4700 allows layer access on WB DVD-A discs! (1 Viewer)

[Alan_Horner]

I may be blowing a trumpet that's already been sounded, but as a newbie to the world of DVD-A, it's been my understanding that Warner Brothers DVD-A discs prevent folks from accessing the Dolby Digital audio section because the disc would automatically offer the advanced resolution layer when read by a DVD-A player.
I was somewhat surprised to discover that my new Toshiba 4700 has an option that allows me to set which type of disc the player "recognizes." In the Setup -> Operations -> Priority Contents menu, you can select either DVD-Audio or DVD-Video as the type of disc you want the player to recognize. Selecting the default DVD-Audio option plays a DVD-A disc with the advanced resolution offerings and selecting DVD-Video brings up the Dolby Digital offerings only. This setting does not affect playback of DVD videos, so one isn't constantly having to change the setting when playing audio or video discs.
Oddly enough, when I put in the DVD-A of "Homecoming" by America, I could only access the Dolby Digital channels (and not the DTS offering that is listed on the package) after selecting the DVD-Video option. This could be because the 4700 doesn't have onboard DTS decoding (that's handled through my receiver).
Not sure what this means in the grand scheme of things, but I thought it was neat. I'm still a bit concerned about the upcoming release of "A Night at the Opera" by Queen -- the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video is included in 5.1 DTS sound and I may not be able to enjoy that audio option for the video. The disc does offer 24/96 advanced resolution however, so I'm not worried about the audio content.
Boy, am I loving DVD-Audio!!!

[Edited last by Alan_Horner on November 03, 2001 at 12:17 PM]

 

[Keith Mickunas]

You might want to look through your menus some more and see if there is an option for DTS vs. DD output. Some players have a setting that forces them to DD and ignores DTS for compatibility with older receivers. Of course you'll need to have the digital output connected to the receiver for this to work.