CD Player + DTS CD's = No Work? (1 Viewer)

[Richard Burzynski]

I tried to play a couple of my DTS CD's last night, and I couldn't get them to play via my Redbook ("regular CD") changer, never tried this before. Here is the background info:

* Prepro = Yamaha RX-V3000 Receiver
* CD Changer = Yamaha CDC-765
* Connection = Optical
* DTS CD's = Eagles & DMP Big Band

The CDC765 appeared to read the DTS CD's properly, it recognized number of tracks, and when I hit play, it would count seconds . . .

My RXV3000 has two modes for digital input: Auto and DTS. Either mode should properly recognize and then decode DTS data. I tried both modes and with DTS mode I got dead air, with Auto mode I got static. Connection is fine, as Redbook CD's play perfectly.

The DTS CD's did playback in my two DVD changers (also connected to same RX-V3000), so it's not that the DTS CD's are the source of the problem.

I was under the impression that Redbook CD players can properly pass the info found on a DTS CD. Is this not the case?

What gives? Any ideas? Thanks.

Rich B.

 

[FeisalK]

Richard,

just a hunch - have you tried the SPDI/F coax connection instead of the optical?

 

[Richard Burzynski]

Alas, my CD changer only has an optical output. But my 2 DVD changers are connected via coax.

Are you saying that DTS CD's don't like optical connections?

If so, that is just plain stinko!

Rich B.

 

[Michael Reuben]

DTS CDs do indeed play in any CD player. And they don't care whether the digital connection is optical or coax. My guess is that there's some sort of hardware incompatibility in either your player or your receiver (or perhaps the combination) that is preventing the receiver from recognizing the DTS bitstream. The encoding developed to "disguise" DTS as PCM on CD and LD was often subject to this kind of problem. I remember that most Pioneer LD players were affected by it, but only with certain DTS decoders.

M.

 

[Richard Burzynski]

One would figure that Yamaha CD changer + Yamaha Receiver would allow for proper compatability, although the CD changer is a little long in the tooth (~5+ yrs). I will try one more thing. I have a combination of "cheapo" and "nice" optical cables used in my system and I do not remember which type I used for the CD player, I think it was a "cheapo." I will swap a "nice" optical cable in there and see if it works.

Hope so.

Side Note:
"I remember that most Pioneer LD players were affected by it, but only with certain DTS decoders."

My Pioneer CLD-97 + RXV3000 + DTS LD's works fine. So far I have tested the famous J.Park and DTS was in all it's glory. Coax connection, if that matters.


Thanks for the help guys.

Rich B.

 

[Michael Reuben]

the CD changer is a little long in the tooth (~5+ yrs)

I suspect that's the problem. That's the era when a lot of hardware had a problem with this particular form of DTS encoding.

Here's something you might try: Start the CD with the receiver in "auto", and then manually switch it to "DTS" while it's receiving the bitstream. This is similar to how I worked around the problem with a Pioneer LD player and my first Lexicon DTS-capable processor.

M.

 

[John Garcia]

I have no problem with DTS CDs in any of my CDPs via coax or optical, so I'd have to say it is definitely a hardware issue, and it seems like it is your receiver not the player that doesn't like the stream. The short answer is, play these discs in your DVD.

One more thing: do you have the digital connection assigned properly? I found that to have both analog and digital connections on my previous receiver, I had to have analog go to CD and digital go to CD-R to work, since you could not assign BOTH to one input. My new receiver will detect which type is receiving signal from for the same source on the same input.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Why not try the DTS CDs in the CLD-97? That should work just fine, especially if it's reading DTS LDs properly.

 

[Richard Burzynski]

Just to clarify a few points:

* Yes the digital connection is assigned properly - as already mentioned, regular CD's play fine.

* Use DVD changer or LD player instead. Of course I will have to use something else, but I like using lots of software at same time, and that was the purpose of me putting a CD changer into my system - to play music. And to use my DVD changer for DVD's - I like demo'ing various scenes from different movies without having to get up and change software in & out of the players. Yes, I'm Lazy.

* And most important of all, I want it to work because it should - I'm stubborn that way.



Thanks for the help.

Rich B.

 

[David Norman]

The only other thing I can figure is that somehow the CD player or receiver is defaulting to the analog in/out, but I'm not sure if you even have analog cables connected in addition to the optical. The hiss is certainly what you get when a DTS disc is played without a digital out.

Unhook the analog cables temporarily if they're connected and see if it changes the results. Otherwise, I guess it comes back to the older player being the problem though I've gone through numerous CD and LD players and never had a single problem with DTS CD's.

 

[Roger Dressler]

Make sure the CD player does not have any sort of audio processing running. I have found some DVD players have "stereo enhance" circuits that automatically defeat when a Dolby Digital or DTS stream comes from a DVD, but is inserted again when PCM is playing. Since DTS CDs format the data the same as PCM, the player really doesn't know it's messing up an encoded bitstream.

Just an idea anyway.

 

[Lewis Besze]

On an interesting note my Sting ..Nothing Like the Sun DTS CD won't be decoded by my past 3 different model DVD players,all had built in DTS decoders on board,but would pass the data digitally no problem.This is the only DTS CD I have this "problem", wierd.
On the other hand my Elite CD player is 9 years old and has no problem to pass DTS,at least the ones I tried.

 

[Richard Burzynski]

Problem solved.

Turns out my CD player has its own volume control, and this particular control is of the digital variety, meaning it does so via bit chopping (I believe).

I set the volume to max (it was only two clicks below) and all is well. Anything below max CD player volume and my Yamaha decoder cannot decode the DTS data stream.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Rich B.