equipment problem playing dolby true HD sound

[jayleaf]

don't know if this is quite the right forum for this problem, but here goes. for some strange reason the last two movies with dolby true HD audio have been faulty. by that i mean the voices keep bouncing around all the speakers for no apparent reason. it happened last night watching "Pain and Gain". i finally had to just play in stereo format. the strange thing is i had the same problem with my old samsung bd player and figured it was just broken. i purchased a new sony s5100 a few months ago and everything seemed fine until just recently now the problem is back for some strange reason. by the way DTS plays just fine. wondering if anyone else has had problems with true HD audio movies or have a theory whats causing the problem. just in case it's useful, my receiver is a denon 3808ci avr.

 

[Pyrrho]

Your description sounds like an incorrect setting in your receiver. For example, many receivers have processing modes to give sound to all speakers from 2 channel sources, sometimes called "5 channel stereo" or "7 channel stereo", and if you have your receiver set to do that with Dolby TrueHD signals, it will likely be redirecting sound in a seemingly random or haphazard manner.

My advice is to carefully look at your settings, and read your receiver's manual for making selections to not add extra processing.

 

[jayleaf]

no help from experts

Your description sounds like an incorrect setting in your receiver. For example, many receivers have processing modes to give sound to all speakers from 2 channel sources, sometimes called "5 channel stereo" or "7 channel stereo", and if you have your receiver set to do that with Dolby TrueHD signals, it will likely be redirecting sound in a seemingly random or haphazard manner.

My advice is to carefully look at your settings, and read your receiver's manual for making selections to not add extra processing.

i called both sony and denon today to see if any of their people might be able to help. i was on the phone with the denon expert? for some time but he wasn't able to help. don't know whats going on but i guess dolby true HD is a no go. have to listen to those movies in good old fashioned stereo.

 

[Pyrrho]

It is almost certainly an improper setting, either in your Denon or in your Sony. You should have the HDMI output of the Sony hooked up to an HDMI input on the Denon. The Sony should be set to not process the sound at all; just have it pass it on to the Denon as is.


To make sure the settings are right for the Sony, take a look at the manual on pages 27-28. Make sure that DTS Neo 6 is OFF. (If it is on, there is your problem.) The Digital Audio Output should be set to "Auto."


The Denon's surround mode should be "Standard" (see pages 41-42 of the manual). Within "Standard", you should have either Dolby PL or Dolby PLII or Dolby PLIIx selected.

If you cannot get it to work that way, select "Direct", which will bypass the tone controls, but will make sure everything will just stay in the channel in which it is input. As long as you do not have the Sony doing any decoding or processing, this should work well, though it also means that you will be bypassing Dolby Pro Logic decoding for those soundtracks that use it.

 

[afterlife2]

Give me a minute to look it up. It happened to me too. There is a setting that needs to be changed to get dolby true HD and DTS TruSurround.

 

[afterlife2]

Audio settings:

1. audio hdmi - auto
2.dsd output - on

3.bd audio mix - off
4.dolby digital/DTS - bitstream

5. dts/neo off

6.audio drc - auto

7.down mix - surround.

This should work. My Sony didn't come setup either I had to look it up as well.

 

[jayleaf]

Audio settings:

1. audio hdmi - auto
2.dsd output - on

3.bd audio mix - off
4.dolby digital/DTS - bitstream

5. dts/neo off

6.audio drc - auto

7.down mix - surround.

This should work. My Sony didn't come setup either I had to look it up as well.

thanks for the suggestions afterlife2. unfortunately the problem is still there. i couldn't find anything to match up with #4 on your list however. couldn't find anything that mentioned bitstream.

 

[jayleaf]

i tried your suggestions pyrrho but it just didn't make any difference. this one just has me beat. even the denon expert couldn't resolve the problem earlier. i really appreciate your efforts to help. i might try denon again. maybe a different tech guy might have an idea. thanks again to afterlife and pyrrho for your assistance. suggestions. oops meant for this post to be after your last comment pyrrho.

 

[afterlife2]

Try to call Sony and try to locate bitstream on your Sony Player. Do you have another blu-ray player to try or can you borrow one to make sure it's not the Denon?

 

[jayleaf]

Try to call Sony and try to locate bitstream on your Sony Player. Do you have another blu-ray player to try or can you borrow one to make sure it's not the Denon?

well i spoke to the sony tech guy this morning and now i don't think i have dts or true HD audio. i finally had to end the call before nothing worked anymore. they tried a couple of things and i suppose they helped in the sense i can play the movies but it's just in dolby digital surround not True HD. when i put a dts movie in it says multi channel surround or something so i don't know it thats dts or not. it's turned into a problem that doesn't seem to have a solution at the moment. again i appreciate your assistance with this issue.

 

[afterlife2]

Were you able to turn on bitstream on the Sony? Something is not hooked up right. That Sony should have TRU HD. Try changing the HDMI cable as well to see if that's the problem. Can you post pictures of the back on the Sony, HDTV and Denon?

 

[Teh3morejekt]

I came here after your reference afterlife, but I think mine is a bit different. My Ps3 can't do true hd or dtshd only pcm. With the 2 movies I mentioned it states dolby 5.1 on the Ps3 display. I changed the settings back and forth between bitstream and not still no change. Odd thing is though that the standard bd disc plays 7.1 truhd just fine for both.

 

[NormanRemi]

Dear Afterlife2, I have been having the same issue and more with my Sony BDPS590 and my Denon 3312CI AVR. Your instructions worked flawlessly. If I now play Star Trek Blu Ray I get 7 channel audio instead of 5 and it now says Dolby Tru HD on the Denon Panel. Although Jurrasic Park Blu Ray always indicated that it was playing 7 channel sound, the Denon now says DTS Mstr HD where before it always said Multi Channel Sound. It was always irritating me because I never knew if the Denon was properly decoding the sound. I already had the Sony set to bitstream but it was the other settings that made it work. Evidently the Sony was decoding everything and that's why the Denon was showing Multi Channel. Frankly I think that the sound is much richer and better now especially the Dolby Tru HD which was never giving me all of the channels.

Thanks, you made my day!

 

[afterlife2]

Glad I could help Norman. Enjoy your setup!