Pioneer DV-563A Review (1 Viewer)

[Dave F]

Nope, that was the first thing that I checked (and just checked again). I have the 5.1 cluster going to my amplifier and the 2CH outs going to the television.

-Dave

 

[Gary DeRoy]

Dave,
In the 563 menu: "Speakers/Audio output mode", what's it set to?

 

[Paul.S]

And what DVD(s) are you watching? No fakakta 'surround' processing by the TV going on? -p

 

[Dave F]

Here are my audio related settings:
Digital Out: On
Dolby Digital Out: Dolby Digital 5.1
DTS Out: DTS
Linear PCM Out: Downsample off
MPEG Out: MPEG
Speakers/Audio Output mode: 5.1

Fake surround processing is shut off on the TV, and this is on any Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. (DTS may be the same, but I don't usually play the DRS tracks so I'm not sure)

-Dave

 

[Paul.S]

BGL:

One more unsubstantiated guess: DTS downmix may refer only to discrete 5.1or 6.1 DTS content, same as DD downmix? DTS CD's where matrix encoded, where they not? Perhaps that is why you get differing results?

I don't think so, B. It's not my understanding that DTS CDs were matrixed; it was always my understanding that they're discrete.

Now, DTS CDs but are PCM-encoded DTS, but I don't understand how this could make a difference WRT to downmixability (in other words, it's not as though DVD-V's different DTS-encoding--in the audio section of the DVD's video area--makes them any less downmixable).

Finally playing my Sting Ten Summoner's Tales DTS CD. Remarkable that these CDs sound pretty good even when downmixed.

-p

 

[Brian L]

I don't think so, B. It's not my understanding that DTS CDs were matrixed; it was always my understanding that they're discrete.

Fair enough. Never had one (a DTS music CD), as I was quite late to the DTS party, and by the time I arrived, my entry ticket was my uni-player, so not much incentive to go find any.

I have seen a few titles that have peaked my interest (Fly Like an Eagle, for example), but they do seem pretty pricey at my local Best Buy.

Dave: Not to butt in, but I think having the player set for 5.1 speakers may be the key. On my 45a (the 563's big brother, if you will), if I do that the L/R are just copies of the L/R pair of the 5.1. I think setting the player to 2CH in the speaker set-up may be what triggers the downmix to the analogs.

There is a chart in the 45a manual that pretty much shows that behavior.

Also, if the digital out is set to PCM, that triggers the downmix of that output.

BGL

 

[Gary DeRoy]

Speakers/Audio Output mode: 5.1

When set to 5.1 Channel, only the front left/right channels are output from the Audio Out (2Ch) jacks. Change to 2 Channel if you want to listen to down-mixed stereo audio. All channels will be mixed to stereo.
You can also turn on Virtual Surround (SRS) on the 563 (in the Audio settings). It can add quite a bit to some movies.

Some DVD-A discs don't allow down-mixing of audio. These discs always output multi-channel regardless of settings.