On today ’s episode of You Asked : sentence to hold in the pulse onBlu - rayagain — how ’s it doing ? Not dead yet , but how much longer has it pose ? And what has that grow to do with the sad state of affairs with Blu - ray player ? Also , how to connect a turntable or any other analog audio twist to the Sony Bravia Theater Quad ? And does Samsung ’s best soundbar support Dolby Vision ?
Checking in on Blu-ray
We start with a question from John Siracusa , who has been place this doubt in , on and off , for about a yr . John update his A / V setup in 2022 and was dismayed to learn that so many major electronics brands had ditched Blu - ray player . It was between super premium - clobber from Oppo and Magnetar , or Panasonic and Sony . There are no real budget - favorable players left . And he was further dismayed to see that the so - called “ current ” Blu - ray players , even the Panasonic UB820 K that he buy , were really several year old and running software that feel like it came from the 1990s , making the player seem even older , even though they fetch very modern , premium price . The question ends up being about whether we can expect better in the near future tense .
The little answer to your inquiry is that I do n’t consider we can expect much estimable , and I do n’t mean we are choke to get to blame Sony and Panasonic . But let ’s start by recognizing that 4 K Blu - ray do offer the best possible photo and audio quality . This is not debatable . I ’d even go so far as to say that hatful of people could tell the difference between a 4 K Blu - ray and the same contentedness off a streaming inspection and repair if they saw both side by side . But the issue is n’t about whether 4 honey oil Blu - light beam is visibly ranking . The problem is that not very many people manage enough to keep the Blu - ray actor market invigorated .
We live in a good - enough society . high-pitched - character streaming count pretty big to most folk , with 4 K resolution , HDR , and improving fleck rate and bit depth . But setting aside the quality for a moment , streaming is manner more commodious .
If we see at disc sales , they are still in an dynamic decline . Especially DVD . You ’d be shocked to bed how farsighted DVD has clung to life . And if disc gross sales are decline , so , too , are record role player sale .
The software package part – the part you interact with ? That ’s being run by a chip that is not at all powerful . Those splintering ca n’t ladder a modernized UI , even if someone wanted to make one . Manufacturers would need to sprain to a more hefty chipset that would have to work with the participant . And then they ’d have to target a handsome enough ordering for these Modern parts so they did n’t cost an arm and a ramification . And then they are on the hook for selling a gang of premium players that will collect dust because of declining player gross revenue .
It ’s tough being an enthusiast . I palpate that every sidereal day .
How to connect a turntable to a Bravia Theater Quad
Praveen from India write in that he ’d care to connect his lazy Susan to his Sony Bravia Theater Quad , mark the challenge is that the Theater Quad only consent HDMI .
So Praveen is going to need one box seat to do this . But for anyone else thinking of doing the same , you may require two boxes . Praveen has the Audio Technica LP60X , which happens to have a built - in phono - pre - amp – but if your turntable does n’t have a built - in phono pre - amp , you will need one .
Then you want an analog - to - digital convertor box that takes analogue audio , digitalise it , and spits it out via HDMI . You that you need to get an analog - to - digital convertor that takes an analog audio or video signal and converts it to digital for HDMI production — do n’t get it backward , there are a lot of box that do the reversal .
I would spend a few buck on a comme il faut ADC , because that rebirth has everything to do with the quality you will get . And because the Theater Quad only has one HDMI comment , I would suggest you extend the turntable sign out of that box , via HDMI , into one of your boob tube ’s inputs , and then let the TV ’s ARC or eARC connexion spit the sound recording out to the Quad . That , or you will need another corner in the form of an HDMI whipper , so you may switch between television sound and your turntable audio .
Samsung soundbars and Dolby Vision support
Zoraver want to acknowledge if the Samsung Q990D ’s HDMI port wine support Dolby Vision on non - Samsung TVs .
Well , living ? No . Pass it along , though ? Yes , they do . travel by along a signal in a soundbar does n’t require exceptional ironware . It can be as round-eyed as taking in a signal , tapping it for use , and then glide by that same signal along . What Samsung wo n’t “ support ” is processing that Dolby Vision signal once it has come at its destination . In the vitrine of Dolby Vision , that ’s a TV , and Samsung TVs do n’t support Dolby Vision processing . So the Q990D will pass by along a sign with Dolby Vision — but that ’s all it does . It just passes it right along to the next matter to mete out with .
