Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround From Blu-Ray

[Marvindodgers]

I'm thinking of upgrading my DVD player to a Blu-Ray player. I currently use the co-axial sound out of my Pioneer DVD to a Yamaha surround amp (ESP-800) for the centre, rears and sub and use my HiFi amp (venerable Pioneer A-400) looped through the Yamaha to power the main front speakers.
Will this surround set up still work with the Blu-Ray player? I'm looking in particularly at the Sony BDP-S360 which would appear to have the same co-ax out. Is this still pushing out Dolby Digital 5.1?
Any advice would be welcome.

[Thudd]

BluRay Players usually let you select sound output formats. 5.1 is available, plus HD formats if your amp supports them.

[headcase]

Yes it will output DD5.1 in the same way as a DVD player, there is also higher quality 7.1 available from blu-ray but this is only avaiable from the HDMI output and you will of course need a compatable amp to make use of this.

[OldSkoolRS]

If you were to buy a newer amp to take care of HD audio, I'd suggest you do plenty of research and demos as I think you'll have to spend quite a wedge to get the kind of stereo performance that you're used to...even if your amp is 'venerable';)

[IntegraTypeR]

Yes this will work as long as you purchase a Blu Ray player that provides multi-channel analogue outputs (which I think you said the model you're considering does). In this configuration, the Blu Ray performs the decoding from the disc and outputs each channel in analogue to your amp over seperate coax cables (1 per channel). Providing the Blu Ray player supports it, and the disc contains it, you'll get access to Dolby TrueHD and DTS master audio which are the "next generation" HD audio formats - this is because the Blu Ray player understands those formats and knows how to decode them and then output as analogue. In addition to the HD formats, you'll normally also get the "old" Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS soundtracks just in case you don't have the ability to decode the HD formats.

My setup works in that way - BD player connected into previous gen Arcam amp that does not have HDMI or the ability to decode anything newer than DD 5.1 or DTS.

Hope that helps

[Plotloss]

DD will travel fine over a single coax, no need for multichannel analogue ouputs.

[IntegraTypeR]

Ahh - my mistake. I thought the OP was referring to analogue coax outputs not the single digital one. In which case please ignore my post!

[Marvindodgers]

Thanks for everyone's replies. That has certainly answered my questions.