Troubleshooting DTS

[bigpapa]

I have a Sony DVPNS975V DVD/SACD player hooked up to a Denon AVR3805 with Coaxial and analog 5.1. I'm not getting DTS when playing DTS media. Both these components are DTS capable.

I've played Saving Private Ryan and Diana Krall Live in Paris, both in DTS. When watching both, I've selected DTS in the DVD's Menu. After doing this, the Sony player has a DTS icon that illuminates.

I've set the Denon to "auto," and it just goes to Dolby Digital. When I set the Denon to "DTS," I get no sound at all.

Is there one more trick I need to try before assuming that I might have a bad DTS circuit in one of the devices?

 

[Buckle-meister]

Is there one more trick I need to try before assuming that I might have a bad DTS circuit in one of the devices?

I can't imagine what is up, but if you can still get sound from the 5.1 analogues after pulling out the coaxial (with the Denon still set to Auto), then you would know that the problem, if it there truly is one, lies with the Denon and not the Sony.

Small steps...

 

[bigpapa]

I fixed it!

That's a good assumption about the auto setting on the Denon, but I think it only pertains to digital signals. I haven't confirmed that yet, but I don't have a SACD/DTS media to test it on.

I figured out that the Sony DVD player has to have the DTS signal assigned to PCM in it's setup menu...? Sounds stupid to me since it's the same signal path. I had two choices... Digital or PCM. PCM is digital, so, ahh, yeah.

Thanks for your reply brah.

 

[Buckle-meister]

That's a good assumption about the auto setting on the Denon, but I think it only pertains to digital signals.

No, you're right. I was getting confused between the Auto setting for decoding Dolby Digital EX and dts ES signals, and the Automatic priority given to digital inputs over analogue. See! We've both learned something!

I'm glad you got it fixed.

 

[j_garcia]

To me, it sounds like the player is not setup correctly. You need to enable DTS in the player's digital audio setup menu. 99% of all players come with DTS turned off by default from the factory because not all receivers are DTS capable. It should be set to bitstream or "normal" NOT PCM. DTS can be passed via PCM, but that is usually only for DTS CDs, not DTS movies.

 

[MDS]

The PCM setting on a DVD player can be confusing because it doesn't really mean what it sounds like it means (and the player's manuals don't explain it adequately or at all). It DOES NOT mean that the player will output PCM. It means that the player will convert DD/DTS to PCM and then do digital to analog conversion on that and send it out the analog outputs.

If you play a CD, which is PCM, and set the player to PCM, it won't have to convert anything but it still does d/a and uses the analog outs.

If you set the player to 'digital' (which is odd terminology because most players use the term 'bitstream' or 'raw' to indicate that it should pass the bits unaltered to the digital out), then it will use the digital out. If the source is PCM, it will be sent untouched out the digital out.

My particular dvd player (Onkyo) has a separate setting for PCM in addition to the settings for DD and DTS. The menu is labelled 'LPCM' (Linear Pulse Code Modulation). It can be set to LPCM or PCM and you guessed it - if set to PCM, it does d/a and uses the analog outs; if set to LPCM it passes the PCM data unaltered to the digital outs.

 

[bigpapa]

Thanks guys

You're right j, the player was set wrong. And yes MDS, I think it's a terminology issue.

In the player's menu, there was a DTS option, of which I could choose 'digital' or 'PCM.' It was set to digital, and didn't work. After I set it to PCM, the Diana Krall LIP DVD with DTS began playing in DTS.

So, I got it working, but now I'm wondering if it's set properly... is it possible I have two processors processing? Or, since my Denon is set to 'auto,' is the source info actually traveling analog on my 5.1?

I'm going to fart around with it when I get home because inquiring minds want to know. I'll fill ya'll in later. Aloha.