Yamaha 4063

[fake50]

Hello Folks,

I've been far removed from the stereo world in this 21st century, however, I recently purchased a Yamaha 4063 and a set of Bose Acoustimass 15s. They sound great.

However, I am confused by all the various settings provided by the Yamaha remote. I also notice that my DVD player only outputs in 2CH PCM and thus in "Straight" mode I only get 2 channel audio. I'm a slight purest and I tried pressing all the various "movies" and "music" modes and eventually I get sound out all the speakers -- but is this the true Dolby Digital experience? Or am I getting hosed?

When I switch over to my satellite receiver, then I see all 5.1 channels on the stereo.

So could someone, in English, explain to me what the various modes are on the remote?

Movie, Music, Enhancer Stereo, Sur. Decode, Straight, and Direct.

yamaha.ca/av/images/receivers/HTR4063/remote.jpg

In what situation would I want to use each of these? The manual doesn't do justice ...

Thanks in advance!

 

[MDS]

I also notice that my DVD player only outputs in 2CH PCM and thus in "Straight" mode I only get 2 channel audio. I'm a slight purest and I tried pressing all the various "movies" and "music" modes and eventually I get sound out all the speakers -- but is this the true Dolby Digital experience? Or am I getting hosed?

How is the DVD player connected to the receiver? To get Dolby Digital, you need to connect the DVD player using HDMI, optical or coaxial digital cables and set the DVD player's digital out to 'bitstream'. If you are using two analog audio cables (red and white RCA plugs), the DVD player will downmix DD 5.1 to 2 channel PCM.

'Straight' is Yamaha's way of saying 'don't touch the signal - just decode it as is with no additional processing.' You eventually get 5.1 by pressing various surround mode buttons because some of them are matrix decoders that turn 2 channel PCM into multi-channel.

 

[fake50]

Thanks MDS.

The Blu-Ray DVD player is connected with an HDMI cable and the audio mode is set to PCM and not bitstream on the Blu-Ray DVD player.

Is PCM mode + one of the matric decoders equivalent to bitstream and straight?

Do you know what the Sur. Decode and Direct button do?

 

[GlocksRock]

Hello Folks,

I've been far removed from the stereo world in this 21st century, however, I recently purchased a Yamaha 4063 and a set of Bose Acoustimass 15s. They sound great.

However, I am confused by all the various settings provided by the Yamaha remote. I also notice that my DVD player only outputs in 2CH PCM and thus in "Straight" mode I only get 2 channel audio. I'm a slight purest and I tried pressing all the various "movies" and "music" modes and eventually I get sound out all the speakers -- but is this the true Dolby Digital experience? Or am I getting hosed?

When I switch over to my satellite receiver, then I see all 5.1 channels on the stereo.

So could someone, in English, explain to me what the various modes are on the remote?

Movie, Music, Enhancer Stereo, Sur. Decode, Straight, and Direct.

yamaha.ca/av/images/receivers/HTR4063/remote.jpg

In what situation would I want to use each of these? The manual doesn't do justice ...

Thanks in advance!

Movie uses yamaha's Cinema DSP modes, keep pressing it to scroll through the different modes, Music will activate the various music dsp modes, Enhancer stereo will either give you 2 or 5/6/7 channels of enhancement for compressed music (i.e. .mp3), Sur. Decode will be used for normal surround sound like dts and dolby digital, straight will play whatever the sources is with no post processing or enhancements, dsp modes, PLIIx, etc... and Direct is similar to straight but will shut off all video processing and play full range through the front speakers for the most pure signal.

 

[fake50]

Movie uses yamaha's Cinema DSP modes, keep pressing it to scroll through the different modes, Music will activate the various music dsp modes, Enhancer stereo will either give you 2 or 5/6/7 channels of enhancement for compressed music (i.e. .mp3), Sur. Decode will be used for normal surround sound like dts and dolby digital, straight will play whatever the sources is with no post processing or enhancements, dsp modes, PLIIx, etc... and Direct is similar to straight but will shut off all video processing and play full range through the front speakers for the most pure signal.

So in essence, I should set my Blu-Ray DVD player to bitstream and then use the straight mode and the appropriate Sur. Decode mode on?

Do you know if the Sur. Decode mode is automatic?

 

[GlocksRock]

Sur. Decode and straight will basically get you the same thing if you set your blu ray player to bitstream, the only difference is that if you have a 7.1 surround setup, and your blu ray source is only 5.1, you can apply PLIIx to create a stereo surr. back if you use Sur. Decode mode, and you can't apply that when using straight mode. I'm not familiar with that particular model, but some receivers can't apply PLIIx to the lossless audio formats such as my RX-V663, but my RX-V1800 can, and my RX-V663 shows straight on the display when it receives a bitstream signal from my blu ray player no matter how I try to change it, it won't let me.

 

[MDS]

Is PCM mode + one of the matric decoders equivalent to bitstream and straight?

It's not exactly the same unless the BD player can send multi-channel PCM over HDMI and the receiver can process multi-channel PCM. I don't know the capabilities of that particular receiver.

Because you said it only shows 2 channels when playing a DVD, the BD player is likely downmixing the DD 5.1 to 2 channel PCM and then you can use one of the matrix decoders on the receiver (such as PLII or one of Yamaha's many cinema DSP modes) to turn it back into 5.1, but it won't be the exact same 5.1 that you started with.

 

[Seth=L]

It's not exactly the same unless the BD player can send multi-channel PCM over HDMI and the receiver can process multi-channel PCM. I don't know the capabilities of that particular receiver.

Because you said it only shows 2 channels when playing a DVD, the BD player is likely downmixing the DD 5.1 to 2 channel PCM and then you can use one of the matrix decoders on the receiver (such as PLII or one of Yamaha's many cinema DSP modes) to turn it back into 5.1, but it won't be the exact same 5.1 that you started with.

http://yamaha.ca/av/Receivers/HTR4063.jsp

It's HDMI 1.4a capable. He wants to set the player to bitstream.

"Straight" means what ever the signal that comes into the receiver will be processed and output exactly as it is. It also means the receiver automatically selects the appropriate mode, whether it be surround or stereo.

"Direct" means that all post processing is disabled. This is a feature you may want to use if you want to listen to music through your two front speakers with no subwoofer.

"Movie, Music, Enhancer Stereo" are DSP (digital signal processing) modes. They are Yamaha's propriatary matrix surround modes. I've never been a fan of them.

Dolby Pro Logic IIx is a Dolby Laboratories matrix surround format that allows 2 channel sources be converted to surround sound for output with your receiver, in your case up to 5.1. It is one of the better matrixed surround modes out there.