How Do I Get Dolby Digital Sound (1 Viewer)

[Allen Marshall]

me and this guy were talking about home theater, his speakers and reciever cost less then $900 like sony satellites and a pioneer reciever or something, my speakers and reciever cost $2,000 Athena Audition setup with a Yamaha reciever but he went on about how my system was a piece of garbage cause he's like

Guy: "you dont have digital sound"

Me: "it says dolby digital on the reciever"

Guy: "well do you have fiberwire?"

Me: "i dont know"

Guy: "then you dont have digital sound"

Me: "what would happen if i dont have digital sound"

Guy: "it's all just simulated sound, it's not true digital sound do you have DTS?"

Me: "it has modes and has DTS and then Neo 6 and Pro Logic II, why what would happen if i put it on those modes without digital sound?"

Guy: "they wont work, no sound will come out of the speakers"

Me: "but it does"

Guy: "well then i dont know"

i just took what the best buy guy gave me, made sense out of them and hooked them up, i got 1 yellow red and white cord goin from the tv to the dvd player, i got a red and blue goin from the dvd player to the reciever and another red and blue cord goin from the dvd player to the reciever, i dont understand how the whole coax and optical thing works cause i read the primer and you still have to be a genius to make sense of any of that, i just kinda want to know what cords i need and how to hook it up to to get this mystical digital sound stuff, this happened a month ago but i didnt address the situation until now cause im not combfortable with what he said, up until like 2 weeks ago i watched movies on 6ch stereo, now i watch them on Pro Logic II, i cant tell if its doin what its suppose to do cause i dont have a good ear, if it is doin what it's supposed to be doin im not very impressed with the whole surround sound idea, but i dont think thats the case cause it sounds so cool at my friends house i might just be paranoid and dont notice it in my house cause i choose not to or something.

Anyway, if someone could help, and explain like there talking to a 7 year old that would be awesome.

 

[MarkB]

Hi Allen,

Pretty simple (I hope). You need to connect either the Optical or Coax connection from your DVD player to the receiver. Currently, it sounds like you are taking the analog sound track from the DVD player. Using either of the connections listed will feed the Dolby Digital/DTS signal to your receiver. You may need to to back to your receiver settings, but that should do it.

Mark

 

[GrahamT]

Yes Mark is right, you need either a single coax cable or toslink optical cable from the dvd player digital out to the receiver input. you can use one side of the red-blue cable to try it out.

 

[John Garcia]

Your system is not a piece of garbage, it is simply not hooked up for the best possible sound. I think we have the fact that you need a digital cable covered.

You can pick up an inexpensive coaxial or optical digital cable at Radio Shack. Just ask them, they will know what you are talking about.

In your DVD player's setup menu, you will need to make sure that your digital audio output is turned on, DTS is turned on, and both set to "bitstream".

After that is done, on the receiver side, as mentioned, you may need to go into the receiver's setup menu to tell it that you want to use the coax/optical input for this device instead of analog (right and left RCAs). Then set the receiver to "auto" and you should be all set for digital sound.

 

[Allen Marshall]

how come i took the red out of both ends of one of my red and blue cords and hooked it up to the coax thing in the dvd player and the coax thing on the reciever, and the sound works, i dont know what any of this stuff means i just kept movin the stuff around when i hooked it up until it worked, like on the reciever one of my red/blue cords is hooked up to a thing thats called monitor out and the other red/blue cord is hooked up to a thing that says audio L/R, and then the 2nd cord i said runs up to a thing called component out on the dvd player and the first cord i talked about is running up to a video out thing.

what does an optical cord look like, why is the plug alittle thing you take out and what not and is my reciever hooked up right can someone tell me with wrods where which should go instead of where it is, and what about the red in the cord goin to the coax is thata ctually doing something or is it because the red cord isnt as important. and what does the green do

 

[Allen Marshall]

sorry, one's hooked up to component out the other is hooked up to line out. i tried looking for input on my modes and all it gave me options for was was like 1(a) dvd 1(b) vcr 1(c) d-tv/cbl up to d, then i found a thing that say's dvd input on the reciever so i clicked it and it said dvd auto, then i clicked it again and it said dvd dts and the sound wasnt working when i did that, then i clicked it again and it said dvd analog and it sounded the same as dvd auto, i put my red wires back in there original places until i get some info on this matter

 

[Allen Marshall]

samsung dvd/vcr player and a Yamaha HTR-5640

 

[MarkB]

I'll give this a try. First, I think having your DVD settings on Auto is the way to go. My guess is that it will detect the appropriate signal based on what the DVD is sending.

As far as the hook-up I'd recommend the following.

