Metallica Black Album DVD-A - Technical Question

Jon_Welker · 06-11-2003, 12:07 AM

Alright, I reluctantly picked up the new (old) Metallica black album DVD-A today at BB. Popped it in when I got home, and there was no signal going to my sub. Wait a minute here... Checked all the connections, and everything was fine. Tried my only other DVD-A (Disturbed), and the lfe kicked right in. Had everything set identical (and correctly I believe) on my equipment. No .1 coming from Metallica though. Anyone else out there have this DVD-A??? Here is my equipment:

Elite 45TX
Elite DV45A
NHT T5's, M5 center, CS 8.3 surrounds (also, the amp and crossover that come with the T5's have indicator lights, and as soon as the a sound signal is recognized they go from standby (orange) to on (green)).

Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated. I am going to test it further tomorrow.

Shayne Judge · 06-11-2003, 02:26 AM

Yes, I own this DVD-a. The LFE works fine, and is very apparent. No idea what the problem could be though.

Jon_Welker · 06-11-2003, 08:52 AM

Thanks for the reply, Shayne. I'm just about to go test this again to make sure I'm not crazy. Might take it back to BB for an exchange.

06-11-2003, 09:13 AM

I doubt the disc is defective.

A couple questions. I have a 45A, and there are some quirks with Bass Management (If you want a headache, search on the HTF Audio/Video Sources, and type in 45A Bass Management).

How is the BM set in the player? How about levels in the player? How is the player connected to your receiver? 6CH inputs, I assume?

Putting that aside, do you know if this disk is 5.1, 5.0. 4.0. etc.? BM on the 45A does not work correctly with DVD-A 4.0 (not sure about 5.0).

Another possibility; do you now for sure that the player is grabbing the DVD-A MC tracks? I have had occasion to find that the player for unknown reasons defaulted to something other than the DVD-A MC tracks. Hitting the "display" or "audio" button while the disc is playing will tell you what it is doing.

BGL

John-Miles · 06-11-2003, 10:56 AM

I have the Yamaha S2300, and my metallica disc works fine.... HOWEVER I am not positive but i think the metallica one may be a 5.0 recording and the Disturbed one a 5.1 recording, so if the BM isn't workign quite right then that would be the problem.

i will try both discs tonight though and see what happens, maybe im deaf or something.

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Ken_McAlinden · 06-11-2003, 01:03 PM

Check out the DD track on the DVD-V program. That one has prominent and near-constant LFE, and your player and/or receiver might even be able to give you a visual indication of its presence. This might help you to isolate whether it is hardware or software related.

Regards,

Wayne Bundrick · 06-11-2003, 04:42 PM

And that cowbell in the left rear speaker during "My Friend Of Misery" is normal. That's just Will Ferrell making a cameo appearance on the surround mix.

Jon_Welker · 06-11-2003, 06:37 PM

I returned the disc today to BB in exchange for a new one. One of the hinges on the plastic case also broke off upon initially unwrapping it. Got the disc home and tried it out, and same thing. However, before testing it out, I stopped by my NHT dealer to test it down there (same front speaker setup as I have). The NHT crossover picked up the .1 signal right away. They were using a Marantz receiver and a Pioneer DVD/DVD-A/etc. player.

Brian,

Yes, I do have all the analog channels hooked up between DV45A and 45TX. I just double checked the back cover, and it is indeed a 5.1 mix. Also, I put the Disturbed disc in and it recognized the .1 immediately. As posted earlier, I know as soon as that .1 hits the subs due to the standby lights on the NHT crossover and amp going from orange to green (can alos hear it). The .1 kicked right in at the dealer though. I'm really scratching my head on this. You have a good suggestion to check some of the setup menus in the DV45A, I will try this tonight.

Jon_Welker · 06-12-2003, 02:09 PM

Alright, I checked out the setup menus in the DV45A with manual in hand, and I'm almost positive that I have all the settings correct. Still no .1. At wit's end, I called Pioneer, and about the best they could tell me is to take it in to a local service center. The rep believes something is messed up with the player according to the information that I have given him. I think I'm going to try and call my dealer as a last ditch effort. I'm trying not to lose my DVD player for x number of weeks. Please, if there any other suggestions out there, I would be most grateful to hear them. Would it be anything in the receiver at all? Thanks in advance.

06-12-2003, 02:19 PM

Several more thoughts..

Although I can not site the page #, there is a simple procedure in the manual to reset the player to factory defaults. I would give that a try, and reset everything from scratch.

Another possibility; the disc is NOT 5.1, regardless of what the box says. If that were the case, this would NOT be the first time that a disc was mislabeled.

When you play the disc, and hit the "display" it will tell you what channels are there. It should say 3/2.1. If it is 3/2, I would suspect that its a BM issue, as exists with 4.0 DVD-A stuff.

Did you try the DD mix on the DVD-V layer as Ken suggested? To do that, you will likely need to go into the menu and select DVD-V for DVD-A titles.

That would be a good test.

BGL