pat00139

Okay, my 5.1 system worked perfectly well for about 7 months and now it's gone really goofy on me.

The player can only output Dolby Digital mono correctly. If I try a movie is in any other format, I get some weird distortion. Now:
-if the movie is Dolby 2.0 (either mono, stereo or surround) it'll only play clearly when my system is in 2.1 mode, and in 5.1 mode it'll be distorted/staticy
-if it's mono 1.0 it works correctly in either 5.1 or 2.1 mode
-if the movie is Dolby 5.1, DTS, it won't work in either 5.1 or 2.1 modes.

Examples:
-High and Low CC (DD1.0) plays fine in either mode
-R1 Sky Captain French track (DD2.0 surround) works well only in the 2.1 mode
-Kagemusha CC (DD3.1) won't play well at all.
-The Incredibles won't play well at all
-Dtto with my R3 Sky Captain DTS-ES track
-Commentary tracks only work in 2.1 mode

CDs play fine, coming out of all the speakers if I want them to.

It's obviously a 5.1 output problem - only DD and DTS for some reason, CDs use a different format - but what makes it weird is that the 1.0 tracks work fine, but 2.0 don't.

If you can help me, I'd be very happy.

(If you think 'go to the store', well, the store isn't there anymore...)

Thanks for reading about this odd abnormality.

emoxley

Have you tried resetting the dvd player and receiver to their factory settings? It should tell you how in their manuals. Of course you'll need to setup everything again, but thats a lot of the fun of this hobby.
Good luck!

pat00139

Thanks for the advice but I don't think that's the problem. I tried with 2 different DVD players and the exact same problem occurs.

It's really too bad it's gone screwy because I really liked my speakers.

Brian Shannon

What kind of receiver? Try running the test tones through your receiver and make sure that the settings are back to default. Sometimes a power surge or power failure could make the electronics do strange things.

rdclark

emoxley's advice is very good. Most receivers have a way to restore the factory defaults on the digital decoder, and that's something you should try. The fact that you tried two different DVD players is irrelevant.

How is the player's digital audio connected to the receiver? Optical? Coax? Is the analog audio from the player also connected?

Post the make and model, it'll help.

RichC

pat00139

For some strange reason the machine's working fine now. I was planning to buy something else in the summer so all this needs to do is work well for 2 more months.

I have a Rotel player connected to the subwoofer via optical cable. All the others speakers are connected to the subwoofer just by regular speaker cables. My system is a Maximize system, a Chinese copmany, I think, model number ICS-3300.

Problem is about resetting everything is that I didn't set up my own speaker system. I tried but for some reason couldn't get it to work. My friend had to call the store and they talked her through it. Given the store isn't there anymore...

My biggest confusion is that why would CDs work fine but not DVDs? And why does mono work but not stereo, surround or DTS? Would overheating cause a problem like that?

Regardless, hopefully my luck will hold out and the thing won't go kaput on me for another couple of months.

On somewhat related note, how much would a good sub cost?

Thank you so much for your help, guys. Might not look like it, but it really does help. If you have any more suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Anything.

rdclark

If your DVD player is really connected to your subwoofer via an optical cable, you have a system unique in the annals of home theater. And the brand and model yield nothing useful in a Web search.

Also, if your player is connected to your sub via an oprical cable, don't try to replace your sub.

Are you *sure* your player is connected to the subwoofer with an optical cable?

Why is your player connected to your subwoofer and not your receiver?

I have a headache.

RichC

pat00139

My receiver is in my sub. Yes, I'm sure my player's connected to my sub with an optical cable, I plugged everything in myself.

Guess I should have been more specific and said speaker system...

Yeah, I know my brand doesn't appear on the web, I checked before.

Sorry about your headache.

rdclark

If your receiver is in your sub, your system uses some sort of proprietary design that probably makes it impossible to upgrade individual components, so thinking about a new sub is probably not useful. And it will be hard to diagnose, considering the non-standard way it's configured and that apparently you don't have a manual.

Sorry.

RichC