DVD Video out to Receivers DVD Video in (this can be a single video cable, S-Video or Componet(3 separate connections)). If you are already getting video, this will not need to be changed.

Do not connect the right/left audio out from you DVD player to anything (for now)

Connect the Audio from the DVD player (either the Coax or Toslink) to the corresponding input on your receiver (ie DVD input with same jack type).

That should get you going. Unless I'm mistaken any RCA cable can be used for the COAX connection, but a 75ohm is preferred for shielding. You should be able to test with what you have and then go to radio shack like mentioned above to get the correct cable.

Good Luck!

 

[ChrisWiggles]

OK, wow. You are confused. The answers are confusing. And now I am confused. I'm going to be lengthy, but hopefully thorough, and at the end you will understand better, and know what to connect. (and btw, that "guy" is an idiot, don't listen to him).

Ok, there are two different things coming from your DVD player: video, and audio.

First, the video. You didn't mention what type of display you have, so I have to cover ALL the bases, and thus be more confusing, but hopefully more thorough. Within video, there are 3 main consumer connections(ignoring RGB), composite, s-video, and component. Most likely, you have all three of these options on the rear of your DVD player, you'll see them labeled there. Composite is a single, yellow RCA jack. S-video uses a wierd-looking s-video jack, that almost looks like a mouse connector from a computer, it has a couple little pins in the connector, and uses just a single connector. Component-video can provide progressive scan(the others cannot), and is probably labeled component video out on your DVD player, and uses 3 different RCA wires, labeled Y, Pb, and Pr. Ok, so that covers the 3 different video connections available from your DVD player. From worst to best, is composite, s-video, and component. Try not to confuse composite, and component, the words are close, and confusing, and it's easy to read one as the other.

Again, you did not mention what kind of TV you have, or what inputs it has, so you'll have to look on the rear and see which of these inputs it has. You'll want to use the best option that it has available.

So, to run video, there is one more ripple of complication. That is, whether or not you want to run the video through the receiver. I looked up your receiver, and noticed that it has video switching for all 3 types, composite, s-video, and component. You don't need to feed the video through the receiver, all it does is switch the video. This is a little more complicated to answer as to what you want/need, so I'd keep things simpler for now, and run all your video directly to your TV, and NOT through your receiver. Once you figure out what's going on a bit more, then you can ask some more, and figure out video switching via your receiver. Keeping things separate is both technically preferred, and keeps things conceptually separate, so hopefully you'll understand a little better.

Whew, ok, so hopefully that helps you figure out the video side of things.

Now, for audio:

Your DVD player will most likely have 3 different sets of audio outputs, in two different categories. The first, is regular, 2-channel analog. This is just two RCA connectors, that will be color-coded red and white(Right and left, respectively). Then there will also likely be a single, orange RCA output, labeled coaxial digital. And there will probably also be a funny-looking toslink connector that you pull off the cover for, and this is an optical digital output.

The two digital outputs (coax and optical) do the same thing, except they vary in their transmission. You NEED to use one of these digital outputs, and run it to your receiver. I would recommend you purchase, or use a single RCA cable, and connect one end to the digital coax out on your DVD player, and the other end to the digital coax in on your receiver. Also make sure you are not using the L/R analog connections, remove those.

This should ensure that you are getting digital sound via your DVD player. One more little ripple of complication, though, that you may need to look into. Your yamaha has assignable digital inputs, so you'll likely have to sit down with the manual, and via the menus, assign that digital coaxial input (that you used to connect your DVD player) to most likely DVD, or whatever input label you want to use. Then, your reciever should clearly display Dolby Digital, or DTS when it gets the audio feed from the DVD player during the movie(it may also use automatically pro logic, or neo6 during menus, ignore this). You probably also want to set your receiver to "auto" and it should be able to handle whatever is sent correctly.

In your previous post, that you were unable to get audio when you selected the DTS track on a DVD leads me to believe that you did not have your DVD player hooked up via digital connection. This should fix everything, and hopefully I've not confused you too much, I know it's a lot to handle. If you get stuck in my explanation, just ask again, and be patient, and descriptive, as that helps us answer your specific problem rather than covering the whole of audio and video connections because we can't tell what you're doing.

Lastly, after all this, you'll want to try a disc with DTS. If you successfully get Dolby Digital, and all is well, then the last thing you need to do is enter the menu of your DVD player, and enable DTS. This is most likely covered in your manual.

Ok, hope that helps, and just be patient, and try to understand what you are connecting to what, because just randomly running wires all over the place until you get some kind of sound is bound to fail.

Good luck!

