Disclaimer

When this thread was first created, there was no need for HDMI 1.3. The situation is changing slightly. Due to the slow adoption of DTS-HD Master Audio decoding in players, and the recent release of players which can output bistream DTS-HD Master Audio and HDMI 1.3 receivers with DTS-HD Master Audio decoders, it may be desirable in certain situations to get an HDMI 1.3 receiver with the newer audio decoders onboard.

It should be noted, though, that just because a player supports bitstream output doesn't mean it will be able to output bitstream. In the HD DVD world, there's an advanced content flag which, according to what I have read, can't be ignored. The advanced content (interactive audio,) must be mixed by the player. To send bitstream audio, the player would have to encode the audio, after mixing, to something like TrueHD which seems like an unlikely feature in the near future.

It seems Blu-ray will allow for bypassing audio mixing, so Blu-ray owners are more likely to be interested in receivers with decoders, especially if DTS-HD Master Audio becomes more common for soundtracks, and decoding is not being implemented in Blu-ray players.

This post is intended to educate the consumer on what HDMI 1.3 provides, and why you would or would not need it, not to indicate that you should never buy an HDMI 1.3 product.

The situation with DTS-HD Master Audio, and any other bistream audio scenarios appears to be in a state of change, so, as always, caveat emptor.

HDMI 1.3 Audio

Even though there is new a crop of HDMI 1.3 receivers coming out this fall, in many cases you won't need HDMI 1.3 to take advantage of lossless audio such as TrueHD. HD DVD players all have a TrueHD decoder and can output lossless audio via multi-channel PCM over HDMI (MPCM). Utilizing that requires a receiver with HDMI and the ability to handle at least 5.1 MPCM over HDMI. Many Blu-ray movies have PCM soundtracks, which also won't require any receiver side decoding.

A few movies have DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. Most players don't have DTS-HD Master Audio decoders. Some newer HDMI 1.3 receivers have DTS-HD Master Audio decoders which can be used in conjunction with a player that can output bitstream DTS-HD Master Audio. It may be desirable, especially for owners of Blu-ray players that can't decode DTS-HD Master Audio to employ an HDMI 1.3 receiver with a built in decoder. In this one case HDMI 1.3 is useful, and earlier versions don't support transmission of bitstream DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI.

Another format, Dolby Digital Plus is lossy, but less lossy than Dolby Digital. It has not seen widespread adoption, but many players can decode this format and transmit it via MPCM over HDMI.

HDMI 1.3 Video

HDMI 1.3 also has the ability to support a feature called Deep Color. There are no current sources of Deep Color. Another HDMI 1.3 feature xvYCC will probably not see wide adoption. Sony is using this in some high definition camcorders (they call it xv.color). If you have an camcorder with xv.color and a display with xv.color, a receiver which pass this information over HDMI 1.3 could be useful to you.

Summary

If you own an HD DVD player (and want to hear a TrueHD soundtrack in all it's glory)
* They all have TrueHD decoders built in and can send lossless audio via MPCM over HDMI (or multi-channel analog); this means that any receiver with HDMI and the ability to handle at least 5.1 MPCM supports lossless audio
* You don't need HDMI 1.3 to take advantage of Dolby Digital Plus; see above

If you own a Blu-ray player
* Most movies seem to have a lossless PCM soundtrack; this can be heard in all it's glory over MPCM/HDMI (or multi-channel analog)
* Listening to DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks may require an external decoder

Either flavor of HD player
* While you do need HDMI 1.3 to take advantage of Deep Color, there are no imminent sources for Deep Color
* A small number of people might want xvYC