Anyone able to walk me through this set-up?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I have been confused about what audio and video settings and connections to use on my currently set-up HT.
I'm hoping someone can help make some sense of it to me, or at least tell me what is best to do.

Equipment:
-Local t.v. HD-DVR box
-Oppo 980HD upconvert dvd player
-Yamaha RX-V661 7.1 receiver
-Mitsubishi HC1500 720P PJ

Current set-up config.
-Both sources are passing video and audio through my receiver via 2-HDMI's. There is then a third HDMI out to the PJ.
-My HD-DVR has audio options of "Stereo" and "Advanced" for audio output modes. Mine is currently set to "Advanced".......there are then the options of #1-level of compression and I currently have that set to "None" and #2-Stereo Output choices of 'Stereo' or 'Matrix' and I currently have that set to 'Matrix'.


So.....what should I change if anything? I know I currently have no sources pushing lossless 7.1(or any 7.1 for that matter) and don't know how to take this into account? Heck, I currently am only running two surround speakers, not four. I started on this after someone on another board advised me to bypass my receiver on the video side and use optical audio for the audio from the two sources to the receiver for the audio. I tried this but had issues and expressed them to him on the site and got info that just confused me more. So I need some help guys. I just want to have the correct set-up for the most ideal/best/intended sound and video.

Please help!

 

[MDS]

Everything is fine except for the Matrix setting on the DVR. I'm not sure of the exact specifications of the algorithm but it is analogous to Pro Logic encoding.

Since you are running everything through the receiver I don't think it is a good idea to have the DVR try to 'surround encode' a stereo signal on the fly only to have your receiver turn around and process it again if you have it in a surround mode. You're better off just letting the matrix decoders like PLII or Neo:6 in the receiver process a 2 channel stereo signal. But try it and see if it makes any difference.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Thanks...the one thing I notice is that when I turn the DVR to '"Advanced"' it gets MUCH quieter wheter in 'stereo' or 'matrix'. I know louder doesn't mean better sound but it is like a 15db difference of output compared to just '"Stereo"'??

 

[MDS]

I don't really know but it could be due to the compression setting. Perhaps in regular Stereo mode the compression is automatically set to High whereas you can turn it off in Advanced mode. Do you notice the same difference in Advanced mode if you turn compression on?

I know it sounds counterintuitive but this type of compression is dynamic compression (not lossy compression like MP3) and dynamic compression makes things louder because it reduces the peaks and makes the average level louder.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I don't really know but it could be due to the compression setting. Perhaps in regular Stereo mode the compression is automatically set to High whereas you can turn it off in Advanced mode. Do you notice the same difference in Advanced mode if you turn compression on?

I know it sounds counterintuitive but this type of compression is dynamic compression (not lossy compression like MP3) and dynamic compression makes things louder because it reduces the peaks and makes the average level louder.

1. Yes.

2. Ahh, makes sense...thanks!