Toshiba HD-DVD and HK AVR230 Help!

[burguj]

Hello everybody, thanks in advance for your respected replies. Have a couple of questions regarding my current set-up.
1) I have the Toshiba HD-DVD A3. I currently have the HDMI cable hooked directly to my Samsung LCD set to 1080i for watching HD DVDs. For the audio I have the optical cable hooked directly from the dvd to my harmon kardon avr230, I had to do this since the it does not support HDMI. When I play a movie the receiver shows either DD or DTS and all of the little speakers (boxes) on the screen light up. But when it starts it shows something like 2.0 and some other numbers. From reading here, does this mean that I don't have true DD or DTS since optical can't support the bandwith? The toshiba only has optical, rca and hdmi. Which would be best to use? Should I just continue to use the optical? I'm happy with my AVR230 BTW.

2) I have a HK FL-8385 carousel cd player which says it can play HDCD. But from reading here again, it only has RCA and Digital Coaxial as outputs. Are these outputs enough to decode HDCD, don't I need to use 5.1 outputs like SACD?

 

[mtrycrafts]

.... But when it starts it shows something like 2.0 and some other numbers. ...2) I have a HK FL-8385 carousel cd player which says it can play HDCD. But from reading here again, it only has RCA and Digital Coaxial as outputs. Are these outputs enough to decode HDCD, don't I need to use 5.1 outputs like SACD?

To your first part, does the receiver show 2.0 during the movies or just at the intro to the movies and preview? The movie should be 5.1 if the player is properly set up.

The digital for your HDCD is fine. If your receiver is not HDCD capable, you are still ok.

 

[Adam]

Regarding mtrycrafts comment abut the player being set up properly:

Optical can certainly support Dolby Digital and DTS. You'll want to make sure that the Toshiba is set up to pass the bitstream audio and not PCM. PCM over the optical cable will give you 2.0, where as the bitstream will give you 5.1.

 

[burguj]

Sorry don't know how to use the Quote button

mtrycrafts: it does show that number in the begining, like when the movie is in the menu it's just DPLII then when the movie starts it shows the numbers then it will show either DD or DTS and all of the little squares lite up. Actually my receiver does have 5.1 inputs, but the CD player does not. So what is best digital coaxial or RCA? Thanks.

Adam: I beleive it is set-up to bitstream. So basically optical does support 5.1? It has 2 channel and multi channel icon. I had it in 2 channel and then changed it to multi channel but I didn't notice any diference, I think it's for the HDMI output? I was bummed for a minute, but then again the reiver does show Dolby Digital or DTS if available. This would mean it's properly set-up right? Thanks.

 

[Alex2507]

When I play a movie the receiver shows either DD or DTS and all of the little speakers (boxes) on the screen light up. But when it starts it shows something like 2.0 and some other numbers.

The menu in movies is usually not in Dolby Digital so your receiver probably goes to Dolby Pro Logic II and only the letters L and R will be written in the boxes indicating that those are the only channels that you have a signal for. The other boxes will be there without letters. Once the movie starts it goes to Dolby Digital and the letters CEN, SR and SL will appear in the other boxes. When the Dolby Digital signal is detected by the receiver it will flash something like 3/2/.1 EX OFF with a 5.1 speaker configuration. That's telling you that you have 3 front channels, 2 surrounds and a sub.

The manual does a pretty good job of explaining that part of it. A friend of mine has the 235 and flat out refuses to read the manual. He's had it for 3 years and is just happy that any sound comes out ever. Here's a link to the manual amongst other things.

http://www.harmankardon.com/product_support/SupportDetails.aspx?Region=USA&Country=US&Language=ENG&cat=&prod=AVR 230&sjump=&ky=19CE0550CE80B23B5E2522461E0D259A&#active

 

[burguj]

This explains it in detail. I don't recall seing this in the maual, I'll read it again. I was thinking that the optical output did not fully support multi channel sound per reading other posts. Thanks Alex!

Question: When using a digital audio input, I sometimes see the message "DS - OFF" on my AVR receiver. What does it mean?

