Help Please: Surround Sound Speakers Not Working (1 Viewer)

Hey Guys,

I just hooked up my home theater I got today the lg lhb977 http://www.amazon.com/LG-LHB977-1000-Watt-Blu-ray-Theater/dp/B0026NSXJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255837799&sr=8-1

I'm new at this and tried to follow the book lol, but this is how I have it setup please let me know if I'm doing something wrong.

I have an hdmi cable going from the dvr cable box to the lg receiver hdmi input. Then a hdmi cable going from the lg receiver hdmi output to the my tv hdmi input. Then I have a video cord "video in" from the lg receiver going to the dvr cable box "video out". And then 3 cables together of Red,Blue and Green going from the lg receiver to the dvr cable box.

Now in my lg settings, when I turn off hdmi audio the surround sound speakers work on tv and movies, when I turn it on the surround sound speakers no longer work on tv or movies. I was under the impressiona that hdmi audio would be hd sound which is the best correct? But the down side the surround sound speakers aren't working with it, only the center, front L and front R.

Any ideas on this? Thanks!

Originally Posted by invisionblue
I have an hdmi cable going from the dvr cable box to the lg receiver hdmi input. Then a hdmi cable going from the lg receiver hdmi output to the my tv hdmi input.

Click to expand...

That should be all you need. Just for tv, you don't need all those other connections. Did you assign the HDMI input to the DVR? If not, you might need to. The owner's manual will tell you how. You may not need to though. I'm not familiar with LG stuff.

You may also need to go into the DVR setup menus, and tell it to output "Dolby Digital" or maybe just "Digital", for the audio.

The only HD audio you should get, will be from blu ray movies. From tv (DVR), you should get regular Dolby Digital 5.1 surround from most HD channels, some premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.), and some PPV channels. For those channels that don't broadcast in surround, you can get in Pro Logic II (simulated surround). That sounds decent, but not as good as real surround.

There should be a way to play "Test Tones" from your receiver. Have you done that? When playing test tones, do all the speakers work?

Since the blu ray player is built-in, all you should need to do for that, is put in a disc and sit back and watch it.

I hope this helps.............
Good luck!

Originally Posted by Ed Moxley




That should be all you need. Just for tv, you don't need all those other connections. Did you assign the HDMI input to the DVR? If not, you might need to. The owner's manual will tell you how. You may not need to though. I'm not familiar with LG stuff.

You may also need to go into the DVR setup menus, and tell it to output "Dolby Digital" or maybe just "Digital", for the audio.

The only HD audio you should get, will be from blu ray movies. From tv (DVR), you should get regular Dolby Digital 5.1 surround from most HD channels, some premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.), and some PPV channels. For those channels that don't broadcast in surround, you can get in Pro Logic II (simulated surround). That sounds decent, but not as good as real surround.

There should be a way to play "Test Tones" from your receiver. Have you done that? When playing test tones, do all the speakers work?

Since the blu ray player is built-in, all you should need to do for that, is put in a disc and sit back and watch it.

I hope this helps.............
Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Yes I did do a test zone and all speakers work. When I go to into the lg settings and turn HDMI Audio off every speaker works for tv and movies. But when I turn it on the surround sound speakers stop working for both tv and movies, only the front 2 and center work when HDMI Audio is turned on.

I went into my DVR settings and turned the audio output from tv speakers to advanced but didn't really notice anything.

You have a wrong setting somewhere. A setting to do with HDMI output for audio, is wrong, if all the speakers work when HDMI is turned off, and all speakers don't work, when HDMI is turned on.

Read the manual very carefully, and it should walk you through the setup. The customer reviews in the link you provided to Amazon, all say how easy it was to setup. So, you've missed a setting somewhere. Manuals can be intimidating sometimes, but they usually do a decent job helping you through things. When you finally figure it out, you'll probably say, "How did I miss that?"
Good luck!

Originally Posted by Ed Moxley

You have a wrong setting somewhere. A setting to do with HDMI output for audio, is wrong, if all the speakers work when HDMI is turned off, and all speakers don't work, when HDMI is turned on.

Read the manual very carefully, and it should walk you through the setup. The customer reviews in the link you provided to Amazon, all say how easy it was to setup. So, you've missed a setting somewhere. Manuals can be intimidating sometimes, but they usually do a decent job helping you through things. When you finally figure it out, you'll probably say, "How did I miss that?"
Good luck!

Click to expand...

I most likely do have a setting wrong, in the manual it has this though:

HDMI Audio

Off - Audio signals are output to the system speakers only.
On - Audio signals are output from the TV's speaker and the systems front left and right speaker and subwoofer.

It doesn't mention the surround sound speakers when turned on, so I must have to set something or hook something up, not sure.

Ok, I looked up the manual, on their site. See page 25, right hand side. Did you calibrate the speakers (volumes & distances), and save the settings afterward?

HDMI Audio
You can set TV speaker output for the audio signal from the HDMI OUT jack.
[Off] – Audio signals are output to the system speakers only.
[On] – Audio signals are output from the TV’s speaker and the
system’s front left and right speaker and subwoofer.

That's talking about using the tv's speakers with HDMI. Not the system speakers. The tv's speakers should be turned off, in the tv's menus.
See the line above the [Off], to see it's the tv's speakers it's talking about.
See left side of page 26.
See left side of page 49

Originally Posted by Ed Moxley

Ok, I looked up the manual, on their site. See page 25, right hand side. Did you calibrate the speakers (volumes & distances), and save the settings afterward?

HDMI Audio
You can set TV speaker output for the audio signal from the HDMI OUT jack.
[Off] – Audio signals are output to the system speakers only.
[On] – Audio signals are output from the TV’s speaker and the
system’s front left and right speaker and subwoofer.

That's talking about using the tv's speakers with HDMI. Not the system speakers. The tv's speakers should be turned off, in the tv's menus.
See the line above the [Off], to see it's the tv's speakers it's talking about.
See left side of page 26.
See left side of page 49

Click to expand...

I haven't done the distance settings yet, but if I understand correctly now I want to leave HDMI Audio turned off correct? That would explain why the sound works with all the speakers when it's off.

Originally Posted by invisionblue



I haven't done the distance settings yet, but if I understand correctly now I want to leave HDMI Audio turned off correct? That would explain why the sound works with all the speakers when it's off.

Click to expand...

When all the speakers are working, while playing a regular dvd, what does it say in the receiver's display? Something like.........D. Digital, or Dolby D., or Dolby Digital?

Originally Posted by Ed Moxley




When all the speakers are working, while playing a regular dvd, what does it say in the receiver's display? Something like.........D. Digital, or Dolby D., or Dolby Digital?

Click to expand...

I got it figured out now lol. I played 2 dvd's last night and was able to switch dolby digital and dolby digital true hd on a blu ray. The audio blew me away, very nice. The problem was having HDMI Audio turned on. Thanks for all the help.

Glad you got it figured out...........
In this case, the HDMI being "ON", was to send audio to the tv's speakers (not using surround system). In one way it makes sense, but in another way, it's kinda strange, worded like that.
Enjoy!