Sony Sound Bar - no voices on certain content

J

Jeff R.

Audioholic General
My parents have a Sony sound bar w/ Bluetooth sub. I spent about 2 hours this weekend trying to resolve an issue in which certain TV stations or programs have no voice output in the bar however it does though the sub. I did a software update and restored to factory default and reset it up and no change. In general commercials all seem to work and certain programs don’t. I put on the music channels and they all work fine...I am thinking it must me a specific sound format that it does not know what to do with.

I would estimate the bar is about 3-4 years old and paired with a Sony Tv. I have the Direct Tv receiver hooked to the bar via HDMI and the output via HDMI to the TV. If the Bar is powered off the sound through the TV is normal for all programs.

Has anybody seen something like this?

Thanks
Jeff


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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
What model soundbar? What are audio output settings on directv box? Sounds like center channel content is missing...
 
J

Jeff R.

Audioholic General
Sony SA -NT5


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TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Sony SA -NT5


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I can't find that sound bar. The problem is that the sound bar has either lost the right left speakers and only has the center and can not play a stereo signal or it has lost the ability to switch from stereo and Dolby Digital broadcasts. I suspect the sound bar needs a one way trip to the recycling center in any case. I would check the direct TV unit. Direct TV electronics is awful. I had my fill of that at the lake.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Can't see that model either, is it an HT-NT5 instead? If you have a link to it's product page or manual post it up. I'm not sure where TLS guy is going when dialog/voices are missing as to it not being the center channel rather than only the center....
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Can't see that model either, is it an HT-NT5 instead? If you have a link to it's product page or manual post it up. I'm not sure where TLS guy is going when dialog/voices are missing as to it not being the center channel rather than only the center....
Well actually it could be either. If the center was dud you could get voices if it was two channel. On the other hand if the left and right were dud you would only hear voices with Dolby Digital.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Well actually it could be either. If the center was dud you could get voices if it was two channel. On the other hand if the left and right were dud you would only hear voices with Dolby Digital.
I thought the complaint was lack of voices/dialog rather than it not coming from center but only L/R.....there are more modes than DD, tho.
 
johnkmatthew90

johnkmatthew90

Enthusiast
It must be the sound format. I've had this issue in the past and a technician could resolve it and he too didn't seem to know the cause.
 
J

Jeff R.

Audioholic General
Yes it is the HT- NT5. I went through all the Direct Tv sound setting. It is set to Digital as the output.



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TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Yes it is the HT- NT5. I went through all the Direct Tv sound setting. It is set to Digital as the output.



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Can you point us to a manual? I can't find any on line reference to the unit. It is a though Sony want to deny they ever issued them. The input source should show up on the TV screen, and say Stereo, or Dolby Digital. What does the screen say as you change sources about the audio input?
 
J

Jeff R.

Audioholic General
It is on the Sony site. I can’t link you to it directly because the manual is a PDF.


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TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
It is on the Sony site. I can’t link you to it directly because the manual is a PDF.


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We really have created a nightmare. That is 80 pages of instructions for sound bar!

That unit does not have a center channel. Interestingly the crossovers are active.

Now what must be happening is a failure to mix down.

I would see if the problem also exists on the optical connection as well as HDMI.

Try a reset, page 68 I think.

I had the impression this problem just involves Direct TV. If this is so, just go the the Direct TV menu and instruct it to mix multi channel and just output two channel.
You could do that with Direct TV boxes I have owned. If any other devices connected can be set to mix multichannel to 2 channel stereo I would do that as well.

This is basically a two channel device, but you can connect rear speakers. I would suspect making sure it only receives stereo signals will solve your problem.
 
J

Jeff R.

Audioholic General
We really have created a nightmare. That is 80 pages of instructions for sound bar!

That unit does not have a center channel. Interestingly the crossovers are active.

Now what must be happening is a failure to mix down.

I would see if the problem also exists on the optical connection as well as HDMI.

Try a reset, page 68 I think.

I had the impression this problem just involves Direct TV. If this is so, just go the the Direct TV menu and instruct it to mix multi channel and just output two channel.
You could do that with Direct TV boxes I have owned. If any other devices connected can be set to mix multichannel to 2 channel stereo I would do that as well.

This is basically a two channel device, but you can connect rear speakers. I would suspect making sure it only receives stereo signals will solve your problem.
I already did a factory reset. And set it up from scratch. Like I mentioned, it is hit or miss on content. What is odd is it is only voice from the bar. You can hear low voices from the sub. Nearly all commercials work just fine. Generally movies and most TV shows on Direct TV drop the voices. If I pass through the bar the TV speaker output all sound as normal. Hence I really think it is in the bar. The TV and the Bar are the same age.


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TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I already did a factory reset. And set it up from scratch. Like I mentioned, it is hit or miss on content. What is odd is it is only voice from the bar. You can hear low voices from the sub. Nearly all commercials work just fine. Generally movies and most TV shows on Direct TV drop the voices. If I pass through the bar the TV speaker output all sound as normal. Hence I really think it is in the bar. The TV and the Bar are the same age.


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I agree it is the bar, but you can solve your problem by having the Direct TV box mix ALL sources to stereo. Since that sound bar has no center channel there will be no downside. For some reason that sound bar is not mixing the center channel to the only two channels it has. It must do this, as it does NOT have a center channel. So, if it fails to mix down, then you will loose voices. There is no other explanation. So you either mix down ahead of the bar, or get a different bar. There are no other options, as mix down in the bar must be automatic. There is no setting for that, as you would expect, as that would be redundant given its design.
 
J

Jeff R.

Audioholic General
Ok. I will try to change the DTV output. Thanks.


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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
What an odd sound bar to not incorporate the center channel (altho I know little about sound bars, I'd hope that's unusual since that is a primary channel for the 5.1 audio many tv shows/movies use. Is Directv Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus? Could be it can do one codec and not the other.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
What an odd sound bar to not incorporate the center channel (altho I know little about sound bars, I'd hope that's unusual since that is a primary channel for the 5.1 audio many tv shows/movies use. Is Directv Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus? Could be it can do one codec and not the other.
No that is correct. It makes no sense what so ever to put a center channel in a sound bar. I have been on about this for years. The biggest problem I see with members systems is speakers too close together. You need at least 6ft minimum between each speaker. If you can't get the mains 12 ft. apart you are far better off with NO center. A center has to be a detriment if you do. That is why the BBC do not include a center channel in their multichannel broadcasts. They are correct, that most people do not space their speakers correctly, and downgrade dialog by using center channel.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
No that is correct. It makes no sense what so ever to put a center channel in a sound bar. I have been on about this for years. The biggest problem I see with members systems is speakers too close together. You need at least 6ft minimum between each speaker. If you can't get the mains 12 ft. apart you are far better off with NO center. A center has to be a detriment if you do. That is why the BBC do not include a center channel in their multichannel broadcasts. They are correct, that most people do not space their speakers correctly, and downgrade dialog by using center channel.
Well it doesn't do the OP any good not having the capacity for the center channel content, whether or not it can simply reroute it to the left end of the box vs the right end of the box (probably not great stereo either), not particularly the lack of a center speaker/driver. I don't want a soundbar in the first place myself, tho....
 
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