Audio Questions
I'm using optical out instead of HDMI for audio. How should I set my audio output settings, PCM or Bitstream?
Set it to Bitstream.
Why?
Bitstream will send the raw digital audio without processing out of the DVD player so your receiver can process it. Whereas, with PCM the player will convert everything to and output as 2 channel audio.
What are the audio formats that Blu-Ray supports?
Linear PCM (LPCM)
Dolby Digital (DD) -
Dolby Digital Plus (DD+)
Dolby TrueHD
DTS Digital Surround
DTS-HD
Which one is best?
Not touching that one, but I will say that in general, lossless compressed sound can sound better than lossy compressed sound. Personally, I'm betting that DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD sound better than regular Dolby Digital and regular DTS.
If I want DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD surround sound, can I use the optical out?
No, only the HDMI cable can carry the various higher bandwidth audio signals.
Why?
The interface is the limiting factor here, as there is no Toslink interface designed to accomodate multichannel PCM. Another reason is that Toslink lacks HDCP (copy protection).
http://www.ramelectronics.net/howto-av.ep#truehd