Getting down with the Dolby (1 Viewer)

[Billbobagwell]

So I'm a little confused on how to word this question... I have a 5.1 receiver that has optical and coax, along with a 6 rca input option. It doesn't decode well in my opinion and it doesn't say that it actually supports Dolby. What could I do to get true Dolby surround? I'm trying to research on how to do so but I'm honestly getting a bit confused. I'm not wanting to buy a whole new receiver just a middle man between the input to the reciever

 

[JohnRice]

You need to provide a brand and model number.

Also, there’s multiple flavors of Dolby. Many different ones through the years.

 

[JackieT]

Sounds like you need to invest in a newer receiver.

 

[Billbobagwell]

It's just a cheap rockville hts45 it's a home theater in a box. I'm just using it for the amplifier since all the speakers it came with were junk

 

[Dave Moritz]

I would invest in a new receiver and nothing says you have to spend a ton of money.

 

[JackieT]

Time for new receiver.

 

[Billbobagwell]

Any suggestions for a real budget reciever

 

[JackieT]

What speakers are you using? How many?

 

[Billbobagwell]

Couldn't I just buy some kind of dac?

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah. It would come in the form of a new receiver. $250 is probably the minimum for a base model Denon.

 

[John Dirk]

This is a great bargain for the price but may or not be within your budget. Either way, for the best deals you should be considering used items.

 

[MitchellD]

The optical (TOSlink) or digital coax inputs are the only single cable input for 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. The 6 analog RCA inputs are for 5.1 sound already decoded at the source and sent to the receiver from the sources 6 analog RCA outputs.

Please note that many older 5.1 digital receivers only had the ability to decode Dolby Digital, but many Blu-ray’s have only DTS 5.1 encoded. Further, many streaming sites such as Netflix are using Dolby Digital + which older receivers can not decode and downgrade to Dolby Pro Logic (4 channel) sound.

The suggestions to upgrade your receiver to one that supports both Dolby Digital and DTS is a good one.

 

[JediFonger]

it sounds to me like we need more information from you:
1) budget (ballpark), $100? $500? $5,000?
2) what is it you are trying to achieve? 5.1 surround for movies? or 2.0 for music? etc.? HT/music at 50/50 or 90% HT and 10% music? what is it?
3) list our all the equipment you've got and how you want to access/utilize it?

once you've got all this i think we can discuss it in more detail.

 

[daddyora]

My only regret in buying an AVR a couple of years ago was in not getting a receiver that was capable of pre-outs. Of course that capability increases the cost by a couple of hundred $.