Matheson Bitstream allows uncompressed audio data to be sent from your device (Typically Blu-Ray Player) directly to your AV Receiver. This is what enables Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos and DTS-X to function and if you do not have Bitstream enabled you are missing out. The AV Receiver that we have is a NAD from 2014 and I did not know that we had to turn on Bitstream to experience Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio it is crazy how much of a difference changing one setting can make.
First check if your AV Receiver can support one of these formats just Google the model number:
Next you want to lookup how to enable Bitstream on your devices you can Google to make sure they are compatible
Here are instructions for some popular devices
For PS3 these are the steps I used to enable Bitstream:
Go to Settings > BD/DVD Settings > BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI) > then select Bitstream or if you get the option for Bitstream (Direct) select that
PS4:
Refer to this article: https://denon.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5868/~/setting-your-sony-playstation-4-to-output-bitstream-audio-%28dolby-digital-%2F-dts%29
Xbox One:
Refer to this article: https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/console/choosing-speaker-audio-output
If I did not list your device on this page please Google it because chances are it supports Bitstream
After enabling bitstream on your device all you need to do is insert a movie that supports one of these formats (It usually says on the back of the Blu-Ray Case), and in the menu on the Blu-Ray disc (the one that you get to before the move starts sometimes called Top-Menu) you should see something along the lines of set-up which will allow you to make sure you have the correct audio format selected. In most cases this will happen automatically anyway once you select play in the Blu-Ray Menu and the movie begins to play. So you might not have to do anything
To confirm it’s working look at the front of your AV Receiver once the movie has begun. It should say the name of the audio format it is playing so for example when playing Dolby TrueHD it should say Dolby TrueHD on your AV Receiver. If it does say the one of those audio formats I mentioned at the beginning then you have succeeded in enabling bitstream. If not check to make sure all of you devices are compatible with Bitstream and your AV Receiver is compatible with the audio format your trying to play
Enjoy your Movie