Audio questions. (1 Viewer)

[Corneileous]

Hey guys, I have a Samsung UHD 4K QN65Q7FAM TV, Samsung HW-M550 Soundbar w/sub and a Samsung UBD-K8500 Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray player.

What is the best audio settings for both the TV, the Blu-ray player and the sound bar so that whenever I’m watching either a DVD, a Blu-ray or a 4K ultra Blu-ray so that I don’t have to constantly keep turning up the volume and turning it down whenever the loud scenes come up? Generally being that all of my streaming apps is on my Apple 4K TV, all of that seems to be OK but it’s basically whenever I’m playing a disc is when I have a hard time figuring out what audio settings to use just basically to get the best sound I can without also having the dialogue so low and the action scenes so loud. Also, I’m not really sure exactly what my sound bar is made for as far as the audio technology or any of that stuff or even how many speakers it has on the inside of it but on my TV settings for the audio , is it better to have the HDMI input audio format on PCM or on Bitstream? So far, whether it’s set to PCM or Bistream, the only options I have for the digital output audio format is either PCM or DTS Neo 2:5. Oh, and I’m using an HDMI cable between the TV and the sound bar for the ARC connection.

On the Blu-ray player, I currently have the digital output set to PCM because the other three options are bitstream unprocessed, Bitstream re-encoded DTS and bitstream re-encoded Dolby D which I’m assuming is Dolby digital but I don’t know which one of those to use so being that I’ve got the TV audio set to PCM, that’s what I have the digital output on my Blu-ray player set to as well.

As far as the PCM down sampling, that’s always been set to on because that’s what the default setting is but I don’t know whether to turn that off or not because I don’t know if my sound bar is 96 kHz compatible or not.

I’ve got the dynamic range control turned off and I have the down mixing mode set to surround capable. Would that be better set to just normal stereo since I’m using a sound bar or just leave it on what it is which is surround compatible?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

The dynamic range control is what will (or at least should) even out the volume differences.

Your soundbar appears to be 3.1, not stereo. Tough to say which settings to use. You’ll probably need to compare between bitstream and PCM and see what sounds best.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Corneileous]

The dynamic range control is what will (or at least should) even out the volume differences.

So should I leave that set to auto or just turn it on?

Your soundbar appears to be 3.1, not stereo.

Ok, thank you. So that means basically there’s a center channel and a right and left channel? And of course the .1 is the subwoofer, correct?

Tough to say which settings to use. You’ll probably need to compare between bitstream and PCM and see what sounds best.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

With all due respect, I’ve done that. Lol. I’m mot rest sure what works the best but at least if I play a 4K ultra disc, I can get a little more evened out sound with just PCM but I’m hoping it could be better.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I have no idea what settings your system has, but the dynamic range control will not work unless it is engaged. If there is an “auto” setting and you still have the problem then set if for “on.” It’s also possible it will only work in bitstream mode, so be sure and check for that.

Yes, 3.1 means center channel and sub in addition to the standard left and right.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[JohnRice]

As Wayne has alluded to, it's almost impossible to give 1-2-3 instructions for anyone who has not worked with the exact combination of equipment you have. So, to reinforce what he said, in general you want everything set to bitstream audio. If the soundbar has any channel level adjustment, you should try increasing the center channel level. And, as he said, try dynamic range settings. Most likely it has 2-3 settings in addition to "Off". Each one would reduce the dynamics by an increasing degree.

 

[Corneileous]

As Wayne has alluded to, it's almost impossible to give 1-2-3 instructions for anyone who has not worked with the exact combination of equipment you have. So, to reinforce what he said, in general you want everything set to bitstream audio. If the soundbar has any channel level adjustment, you should try increasing the center channel level. And, as he said, try dynamic range settings. Most likely it has 2-3 settings in addition to "Off". Each one would reduce the dynamics by an increasing degree.

Ok so, when you say to set everything to Bitstream audio, does that matter if the soundbar is connected via ARC or optical? And what bitstream options do I use? On the TV, if I set the HDMI Input Audio Format to Bitstream, the only options I can select for the Digital Output Audio Format is either DTS Neo 2:5 or PCM. It won’t let me select Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+ or DTS.