Answer: The "DS - OFF" message will appear in conjunction with "2.0.0", which is an indication of the channel configuration of the incoming bitstream. You may have realized that this means data is present for the front left and right channels only. "DS" stands for "Dolby Surround", and the message means that the program is not encoded with Dolbyµ Surround, that is, Dolby Pro Logicµ information. Therefore, the AVR recognizes the stream as a Dolby Digital 2.0 program.
However, you may enjoy surround sound with this type of program by manually activating Pro Logic processing. Using the remote, press the Dolby button repeatedly until the desired Pro Logic mode appears in the display, or press the OSD button and use the navigation keys to access the Surround Select and Dolby menus. Using the front-panel controls, make sure the Dolby group has been selected by repeatedly pressing the Surround Mode Group Selector button on the left side of the button group until the Dolby group has been selected. Then repeatedly press the Surround Mode Selector immediately to the right until the desired Pro Logic mode has been selected.
The "EX - OFF" message will appear with a "3.2.1" channel configuration. It reflects that the Dolby Digital bitstream is not encoded with information for the surround back channel which is used in Dolby Digital EX materials.
Again, if your receiver has been configured for 6.1 or 7.1 operation, you may enjoy EX processing by manually selecting the Dolby Digital EX mode using the procedure described above.

 

[Alex2507]

Therefore, the AVR recognizes the stream as a Dolby Digital 2.0 program.

If this is happening with DVD's the cause can be the Set Up options of the DVD being Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo as a default. Always go into the Set Up and see what Audio selection is going to come from the disc and set it to 5.1 if it's not already the case.

I believe some CD's also have Dolby Digital 2.0 and the crossover in the AVR 230 make that 2.1.

If you're dealing with a Digital Cable Box, go into the Audio Settings and make sure that Digital Output is set to AC3, not PCM. With my box I have to unplug it periodically to reset it in order for Dolby Digital AC3 to be an option. I don't know why. I take it you have 5.1 and not 7.1.

I prefer Dolby Digital over any type of DSP (Digital Signal Processing) because it offers better channel separation as can be seen in the spec's of your AVR and Night Mode can be applied. Sometimes it's a struggle to keep the AVR from going to other DSP's.

BTW my AVR 430 is the only rec'r I've ever had and I have been reading the manual for 3 or 4 years now. I feel like I'm just starting to get the hang of it. With other brands I'm lost. I just want to say that any proficiency that I do have with Home Theater has been picked up here at AH.

Welcome to Audioholics!

 

[allargon]

I believe some CD's also have Dolby Digital 2.0 and the crossover in the AVR 230 make that 2.1.

Alex, audio CD's are 2 channel PCM. DD would violate the Redbook standard. However, I suspect we all know what you meant.

Mytrcrafts, I would venture to guess that you watch porn, TV shows or independent film DVD's/HD DVD's on your A3. That's why the two channel (L/R) lights up on your receiver. As everyone said, optical supports DD and DTS 5.1 (or 6.1) just fine. The TrueHD/DTS-HD has nothing to do with bandwidth. It's just that the optical spec never got updated.

 

[Alex2507]

Alex, audio CD's are 2 channel PCM. DD would violate the Redbook standard. However, I suspect we all know what you meant.

Thanks for the correction. I need to read up on that then. If you know of an article on the topic I would appreciate it.

 

[burguj]

After looking thru the manual once again and actually paying attention to the numbers that come on on the AVR display I finally have a grasp on things. When a movie first starts the reiver does show 2.0.0 and it will automatically default to DPLII Movie. Depending on the audio selection cause some DVDs offer DTS it will go to that format. Then once the movie starts it will show 3.2.1 What kinda sucks is that sometimes I have family over and I have to play the movie in spanish and typically spanish is only supported in 2.0 DD. So sometimes I lie and tell them that there is no spanish language and that only spanish subtitles are available this way I keep either DTS which I prefer or DD 5.1

I listen to music in the available DTS neo6 from the avr, sounds pretty cool. Logic 7 Enhanced mode is also great. Thanks alot guys!! I finally feel sane around you guys!!

 

[allargon]

Thanks for the correction. I need to read up on that then. If you know of an article on the topic I would appreciate it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc

and more specifically

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_(audio_CD_standard)