Is FLAC audio support native?

[cncb]

The specs say that FLAC is supported but is this native without any transcoding on the server (for stereo audio files)? Thanks.

[stanger89]

AFAIK, nothing is ever transcoded for the HD200.

[Taddeusz]

When the HD200 plays anything but AC3 or DTS it just outputs uncompressed PCM audio to your AVR or does a digital to analog conversion for the stereo RCA jacks. If you want to call this transcoding you can, but there is no loss in the process. I have several full albums of ripped DVD-Audio (24bit/88.2kHz & 24bit/96kHz) converted to FLAC and they all play perfectly through the optical input on my AVR in their full digital resolution.

[stanger89]

But that's not what the OP asked, transcoding in this context means being converted from one format (FLAC) to another (MP3) on the server, for example how anything but MPEG-2 is transcoded on the fly for the MVP by the Sage server.

For the HD extenders however, AFAIK, Sage doesn't support transcoding at all, if they play, they're "natively" supported.

[cncb]

Yes, I meant a format conversion on the server. Thanks for the replies.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I have several full albums of ripped DVD-Audio (24bit/88.2kHz & 24bit/96kHz) converted to FLAC and they all play perfectly through the optical input on my AVR in their full digital resolution.

I guess these must be the stereo DVD-Audio tracks since you are using optical. I tried to download some FLAC 5.1 surround samples but the HD200 just plays them as stereo even through HDMI. I would love to be able to turn my DVD-Audio surround tracks into something the HD200 can play in high-res surround (other than the DTS or DD which I can do now).

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by cncb

I guess these must be the stereo DVD-Audio tracks since you are using optical. I tried to download some FLAC 5.1 surround samples but the HD200 just plays them as stereo even through HDMI. I would love to be able to turn my DVD-Audio surround tracks into something the HD200 can play in high-res surround (other than the DTS or DD which I can do now).

The HD200 can't output multi-channel PCM over HDMI. Multi-channel FLAC, AAC, etc all gets converted to stereo before playback.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

The HD200 can't output multi-channel PCM over HDMI. Multi-channel FLAC, AAC, etc all gets converted to stereo before playback.

Do you know if is down-mixed or does it just use the left/right channels as is? Thanks.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by cncb

Do you know if is down-mixed or does it just use the left/right channels as is? Thanks.

Not sure about the details of that. I always make sure my audio is converted to Dolby Digital if it's going to be a problem.