Downmix

[fastfreddy]

Hi. I own a Denon 3805 receiver matched with a denon DVD 1600 which I have hooked up to play DVD audio. The sound is excellent which brings me to my question. When I play some dvd audio tracks I get a no downmix message on my DVD player. Can someone plse explain what this means.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MDS]

So the dvd player actually says 'No Downmix' on the display? You didn't say how the player is connected to the receiver (analog 2 channel, digital or 5/6.1 analog input) or what kind of track was playing, so there are a number of possibilities.

1. Down-mixing usually refers to the process of folding N channels into 2, which it would do if you played a multi-channel recording but had the player connected via 2 analog cables.
2. Down sampling is the process of re-sampling from a higher sample rate, like 192 kHZ down to 48 kHz or lower - this setting is usually controlled by the PCM setting in the dvd player menu. Maybe it has just the one generic 'down'mix' message displayed for this case.
3. It could also be indicating that there is no down-mix info in the stream (for DD tracks) and it is therefore down-mixing on its own without following the meta-data that it is usually included with DD streams.

That's interesting. Does the manual give any hints?

 

[MrKlister]

This message is only coming on when playing the 5 channel recording right? It's nothing to worry about. It's just telling you that unless you have your player configured to play 5 channels, it won't play the multi-channel mix and will revert to the 2-ch mix.

 

[fastfreddy]

Down Mix

Thanks for the input. I do have the DVD Audio player hooked up for dvd Audio using 5/6.1 analog inputs using 6 analog cables. The player is playing my DVD audio tracks as 5/6.1. The no downmix message only occurs on some tracks, for example The Last Waltz DVD Audio has this message on most tracks.
Thanks again, and I hope this clarifies my set up.

 

[MrKlister]

You are correct, I don't get the message on all discs, I certainly got it on "The Last Waltz" and other releases by Rhino.