milo bloom

Receiver is a Yamaha RX-V367, we are running a 5.0 speaker configuration.

Bluray player is a Panasonic DMP-BDT215 (I believe it's a rebadged 210, got it at Costco)


The receiver can't do the Bluray Dolby and DTS but can do the older DVD level ones, so what do I set the audio settings on the Bluray player so it sends the right signal to the receiver (via HDMI)

I'm wondering why the Dolby or DTS lights never show up, we usually just end up putting the receiver on 5 channel stereo but it never seems right.

thanks

Alan Smithee

Most Blu-Rays are actually meant to be decoded by the player and sent out as PCM, so any menu sound effects or picture-in-picture audio can also be included- are you getting multi-channel PCM or just 2-channel? I looked up the specs for that player and it says it has all the audio decoding built-in, so you should be getting the right sound out of it.

The problem with cheaper Blu-Ray players as I learned early on is that not all of them include full on-board sound decoding. The Sony I had before I got my Oppo did not have full DTS decoding- discs in the higher-res DTS-HD formats would only be decoded in standard core DTS, which meant losing both the extra resolution and the extra surround tracks if they were there. I could get them back by setting the player to output as Bitstream, but then that meant losing the secondary audio. Other players are even worse- I had a Vizio player (which I got for free and promptly sold) that only sent out 2-channel PCM sound, so you were basically forced to either give up the secondary audio or have it down-mixed to 2-channel.

As long as the correct channels on your receiver light up, you're good. If it doesn't, then set your player's settings to output bitstream rather than PCM, and turn secondary audio off (when it's on, it will usually output just a standard Dolby or DTS signal with the extra audio mixed in, as it can't do that in the higher-res formats.)

JZ1276

Just looked up the specs on your receiver. Regular Dolby Digital/DTS YES, newer high res TrueHD/DTS-MA NO (like u said).
5 channel stereo is definitely not the setting you want to be on for movies. Music, yes.
It can either be a setting you need to adjust on the blu ray player or the receiver.
First, make sure 'bitstream' is selected for audio output on your blu ray player.
Second, make sure you have auto surround or something similar sounding set on your receiver (not sure what it would be called on a Yamaha. Try the 'straight' button).
By the way, I'm assuming your connected through HDMI?

milo bloom

I tried switching every setting I could find and something else I noticed was that the receiver wouldn't show that it was receiving a multichannel signal until I switched the audio output to an optical cable. But the problem still remains that even with the proper channels coming through, the sound just doesn't sound good without using the enhanced stereo mode. I was listening with my wife and she said it sounded like it was coming through an old GPX stereo when it was played straight. We have to turn on the enhanced mode in order to actually enjoy the sound. And they're good speakers too, B&Ws so that shouldn't be the issue.

Is there something else I'm missing?

JZ1276

Well, without telling us how you have your equipment connected it is impossible to help so again, are u using HDMI connection?

When you said "it sounded like it was coming through an old GPX stereo when it was played straight" were you referring to Dolby Digital / DTS? Have you actually seen either of those indicators light up on your receiver?

Another idea I'd like to add (& I am not at all trying to be rude here) but do you understand how surround sound works? Even though Dolby/DTS 5.1 has been around for years now, people still think surround sound should be sound constantly coming from all 5 speakers which is not the case at all. Assuming you are playing a 5.1 track, most of the audio will be coming from the center channel. The 2 rear (surround) channels are the 2 channels that you will hear the least amount of sound from. They are mainly for ambiance & sound effects that is happening behind whatever actors you are watching on TV. You mentioned you have a 5.0 setup so that means you aren't using a subwoofer. In this case, you have to set up your receiver to output the LFE (bass) to your front channels or else it will 'think' you have a sub connected & you will get no bass which can also be a reason why you think it doesn't sound good.

milo bloom

The connection was just HDMI until I added the optical this morning. And the issue is that the Dolby and DTD symbols never light up on the receiver.

But again, the main problem is not just sound coming from all the speakers but that it just sounds anemic without the enhanced mode.

Alan Smithee

That's hard to believe- it looks like this receiver is newer than the one I have, as it can pass 3D video. I've never heard of an HDMI-equipped receiver without full advanced sound decoding.

JZ1276

I have & this one does not.

Alan Smithee

Can it at least do multichannel PCM? If so then a Blu-ray player with full sound decoding on-board will let you get around the lack of decoding in the receiver.

JZ1276

That would mean he would have to connect using 6 RCA cables & it would be avoiding the issue anyway. Somewhere he has an incorrect setting which isn't letting him get DTS/Dolby.

milo bloom

Yeah, I'm beginning to wonder if it's something wrong in the receiver settings. When I get a chance, I may try to find a way to reset it to factory settings.

One other thing, is there a chance that I have an older HDMI cable that's not passing the signal correctly?

cseyer

Just to verify, you are running two HDMI cables? One from the Bluray to the Receiver and one from the receiver to the Display(TV)?

All versions of HDMI support the basic digital audio formats.

milo bloom

Right, the receiver has four HDMI inputs (Bluray, WiiU, AlienWare and AppleTV) and then one output to the TV.

And yes, the HDMI from the Bluray is going into the correct port on the receiver , it works, it's just that the sound is anemic.

JZ1276

Do you have your front speakers set to 'Large' on your receiver with NO subwoofer? (not that this would affect DTS/DD)

cseyer

Do you know what the output on the bluray is set to? PCM or Bitstream? PCM will decode in the bluray player and the receiver will not "light up" the DTS or DD logos. Bitstream should send encoded audio to the receiver which should then light up the logos. I would choose PCM but you should try both and see what it sounds like.

There may be setup issues as JZ1276 has pointed out, each receiver has its nuances. With no subwoofer your receiver needs to be set to sub "none", speakers to "large", crossover at "40hz", extra bass "on", to send bass to the speakers rather than the subwoofer output.

Hope that helps, does your audio sound better on apple tv? It's possible that you just may be at the limit of your setup and need to upgrade components, add subwoofer, etc.

Spiky

Should be able to set player to bitstream, HDMI cable, the receiver should recognize whatever level of Dolby/DTS it can handle. None of the other audio settings in the player should apply. It's all software at that point. And of course, always check the disc settings after starting a movie, these discs will do stupid things occasionally, like set default audio to a lower setting.

In the receiver, there are many settings that could affect it. I would check D.Range (set to STD), HDMI Audio Out (set to Amp), and the standard speaker settings as mentioned by others above.

Turn off CEC, Viera, ARC, Sync, whatever your TV calls the HDMI control system.

If it still doesn't work, tell us what the Display (p.38) says for each audio section. While playing something.