Dolby Digital on DTV (1 Viewer)

[Michael_Victor]

Okay, first of all thank you for taking the time to read my post.

I currently have a Pioneer reciever and a HD Mits Sat receiver. everything is hooked up with optical lines. when I play a DVD with Dolby 5.1.. the Pioneer actually reads out, "Dolby Digital", however, when I watch a DD Movie on Directv, it wont give me that read out; however, it does ready out, Digital. How can I tell if I am getting Dolby Ditial? Is it just that the Pioneer does not get the same signal to show "Dolby Digital" yet I am listening to it? any assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[Mike I]

Not all the movies are dd 5.1 some are DD 2.0...HBO and showtime, and starz east are the only channels who do 5.1 some of the time...Also some PPV movies are dd 5.1

 

[Michael_Victor]

thats probably it, but then are you saying that if I was able to find a broadcast in 5.1, the "Dolby Digital" light would appear?

 

[Mike I]

Yes the dolby digital light would appear in a 5.1 broadcast...

 

[MickeS]

I don't have HD equipment, but why would it make a difference to the receiver whether it'd DD 2.0 or DD 5.1? They are both DD signals, aren't they? At least ona DVD it still says Dolby Digital.

The only experience similar to this that I have is when I hooked up the Digital Audio output on my cable box to the receiver. The readout on the receiver said "Digital", but not Dolby Digital. I assumed that meant that the sound is just that, digital but not DOLBY Digital.

/Mike

 

[Michael_Victor]

yeah, that makes sense, i figured it would read out regardless if its 5.1 or 2.. ?? the world may never know..

 

[James FT]

Mike I have a pioneer 608. I agree with the first comment not all is 5.1 but at some point in time all the lights should light up on the receiver. I would suggest that you get out the instruction manual for your pioner receiver and check the setting for Dolby Digital in TV mode and you may find that you have one of the settings tuned off or not activated.

I find the pioneer somewhat complicated when it comes to sound in the TV mode. If you are receiving 2 channel digital dolby the digital light should be on also 2 small lights indicating a left and right speaker.

Hope this helps

 

[shankar]

OK I'll take a shot at this. I also have a pioneer VSX D608 and subscribe to Dish.

I have connected my dish reciever to the 608 with an optical cable and so the audio feed is "Digital". However, most of the dish channels are in dolby pro logic and so the 608 will have the " digital" light on and also will show somewhere around the middle of the display "pro-logic". When I watch a DVD or an off-air digital channel that has dolby digital audio (mostly 2 channel but some in 5.1) the read out will say "digital" and in addition "ac-3" indicatnng this is Dolby Digital. Then the appropriate channels (L-R, or the whole set of 6) will also light up.

I have connected my CD player with the standard RCA analog cables. So, when I play CD's the 608 shows "analog" instead of "digital".

Hence, having the display "digital" does not mean that the inpit audio is AC-3. Make sure that the DirecTV channel is actually sending out DD signals.

Hope this helps.

 

[Michael_Victor]

thanks for the replies fellas,

yeah, on the HD receiver, when going through the guide, it actually has the Dolby sign indicating that is dolby digital for each movie. pretty cool because my regular receiver downstairs does not do that.

 

[StephenC]

Michael,

I do not have a Pioneer receiver but my Kenwood acts the same way.I have to determine,throught the receiver,if I want to listen to a analog or digital signal,just press"input mode"and it switches from digital to analog and vice versa.