until it leaves the processor to the speaker.

Note that Parasound can still (and always will be able to) do this through the multichannel analog inputs, but my dream is still for Parasound processors to be able to receive high-res audio via a digital connection like HDMI. (and ideally decode it in the processor, too) We want to eliminate the D/A and A/D conversions required.

I haven't heard about NAD, is this what they're doing too?

FWIW, Parasound is not listed on the "Partial List of Exhibitors For HE 2006" on the show website.

[audioarchitect]

Anthem is hyping up their new processors with lots of misleading information. Their processor will not process the new surround formats in native format. The new surround formats can only be processed in the HD-dvd and Blu-Ray player at this point. What the Anthem will do is process a downsampled PCM mix from the player and apply bass management, delay, etc. Its kind of like downsampling DSD to PCM.

HDMI 1.3 is the ONLY way to process the uncompressed formats, which is still not finalized.

I think the Halo line sounds great but I think they NEED to confirm their stance on the future of their processors. Whether or not they are actually staying with the same architecture or re-designing from the ground up. Plus there are newer technologies that can be utilized such as upsampling circuits and more powerful processing core.

[Peter Nielsen]

I think the Halo line sounds great but I think they NEED to confirm their stance on the future of their processors. Whether or not they are actually staying with the same architecture or re-designing from the ground up. Plus there are newer technologies that can be utilized such as upsampling circuits and more powerful processing core.

My best guess is that they're staying with Vinci Labs and whatever their latest innovation might be... The Halo C1/C2 is already one generation behind Vinci's latest gen 7. Evidently Parasound is waiting for gen 8 and skipping one generation (makes sense!).

Peter

[LEVESQUE]

I'm using the new HD-DVD player Toshiba HD-A1 with only 1 HDMI cable to my Anthem D2 right now.

New audio formats are passing, AND the D2 is performing true 1080i inverse telecine to 1080p (Gennum VXP chip) with better results then the Lumagen HDPPro and DVDO IScan VP30 I was also using.

No hype.

[Chris D]

Right. We're still not at the point in the industry of the IDEAL--that high-res audio is passed without loss over a digital connection (i.e. HDMI) to a processor where it is fully decoded and processed as necessary. But it's close, and it's coming, so companies need to establish a plan.

[LEVESQUE]

Chris.

There is no loss using HDMI 1.1 with the new HD audio formats. Audioarchitect doesn't have a clue. There is no "downsampling" at all.

Saying "Its kind of like downsampling DSD to PCM" doesn't make any sense.

The hi-rez audio is fully decode in the player, and process the way it should be in the D2. No downrezzing, no loss, no D/A conversion. If the player can read the disc, decode it, and send it as PCM, the receiving end doesn't care what it started out as. The D2 support up to 8 channels of 96KHz/24bit digital audio over HDMI 1.1

[audioarchitect]

This is a Parasound forum. Just because you received a killer dealer on your Anthem gear by B-testing it and hyping it on all the forums doesnt mean everyone buys into it.

The is no reason to add an onboard video processor with 1.1 because 1.3 is the ONLY digital format for the future, and will require a hardware upgrade. Plus adding all these components degrades audio quality by raising SNR.

HDMI 1.1 does not pass the new formats in native format. It is converted to PCM over HDMI 1.1, just like most DVD players convert SACD's native format DSD to PCM to apply bass management. This is reality.

[LEVESQUE]

AudioArchitect. You need to read a bit on the subject. You really don't have a clue about what you are talking about.

I just read that on another forum. And it"s the way it is for everyone except you... :roll:

"HDMI v1.3 will allow you to transmit DD+, DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD in their native bitstream form. It's pointless to send those bitstreams to a receiver unless you have the appropriate decoders built into the receiver. But it's useless to have those decoders built into receivers if you don't have HDMI 1.3 to transmit the bitstreams. The two technologies, though different, are tied together.

The alternative is to decode/unpack the bitstream in the player, converting it to PCM digital audio. This step is exactly the same as it would be if the decoding were done in the receiver. Once converted to PCM, the data can be sent to the receiver using current HDMI 1.1 connection.

As for sound quality, there will be no difference whether the decoding is done in the player vs in the receiver. I mean, the decoder chip in the receiver is not going to find any hidden information in a TrueHD bitstream that the decoder chip in the player somehow missed.

Imagine someone e-mailed me a spreadsheet as zipped (compressed) file that I needed to forward to you. I could unzip the file and e-mail it to you or I could simply send it to you in zipped form. Whether I unzipped it on my computer or you unzipped it on your computer, would it change the numbers in that spreadsheet?

You don't have to wait for HDMI 1.3 in order to hear the full resolution of the HD audio codecs. You can do that with current HDMI 1.1 technology. The soundtracks will simply be uncompressed in the player instead of the receiver."

I think it's pretty clear. And it's the reality. No hype. Just the way it is. Plain facts.

[Chris D]

... which is right about the time I blow the whistle, throw the penalty flag, and say "play nice, everybody."

[Chetk]

So the question begs to be asked: LEVESQUE, how much better does this HDMI 1.1 PCM method sound than the old Dolby Digital or DTS?

[bhuskins]

It all depends on the source content...

[Chris D]

Hi, Brent! :later:

[bhuskins]

Hello...

By the way...Parasound made it official and they are accepting orders from Dealers for the D200 and D3 and they WILL be shipping them the last week of June. This was in an official announcement for dealers so I can now spread the news.

Stay tuned for more.