On the blue ray player it’s either PCM, bitstream unprocessed, Bitstream re-encoded DTS and bitstream re-encoded Dolby D.

I don’t have any way to set the level for the individual speakers in the soundbar but I can change the level for the subwoofer, though. All I have is an equalizer setting on the TV and the soundbar.

I don’t think there is a dynamic range control on the tv audio menu but on the Blu-ray player, it’s just on, off or auto.

 

[Rich Vincent]

Hey guys, I have a Samsung UHD 4K QN65Q7FAM TV, Samsung HW-M550 Soundbar w/sub and a Samsung UBD-K8500 Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray player.

What is the best audio settings for both the TV, the Blu-ray player and the sound bar so that whenever I’m watching either a DVD, a Blu-ray or a 4K ultra Blu-ray so that I don’t have to constantly keep turning up the volume and turning it down whenever the loud scenes come up? Generally being that all of my streaming apps is on my Apple 4K TV, all of that seems to be OK but it’s basically whenever I’m playing a disc is when I have a hard time figuring out what audio settings to use just basically to get the best sound I can without also having the dialogue so low and the action scenes so loud. Also, I’m not really sure exactly what my sound bar is made for as far as the audio technology or any of that stuff or even how many speakers it has on the inside of it but on my TV settings for the audio , is it better to have the HDMI input audio format on PCM or on Bitstream? So far, whether it’s set to PCM or Bistream, the only options I have for the digital output audio format is either PCM or DTS Neo 2:5. Oh, and I’m using an HDMI cable between the TV and the sound bar for the ARC connection.

On the Blu-ray player, I currently have the digital output set to PCM because the other three options are bitstream unprocessed, Bitstream re-encoded DTS and bitstream re-encoded Dolby D which I’m assuming is Dolby digital but I don’t know which one of those to use so being that I’ve got the TV audio set to PCM, that’s what I have the digital output on my Blu-ray player set to as well.

As far as the PCM down sampling, that’s always been set to on because that’s what the default setting is but I don’t know whether to turn that off or not because I don’t know if my sound bar is 96 kHz compatible or not.

I’ve got the dynamic range control turned off and I have the down mixing mode set to surround capable. Would that be better set to just normal stereo since I’m using a sound bar or just leave it on what it is which is surround compatible?

Thanks in advance.

I suspect everyone is over-anaylzing this a bit. I've had the same problem, but mine was caused because I have home theatre set-ups in 2 different rooms running off the same tuner.

It's important to realize that, thanks to when Dolby stereo was introduced into theatres, modern stereo is mixed with all the dialogue on the center channel and most special effects are on the left, right and surround channels. Thus, when the channel levels are not balanced correctly the dialogue will be too low while everything else is too loud or vice-versa.

This manifests itself on my system because if I balance the channels for my home theatre I have the same problem with the system upstairs in my living room, where the line runs and speaker distances are different. The difference is quite dramatic. Whenever I watch a blu-ray in the living room (and for some reason the difference is more pronounced using bly-ray as a source instead of my satellite) I have to rebalance all the channels. Sadly my tuner does not have alternative setting selections for speakers, so I have to use a sound metter ($20 bucks or so on Amazon) and change the balance for the channels. As simple as that.

 

[Corneileous]

I suspect everyone is over-anaylzing this a bit. I've had the same problem, but mine was caused because I have home theatre set-ups in 2 different rooms running off the same tuner.

It's important to realize that, thanks to when Dolby stereo was introduced into theatres, modern stereo is mixed with all the dialogue on the center channel and most special effects are on the left, right and surround channels. Thus, when the channel levels are not balanced correctly the dialogue will be too low while everything else is too loud or vice-versa.

This manifests itself on my system because if I balance the channels for my home theatre I have the same problem with the system upstairs in my living room, where the line runs and speaker distances are different. The difference is quite dramatic. Whenever I watch a blu-ray in the living room (and for some reason the difference is more pronounced using bly-ray as a source instead of my satellite) I have to rebalance all the channels. Sadly my tuner does not have alternative setting selections for speakers, so I have to use a sound metter ($20 bucks or so on Amazon) and change the balance for the channels. As simple as that.

