[cossix]

Somewhat of an odd question but I have a bunch of Dolby and DTS movies on a HDD encoded in 5.1 or 7.1 and I'm wondering what is the best way to play them through my receiver. My laptop doesn't have HDMI, only VGA, but my receiver (Denon AVR-S530BT) supports USB storage inputs. I don't have a Blu-ray player yet but plan on getting a native 4K capable one. Is there an easy way to play back my movie collection and retain the surround sound encoding?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Somewhat of an odd question but I have a bunch of Dolby and DTS movies on a HDD encoded in 5.1 or 7.1 and I'm wondering what is the best way to play them through my receiver. My laptop doesn't have HDMI, only VGA, but my receiver (Denon AVR-S530BT) supports USB storage inputs. I don't have a Blu-ray player yet but plan on getting a native 4K capable one. Is there an easy way to play back my movie collection and retain the surround sound encoding?

USB can transmit 5.1 digital but if your receiver only has USB for storage then use an external drive, not a laptop, as the latter won't have drivers to run it but the receiver firmware should be able to read the HDD.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Somewhat of an odd question but I have a bunch of Dolby and DTS movies on a HDD encoded in 5.1 or 7.1 and I'm wondering what is the best way to play them through my receiver. My laptop doesn't have HDMI, only VGA, but my receiver (Denon AVR-S530BT) supports USB storage inputs. I don't have a Blu-ray player yet but plan on getting a native 4K capable one. Is there an easy way to play back my movie collection and retain the surround sound encoding?

The Asus Xonar USB sound card can output 5.1 audio (compressed) from it's optical output port.
The Denon can uncompress the 5.1 digital audio signal.

 

[cossix]

USB can transmit 5.1 digital but if your receiver only has USB for storage then use an external drive, not a laptop, as the latter won't have drivers to run it but the receiver firmware should be able to read the HDD.

Alright, I'll test it with my external HDD and see if it at least plays the movie. I only have 2.1 set up currently and I'm working on buying the rest of the setup so I can't test the surround yet but I'd assume if the movie plays in stereo from the HDD via USB then it should have no issue playing Dolby Atmos or DTS

 

[cossix]

The Asus Xonar USB sound card can output 5.1 audio (compressed) from it's optical output port.
The Denon can uncompress the 5.1 digital audio signal.

If USB doesn't work for me, perhaps that will!

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Alright, I'll test it with my external HDD and see if it at least plays the movie. I only have 2.1 set up currently and I'm working on buying the rest of the setup so I can't test the surround yet but I'd assume if the movie plays in stereo from the HDD via USB then it should have no issue playing Dolby Atmos or DTS

You can test if surround theoretically is working even on 2.1. Set the receiver to surround and select 5.1 on the movie file (if it has selectable 2.0 and 5.1). If the dialogue practically disappears it's running 5.1 - not that it actually should disappear, but you have no center channel, so in your case that's one way to at least test it before you get the center and surrounds.

 

[cossix]

So I did some testing and it turns out the USB input on the front does not support video, only audio. I had another idea though - putting the files onto my laptop and sending them through the Mini DisplayPort to the Reciever's HDMI input. Would this work?

P. S. My girlfriend thinks I'm silly (she wanted me to clarify)

 

[ProtegeManiac]

So I did some testing and it turns out the USB input on the front does not support video, only audio. I had another idea though - putting the files onto my laptop and sending them through the Mini DisplayPort to the Reciever's HDMI input. Would this work?

AFAIK display port at best carries 2.0 audio, unlike HDMI that can carry 7.1 to and fro (ie, ARC). Even if the receiver takes digital surround that way the laptop sending it out via display port isn't sending out surround audio to begin with.

Your cheapest option right now is a Bluray player that can read those digital files from a USB drive. Failing that, a NUC or used MacMini.

 

[cossix]

AFAIK display port at best carries 2.0 audio, unlike HDMI that can carry 7.1 to and fro (ie, ARC). Even if the receiver takes digital surround that way the laptop sending it out via display port isn't sending out surround audio to begin with.

Your cheapest option right now is a Bluray player that can read those digital files from a USB drive. Failing that, a NUC or used MacMini.

Bleh, I'm just trying to avoid buying new copies of movies but it's not the end of the world if I have to invest in a Blu ray player (which I was gonna buy eventually anyway)

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Bleh, I'm just trying to avoid buying new copies of movies but it's not the end of the world if I have to invest in a Blu ray player (which I was gonna buy eventually anyway)

If you buy from a physical store make sure to bring your movies on a storage device and test if they run there, better if they have surround set up also. Even if not a proper one like the HT section in electronics stores - just to check if sound comes out of all speakers and the center is playing mostly dialogue.