Surround Sound/Television Question (1 Viewer)

[SWilliams]

Wow, maybe I should call the company and ask. I will let you know what they say! I can assure you all DVDs with Surround Sound ARE in Surround Sound. You get sound in the back and not the front, on the left and not the right, etc. It was only through television programming that I did not hear the S.S. effect. (They do sound better with it on though. Much better stereo sound.) Again, I'll let you know what the company says about Dolby.

SWilliams

 

[SWilliams]

I made a call to Lennox, and the gentleman I spoke with said the unit does not have ProLogic. But he said that should not make a difference. I explained I do hear sound through all 4 speakers, but that it does not sound at all like a DVD. He said it should and suggested I plug the system into my cable box instead of my television. If I then do not hear a difference, I am to call him back. I am at work now, so I will have to try it later when I get home. I will be sure to let you know what happens!

 

[ChuckSolo]

Hmmmmmm.....I'm really confused now. Let's get the facts straight.

1. This unit does NOT have an integrated DVD player.

2. There doesn't appear to be a "digital" input on the main unit where one might plug in an optical or coaxial digital connection from a DVD player.

3. The user's guide instructs the user to connect the L/R Analog outputs to the corresponding jacks on the Durabrand's main unit.

Then the question becomes: Without a digital connection in, how is the unit processing DD signals in the first place? The only way I can imagine getting "surround" sound out of this unit is if the machine is using some sort of processess to output a "matrixed" surround effect. Strange to say the least.

 

[SWilliams]

RE Point 1 - I had a DVD player already. So I did not set out to buy a unit with an integrated player.

RE Point 2 - I'm not sure what you mean by "digital" input. The DVD player I have is connect using an S-Video Cable from the DVD player to the TV. Then a red/white audio cable runs from the DVD player to the Surround Sound. It uses 5.1 surround and I assure you it IS surround sound.

The back of the unit has 3 audio connects. One labled DVD, one labled AUX, and one lable COMP. The DVD audio cable runs to the DVD jack, the TV to the AUX, and a CD player to the COMP.

As to how it is processing the signals, I haven't a clue. I am so new to this and have much to learn. I would not know where to being even asking about that one. I still plan to move the TV audio plug to the cable box and see what happens.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

It is not 5.1 surround, it is either simulated surround or it is Dolby Pro-logic (Pro-Logic is matrixed surround, with both rear channels in mono and a limited dynamic range). The manual was incorrect to say "5.1 channel surround sound", because it is impossible to get this through red/white analog connections. In order to get real 5.1 Dolby Digital surround, you have to have a digital connection, not the red/white analog ones. A digital connection is one of two types, optical or coaxial. The optical uses a fiber optic cable and the coaxial uses a single video grade RCA cable. Neither of these is present on your system

 

[ChuckSolo]

SWilliams, if you are running the R/L from the R/L analog audio connections on your DVD player to the corresponding "DVD" connection on your Durabrand system, then the connection is not a "digital" connection. A "digital" connection, a single cable, either fiber optic or coaxial, is the ONLY way to get the Doby Digital signals from the player to a genuine DD 5.1 surround system. Does the front of your unit have the words "Dolby Digital" stenciled anywhere on it? If not, then you are indeed getting "simulated" surround by internal processing of a pure downmixed stereo signal going out from the player to the Durabrand system.

 

[ChuckSolo]

As I was shopping at Wal-Mart I saw one of these systems on display and checked it out. There are LED lights on the front that are labeled "5.1 Ch" and "2.0 Ch" so they are indeed claiming that it does produce 5.1 channel "surround" sound. The back of the main unit does not have any digital optical or coaxial inputs but just ordinary L/R analog connections as well as the power switch and speaker connection terminals. This being the case, the system has to have some kind of internal kind of processing similar to ProLogic in order to process a stereo signal into "surround" sound. The lack of any DD markings on the packaging or system itself lead me to believe that it is a kind of ProLogic clone of some sort. I am really intrigued by this and would really like to hear the unit since a few people have mentioned that the system sounds pretty good.

 

[SWilliams]

That sounds like an interesting project for me. I will see what I can do to record the sound and post a link. (Though this forum will not let me post links yet) I will have to pick a movie now...get back to you later today.

 

[SWilliams]

Okay, here's the best I could do. Keep in mind it is no where near as good as being in the room. First, I used a digital camera so the recording sound was not great. Second, you are listening to this through computer speakers (which in my case are not great either). I think though you might get the feel for it. I stood in the center of the room and then walked around it stopping in front of the different speakers. I did some sound editing to clean it up a bit (I do that for a living.).

FWIW, it's Scene 4 from Master and Commander.

web.tampabay.rr.com/swilli41/surround/
You will have to add the http thing because I am not allowed to post links. (the newbie thing) There is no www

The file is 1.6mb about 1.20 minutes in length. Just click on the.mp3 file.

 

[ChuckSolo]

Pretty clear recording. I honestly do believe you are hearing some type of "surround" sound through that system. What everyone is basically saying is that because there is no "digital" connection, that is, either an optical or coaxial digital connection from your DVD player to the Durabrand system, it would be impossible to get a true 5.1 digital, discreet (separate) sound channels. It sounds like a ProLogic type of matrix surround to me.

 

[SWilliams]

Fixed it! The Lennox Customer Service man's suggestion to run the cable from the cable box made a huge difference in sound. Sound really cool now regardless of digital or not. Not bad for $50. Thanks to everyone for your help on this issue. I have learned a lot!