Mine is all in the same room.

 

[JohnRice]

I'm at a bit of a loss. Unfortunately manufacturers like to make things "idiot proof" to a degree that nobody can make them work.

 

[Corneileous]

I'm at a bit of a loss. Unfortunately manufacturers like to make things "idiot proof" to a degree that nobody can make them work.

That is definitely true. What sucks is like how this won't let you run certain settings unless the conditions allow for it. I actually had pretty good audio while watching a 4K Blu-ray just a little while ago but I had to go into my TV's audio settings and select Dolby Digital on the output signal being that it would finally allow me to select that option. Currently watching a movie on a network channel from my Hulu Live on my Apple TV 4K but the DD option is again greyed out. Only option now is just PCM or DTS Neo:2.0.

 

[Edwin-S]

Is your 4K player connected to the soundbar through the HDMI port? The bar is supposed to support DD and DTS formats. Setting the player to Bitstream unprocessed should allow the bar or TV to decode the appropriate sound format. Setting the player to Bitstream reencoded Dolby digital will cause the player to convert the original sound format to DD. Reencoded DTS converts to DTS.

 

[Edwin-S]

You may have to set.the player to compatible surround sound mixing as well.

 

[Edwin-S]

How are you connecting the A4K TV? To a TV HDMi port?

 

[Corneileous]

Is your 4K player connected to the soundbar through the HDMI port?

My 4K player is connected to the TV lie everything else. Should it be connected directly to the soundbar? But actually on second thought, I don't remember what Samsung told me that HDMI input on my soundbar was for but a while back I was on a chat line with a Samsung tech asking if I could use that input on my soundbar so that I wouldn't have to use a HDMI splitter and I think they told me that input was for audio only or something. I don't really remember, I just remember that they said it wasn't the same A/V inout like the TV has.

The bar is supposed to support DD and DTS formats. Setting the player to Bitstream unprocessed should allow the bar or TV to decode the appropriate sound format. Setting the player to Bitstream reencoded Dolby digital will cause the player to convert the original sound format to DD. Reencoded DTS converts to DTS.

So which one of those would I use? That movie I said I watched earlier, I had the player set to Bitstream unprocessed and, it sounded pretty good. The dialogue and the loud action scenes seemed pretty synced but I can't remember if I had the dynamic range thing off or on auto.

As I said, the sound was pretty good but are those others better?

 

[Corneileous]

How are you connecting the A4K TV? To a TV HDMi port?

I don't get what you're asking. Everything is connected via HDMI port.

 

[Edwin-S]

I'm just wondering if the TV does not want to recognize a DD signal passed from the A4KTV through ARC to the sound bar if the Apple TV is connected through a TV port, rather than directly to the sound bar.

 

[JohnRice]

How are you connecting the A4K TV? To a TV HDMi port?

The soundbar only has one hdmi connection, so the ONLY way to use it is with ARC and components connected to the TV.

Bill, this simply tends to cause problems. If you only use the TV and internal apps, you're fine, but add anything else and it gets prickly. Add that the TV and soundbar are the same brand and it might even be worse, since they will try to "automate" everything.

 

[Corneileous]

I'm just wondering if the TV does not want to recognize a DD signal passed from the A4KTV through ARC to the sound bar if the Apple TV is connected through a TV port, rather than directly to the sound bar.

Sorry, your abbreviation confused me....lol. But yes, the Apple TV is plugged in to the TV through a HDMI splitter. I guess I could try hooking it up to that. That would actually be great then I wouldn't need the splitter. But then again, my Blu-ray player is connected to the splitter as well and I was able to select Dolby Digital on the TV earlier.

 

[JohnRice]

I guess I missed the detail that there is a splitter. That can add to problems.

Why do you have an hdmi splitter?

 

[Edwin-S]

Leaving it on Bitstream unprocessed should allow the original sound format to be decoded. IIRC, Fox used to do a lotmof titles where the default sound format was DTS.

I was curious how you had the stuff connected, because the manual for the soundbar shows an external device being connected to the soundtrack HDMI port.