This whole HDMI bitrate vs 7.1 uncompressed is driving me nuts?!?! What is the best/correct ...

I apply DTS:Neo 6 Cinema to incoming 2.0 PCM streams all the time on my receiver. It can apply Dolby Pro Logic II as well, but I don't use it as often. I'd find it hard to believe that your receiver couldn't expand 5.1 PCM into 7.1 using something similar.
The One could simply be matrixing 5.1 into 7.1 for games if it is set to 7.1. If you're worried about it, set it 5.1 and then let your receiver expand it. Since you have a seperate Blu Ray player, you could just leave the One on 5.1 all the time if you
never use it for 7.1 sources. You're only going to get basic Dolby Digital or DTS output from the Xbox One anyway.

Uncompressed audio may not be as critical for games, but it isn't hurting anything. All audio files in the game are going to be decoded into PCM and mixed as necessary by the Xbox before being sent to your TV, selecting the bitstream process just adds another
step of re-encoding it in Dolby or DTS before being sent to your receiver. It's not saving the Xbox from doing anything, it's adding more work.

 

I don't agree with a few of the posts on here regarding Bitstream & PCM... PCM is two channel uncompressed audio while bitstream is the RAW signal as it's being stripped from the source material - you should pretty much ALWAYS select bitstream - as that
will give you the native RAW data stream. Example: If you buy movies on "Xbox Video" from the Xbox Store and it's saaved on your Xbox in HD - if you're set to PCM the audio will be down-mixed to 2.0 and your decoder (Surround Receiver) with then have to sum-to-mono
to create a center channel audio as well as fabricate surround data / however: if you set your Xbox to bitstream then your decoder (Surround Receiver) will get discrete muti-channel audio / and that is a HUGE advantage

 

Why are you saying PCM is two channel? It can be two channel, but it can also be 5.1 or 7.1. Number of channels is independent of the format. PCM is limited to 2.0 over optical due to bandwidth, but HDMI can now support up to thirty some channels of uncompressed
audio.

If you are running an HDMI cable directly from your Xbox to your receiver, there is never a reason to select Bitstream. Only select Bitstream if you have to use an optical cable to get audio to your receiver.

Source materials can be many different formats: Dolby, DTS, PCM, etc. The Xbox is going to convert all audio it receives, from any source, into PCM. You can't change that, no matter what you select. It has to convert everything to PCM because it has
to be able to mix audio.

After the Xbox converts all incoming audio to PCM and mixes it, then you can select what format the Xbox uses to send the audio to your TV or receiver. Selecting PCM makes the Xbox send out the audio without any further processing and preserves all the
quality of the original signals. Selecting Bitstream makes the Xbox compress the audio before sending it to your receiver. This causes data to be lost and degrades audio quality.

Your receiver is going to have to convert the bitstream back into PCM anyway. All receivers have to convert all incoming digital audio to PCM before being converted to analog. There is simply no good reason to add the extra steps of having your Xbox compress
the audio and have your receiver decode it. You gain nothing and lose audio quality.

The only reason to select Bitstream is if you can't get surround uncompressed to your receiver. That means if you are using an optical cable directly from your Xbox to your receiver or if you are running audio over HDMI to your TV and then over an optical
cable to your receiver.

Optical gives the choice of 5.1 compressed audio or 2.0 PCM. Most people prefer 5.1 compressed because of the extra channels; 5.1 compressed is the better option for surround sources. With the choice between Dolby and DTS being whatever matches the source.
Dolby is the better choice overall because it is a far more common source audio. 2.0 PCM would be the better choice with native stereo sources though, so you don't lose any audio data.

 

That is absolutely incorrect. PCM is the raw, uncompressed audio and certainly can be discrete multi-channel 5.1/7.1/etc. Bitstream is multichannel (usually) PCM audio that has been compressed to a single bitstream using a lossy codec (Dolby Digital or
DTS) or a lossless codec (Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio). That bitstream is ultimately decompressed to multichannel PCM (though it will not be quite as good as the original if a lossy codec was used) to be played through your speakers. Usually, your receiver
will be the device decompressing the bitstream from, for example, a Dolby Digital DVD soundtrack; but because the Xbox One mixes together audio sources for Snap etc., it has to decompress all incoming bitstream sources to make the mix. If you set the Xbox
One to output bitstream, you are needlessly (if your receiver has HDMI) forcing the Xbox One to compress the multichannel PCM audio mix to a bitstream and send it to the receiver, which will just decompress it to multichannel PCM again. Among other things,
this wastes processing power and may cause A/V sync issues.

 

(Above is in response to Quazar Kid. Koop 10010 is correct.)

 

Excellent, Thanks for the correction of my original post - I was schooled in Toslink (Optical) cable so PCM is the DEVIL there... and Bitstream is the desired method. I see the error of my ways now and have researched the HDMI capabilities which are far
beyond my original understanding of what HDMI was capable of (So... as you were and pardon my interruption)

 

One problem is when watching tv through the x box if the broadcast is in stereo, like for a non hd channel, even though you have 7.1 uncompressed selected, nothing is being output by the surrounds or rear surrounds. There is no pro logic like matrixing
of sources less than 7.1 channels like your receiver would do if it was receiving the raw bitstream data from the xbox, which it isn't. It makes me want to plug my converter box back into my avr instead of the xbox

 

To XBOX One Team,

I am very disappointed to see that I have to select a CODEC even after selecting BITSTREAM audio out. :-(

The Blu-ray movies which provide Dolby True HD and DTS Master HD surround sound is now downgraded to Dolby Digital or DTS by XBOX one. This is really a very bad design. I understand that this needs to be done when "Snap" or other specific XBOX feature/application
is in use, but, it cannot be very difficult to implement a logic to allow pure RAW BITSTREAM audio out when "Snap" and like apps are not in use. Now, this current situation is making me switch off my XBOX One and turn on Samsung Blu-ray player just to watch
Blu-ray movies. :-(

If you really want XBOX One to take the center stage in peoples' entertainment hub then you gotta fix this. As said in the previous posts even PS3 does it, how it is supposed to be.

Thanks in advance and I hope you won't disappoint the ones who believed and invested in your product.

#XBOXONE #XBOX #XBOXONEDISAPPOINTED #XBOXONEBISTREAM #BISTREAM #XBOXBISTREAM #XBOXCODEC #XBOXONEDESIGN