DVD player surround sound issue?

[Raiders757]

Hello, and thanks for your time.

I searched the forums, but couldn't find a similar problem.

I got a set of surround sound speakers this past Christmas, to go with the amp I got last year. I have everything hooked up properly, but found a slight problem while calibrating my TV and audio system via the 'Sound & Vision' DVD I got a while back.

When I got to the part where the DVD sends a signal to all of my speakers, to identify each one, my surround speakers play the same signal at the same time (says "right rear" in both, "left rear" in both), and the sub-woofer didn't play anything at all. I had my amp to the right surround setting(DTS), as well as my DVD player. I rechecked all of my connections, tried other settings, and everything is as it should be. When I run a similar test through my amp, this does not happen. It works as it should.

I've played DTS audio discs with no problem, as well as a few movies. Why is it that my calibration DVD does this, if everything is hooked up by the book? Is there something I am missing here? It seems to be my DVD player, but it is set to play Dolby DTS etc.. THe test makes it sound like everything is out of whak, but I swear it is not.

Has anyone had anything like this happen, or know if the 'Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune Up' DVD has any issues?

For the record, I hooked everything up with component cables.


Also, if I am watching a DVD is 5.1 surround sound, will I still get surround effect using the 5.1 stereo mode? I know it's a dumb question, but it just seems that everything sounds better ,and is less centered in that mode.

Thanks again for your time.

[yoda313]

Here's something - get a movie with thx sound (ie STAR WARS) and use the included sound field test. See if you can replicate the issue with another tester - it will do the noise test in each of your speakers.

But frankly if your regular movies sound ok during playback I'd just chaulk it up to a funky anamoly and forget about it.

And about your stereo mode - don't bother with it. If you have a set of 6 physical speakers there is no need for you to try a virtual mode. The only reason to would be with a stereo only source - then it might do some "enhancement" to the signal but don't expect it to sound like a professional mix.

[TooLFooL]

you ARE using the digital inputs, right? (either coax or optical) this is the only way to get 5.1 surround

[Kurt S]

coax or opitcal is not the only way to get 5.1, DVD Audio and SACD uses six audio cables but coax or optical is the only way to get 5.1 audio from DTS or Dolby Digital signals.

[guns1inger]

You can also use 6 cables if the DVD player has a built-in DTS and AC3 decoder and outputs as analogue through all 6 cables. Quite a few players will output AC3 this way, although a lot fewer also support DTS decoding as well.

[TooLFooL]

oh yeah, i forgot about that.. sorry!

[dvdguy4]

You can also use 6 cables if the DVD player has a built-in DTS and AC3 decoder and outputs as analogue through all 6 cables. Quite a few players will output AC3 this way, although a lot fewer also support DTS decoding as well.

Well you also need the surround amp that has the DTS decoder built in or it wont play at all. Most amps nowadays have both Dolby and DTS decoders built in . Digital audio as in 5.1 needs the optical input to get the real surround effect, not the emulation surround effect. That would be DD Pro Logic 2 .

[guns1inger]

If the DVD player has the decoder built-in, then all you need is an amp capable of accepting the analogue inputs on all channels. The player does the decoding. It is true surround, as the player has done the same decoding the amp would do. You only need the DTS decoder if the player doesn't have one, in which case you still need a digital (optical or coax) connection.

[Raiders757]

Thanks for all the replies, and sorry it took me so long to get back. I have been really busy the past few weeks.

It seems my issue had something to do with the disc(as other movies displayed surround features), but at the same time, I didn't have my coaxial cable hooked up. When I hooked it(coaxial cable) up from my DVD player to my amp, it cut the sound off. Shouldn't I still need my component cables hooked as well as the coaxial cable?

Oh well, I'll get it figured out. Thanks for the help everyone. I will go back and try to get my coaxial cable hooked up properly from my DVD palyer to my Amp.

[psx_pirate]

Hook up your coaxial cable ... then on your dvd player go into the settings menu and under sound settings set the digital output to raw or digital ... (the wording may vary depending on the player but digital / raw etc its all the same ... just don't choose the downmix or analogue output options)

[TooLFooL]

yeah if you werent using the coax, you didn't have 5.1.....

the coax is your ONLY sound cable needed. get rid of the red/white. now you most likely will need to go into the dvd player's setup menu, find "digital out" or something, and turn it on. also turn on "dts out" IF AND ONLY IF your receiver HAS a dts decoder...

you also possible may need to setup your receiver's digital input.. either set it to 'coax' or 'automatic'. if it's working right you will see something on the front of the receiver that says "coax" or "digital" or "dts", and your movies will sound much better!