Quoting davidperez:

Quote:
Two other thing, should I still leave the Coax connected to my receiver in case, I buy a blu-ray disk that doesnt offer the uncompressed audio?

There's no reason to leave the Coax.  I would remove it just so you're certain that things are setup correctly.  Your player will do all the work.  If you're not getting sound in some situations, look at how your player is configured (read the manual).  You shouldn't need any other connection.  On my equipment, the player decodes DD+ and TrueHD and converts them to PCM.  Then it sends the PCM stream to the receiver.  For old codecs (DD and DTS), it sends those directly to the receiver and lets the receiver do the decoding.

You'll of course want to configure your receiver as well.  Make sure all the speakers are set for the correct distance, speaker size, any other tweaks you want to make to it.

As for the "noticebly better" part, that depends on a lot of different factors including your speakers, receiver, player, ears, configuration, etc.  I can hear a difference, but not much.  But I also have crappy speakers right now.  And very poor acoustics.  And very untrained ears.  I just know that I like what I hear.  And when I upgrade my speakers at some point, I expect it to get even better.  But no one can quantify how much better it will sound or if you'll even notice the difference.  Just hook it up correctly and know that it's the best it can sound with all the various variables accounted for.

One other thing.  When using Multi-Channel inputs you will not be able to use any sound processing or effects that the receive has.  For example: movie modes, music modes, etc.  You should still have the ability to adjust each channel level indivdiually (front, rear, sub, etc.).  That should be in the setup of your receiver.

Quoting Mark Harrison:

Quote:
Quoting Overseer:

Quote:
One other thing.  When using Multi-Channel inputs you will not be able to use any sound processing or effects that the receive has.  For example: movie modes, music modes, etc.  You should still have the ability to adjust each channel level indivdiually (front, rear, sub, etc.).  That should be in the setup of your receiver.

That I did not know.  Does that depend on the receiver or are they all like that?

Mark,

I am pretty sure that affects most receivers out there, but you'd have to check your owners manual.  I know reading his manual that the Sony doesn't allow it, and the Yamahas (which I own) don't allow it.  Same with the Kenwoods I've owned in the past.

Merry Christmas,
Bill

Then you can always be in my boat.  HD DVD via Xbox 360 and blu-ray via PS3.  Both hooked to Onkyo receiver via HDMI, but according to the manual, the receiver does not process the HDMI it just passes it from the receive to the TV.  So I am stuck with optical

Maybe the booklet lies.  I have the HT-SR800.  It can't be that old.

Quoting Mark Harrison:

Quote:
I honestly have no idea.  If that's what the manual say, it might be true.  I suppose you've tried it to see what happens?

No audio through the receiver... but maybe I am not setting something up correctly.  It's no biggie.