How to Set Up a Blu-ray Player for HD Audio and Video

If you are fortunate enough to own a Blu-ray player and HDMI 1.3 or newer AV receiver, then welcome to the wonderful world of HD Audio and Video! You've got the tools to, at the very minimum, enjoy 1080P video with lossless audio via Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD or even the new immersive surround formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

However, if you don't have your Blu-ray player properly set up, you may not be listening to the multi-channel surround track on those Blu-ray discs at all. Even more, you may not be sending out a native 1080p video signal to your display.

This YouTube Video tutorial takes you through the steps of properly configuring your Blu-ray player to ensure you're getting the most out of it.  We assume you've already made the proper connections from your Blu-ray player to your AV receiver and display. In case you didn't, please do so now by connecting an HDMI cable from your Blu-ray player to your AV receiver and then an HDMI cable from the HDMI output of your AV receiver to your display.

Note: The only way to transmit lossless HD audio and 1080p Video from Blu-ray is via HDMI.  You cannot do this with toslink/COAX for audio and thanks to the sunset rule, all recent Blu-ray players only transmit HD video via HDMI.

Blu-ray Player Set Up YouTube Instructional Video

Oppo Blu-ray players are really easy to setup so we used a BDP-105D as the example player in this video. This can be attributed to their excellent OSD navigation menu and user manual, which in my opinion is second to none in the business. The remote control is also great. It’s based on the previous generation players’ remote but with some minor enhancements including hot keys to the Netflix and Vudu options and a few new added features. The remote is fully backlit with the hit of the bottom right button. I would have preferred a sidebar button but that’s a small nit to pick. The “home” button takes you to all of the streaming options including Pandora, Netflix, Vudu, etc. Access to the input source options is just one click away via the “input” button and all of the OSD functions are easily navigated via the central up/down, left/right and enter buttons.

Most Blu-ray players function similarly so you should be able to take our instructions from this video and use them successfully for what ever Blu-ray player you purchase.

Always Verify HD

After you have everything all configured per our YouTube Video guidelines, it's always a good idea to hit the "info" and "audio" buttons on the Blu-ray player remote control to make sure it is actually transmitting HD audio and video from your Blu-ray disc.  Most AV receivers will also have an OSD function that will tell you what type of signal it is receiving so you can check there too. I personally always check this after I start a Blu-ray movie or music concert. The last thing you want is an inferior audio or video experience after you've spent your hard earned dollars on state of the art equipment.

There is a night and day difference between decoding native surround sound vs matrixing a two-channel source and watching native 1080p vs upscaling 480i to 1080p.  Even if the kids or wife nag you for overlaying this info momentarily on the screen at the start of the movie, suck it up and smile that you are all enjoying the wonders of HD audio and video. These are the times so revel in the modern digital age and enjoy the ride!