 

[Allen Marshall]

(when i finally get this all set up i'll thank everyone that helped)

Chris, i appreciate all the trouble you went through to explain that i actually understood all of that without having to read it twice, i have a 1992 Toshiba 27 inch soon to be replaced by a 65 inch widescreen from Mitsubishi, im gonna go check what plugs are in the back of my tv right now

(checking)

ok, on the back there's two sections, In and out, on the in side there's two sets of yellow white and red cords, labeled Video 1 and Video 2, and then there's an S-Video plug, on the out side it says VAR audio or something like that and it has a yellow and red plug, or white and red, i couldnt really see that is labeled L and R. i have a yellow red and whit ecord goin from line out on the dvd player to Video 1 on the tv.

whats the difference betwen coax and optical.

 

[Ben LG]

Allen - Optical vs. Coax.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

ok, on the back there's two sections, In and out, on the in side there's two sets of yellow white and red cords, labeled Video 1 and Video 2, and then there's an S-Video plug, on the out side it says VAR audio or something like that and it has a yellow and red plug, or white and red, i couldnt really see that is labeled L and R. i have a yellow red and whit ecord goin from line out on the dvd player to Video 1 on the tv.

Ok, it still sounds like you are confused.

You only want to send the VIDEO to the TV, NOT the audio. The red and white plugs, as I so thoroughly explained, are analog audio cables, that carry left and right in basic stereo. You do NOT want your audio going to the TV, you want it going to the receiver. Again, read through my post carefully, and follow along with your manuals, and devices. You do NOT want to be using analog audio at all to your reciever OR your TV. You need to, as I explained, use a single digital coaxial cable, usually coded orange, directly into an orange digital input on your yamaha receiver.

Apart from that, it sounds like S-video is the best input on your TV, since it doesn't look like it has component. So, get (or use if you have one already) an S-video cable (radio shack will help you get one), and run that to your TV.

So again, basic summary, ONE digital audio cable goes to your receiver. That's it.

And then Video goes directly to your TV. That's it.

So please read carefully and try to understand what I wrote previously, if you get a little lost or I said something confusing, I will try to clarify for you. But it still sounds like you've got things going to the wrong places.

Ok, so when you DO get your new TV, we can help you hook that up as well. most likely it will come with component inputs that you will want to take advantage of for video.

 

[Citizen87645]

Based on his posts it sounds like he has a rat's nest. I suggest he disconnects everything, lay out the cables on the floor and start from scratch, following the directions provided by others. Randomly plugging in cables until something works is bound to make it more confusing. Start with a clean slate.

 

[Allen Marshall]

chris you said to use a coaxial i was gonna use an optical cord instead, is that ok?

 

[Allen Marshall]

oh yea, so your saying i should use an S-Video cord for video instead of the yellow white and red?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Optical is the eqivalent. I recommend coaxial because it's cheaper, and just as effective(if not technically superior, but that's not really relevant). So either way, it gets the job done.

And again, as I explained, the video is ONLY the yellow cords/connections. Red and white is Analog audio, R/L. You do not need to have those connected, ONLY the digital audio, either via coaxial, or optical cables/connections, as explained.

So for video, it's still unclear as to what connections options you have on your TV, but you should go with the best of these 3 options available to you, from worst to best: composite(1 yellow cable), s-video(1 s-video cable), or component(3 rca cables labeled Y, Pr, Pb).

Does that make sense? Let us know if you're getting things working...

 

[Allen Marshall]

i dont understand what you mean by its still unclear what connection options i have on my tv, i said 1 S-Video thing, 2 sets of yellow red and white plugs and then 1 set of white and red.

your saying all i should have is the yellow plugged into the back of the tv?

 

[Allen Marshall]

can i hook a red/blue/green up to a red/white/yellow thing

 

[Allen Marshall]

not that i want/need to im just curious

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Yes. As I explained, Yellow is video. Red and White carry audio. You don't need audio going to your TV, that's what the digital cable going to your receiver is for.

You *probably* want to use s-video instead of composite(yellow), so you may want to go pick up an s-video cable at radioshack, and use that INSTEAD of the yellow composite video cable that you are using now.

Again, it doesn't seem like you're taking the time to understand what is going where. I explained, that the Red/blue/green connectors are Component Video, and they are labeled individually: Y, Pb, and Pr. Each of those three cables carry a different portion of the video signal. Your TV is not equipped to handle this signal. Plugging these into a composite video(yellow) and analog audio (red and white) inputs would yield a very messed up picture indeed.

I've explained what ALL these connections do, why there are so many that are duplicates, or different versions of the same thing, so please read that, and follow along, and you should be able to understand why things go where, and what they do.