Help setting up surround sound on a Samsung HTiB J5500W (1 Viewer)

[NiceWarlock]

TV: Samsung LN46C630 (Bought in Nov 2010)

HTiB: Samsung HT-J5500W (Bought today)


Connections:

I have TV SPDIF out connected to Home Theater SPDIF IN

and home theater HDMI Out to TV HDMI In


Additional connections:

Comcast cable box: connected to TV coax in

Chromecast: connected to TV HDMI in


If on the J5500W, I go to Settings > Sound > Speaker settings > Speaker Test. I can hear sound coming from all speakers one by one so I know the connections are proper and the wireless sound link for rear speakers is working.


I started watching a movie on cable. I was getting sound from my front left, center and front right speakers. However, I don't seem to be getting any sound from rear left/ rear right speakers. Also, I didn't feel I got any sound from subwoofer either.


Next, I tried playing some content on HBO using Chromecast. It seemed like the same issue over there too.


When I talked to Samsung support, they very not very helpful as to how I can get surround sound while watching TV or when watching content with Chromecast. Their built in app store doesn't support HBO either so I could not determine if that gave any surround sound or not.


Could someone please guide me on how I can get surround sound. Also, if it is not possible to get in the current setup which home theater should I buy?


Both TV and HTiBs have Anynet+ HDMI-CEC enabled. (Samsung's technology that detects appropriate settings needed and allows device control using TV remote like using volume control on TV remote actually changes volume on HTiB). Because of that, on the TV side, TV is already set to External speaker mode automatically. For SPDIF output format, again it selected PCM. Option for Dolby Digital was grayed out.

On HTiB side: I saw Downmixing mode set to Normal Stereo and grayed out. I cannot switch it to Surround compatible.


Should I disable this Anynet+ thing and modify some settings myself to get surround to work?


Any help is appreciated. I don't see much value of having a home theater if I am getting audio only from front speakers. I would want surround sound in all cases. Maybe something that can upscale 2.1 to 5.1 by way of duplicating front left output to rear left and front right to rear right.


Thanks in advance.

 

[schan1269]

Your TV passes 2.0 audio back out from HDMI inputs. So, that is working the same way it works on all limited connection equipment.

Why is the Comcast box connected coax?

Looking at "tech specs", it doesn't list DPL. So, unless "unless 1 of its 8" DSP modes is "DPL-ish"...you aren't going to get "surround sound" from 2.0 sources.

 

[NiceWarlock]

Comcast box I have is the basic one. It does not have HDMI out. It has the standard cable out. I rarely use it anyway. I mainly stream stuff online using either Plex or Chromecast.


If I buy the receiver or HTiB with DPL support, would that help with the surround sound? Do you know of any receivers that have DPL and also have apps like HBO, Plex etc or would I need to buy something like Roku for the apps? If it also supports Bluetooth music streaming that would be awesome.


Previously I was using a computer connected to the TV for running Plex and using very good 5.1 computer speakers for audio. Bluetooth worked really well too with that setup. Only problem was getting good audio with Chromecast when watching HBO etc. I was hoping to get rid of the PC speakers and have everything run via home theater speakers.

 

[schan1269]

Every real AVR has DPL.

It is HTiB that is lacking things.

A Roku and a Denon DHT, Onkyo HTS or Yamaha YHT is 100% better.

Then you connect your Chromecast to it...not the TV.

 

[NiceWarlock]

Thanks. I will look into those.


I just did another experiment. I disconnected the front speakers (L,R,C) except the subwoofer. I can hear some sound in rear speakers when DSP mode was Cinema or Game even with Cable as well as Chromecast. When I connected the front speakers back they were so loud that I couldn't feel the rear speakers at all.


Is there a way I could calibrate the system so the sound feels more like surround or maybe I could control the volumes of individual speakers myself so I can decrease volume of front ones and increase rear and subwoofer. Any ideas?

 

[schan1269]

Thanks. I will look into those.

I just did another experiment. I disconnected the front speakers (L,R,C) except the subwoofer. I can hear some sound in rear speakers when DSP mode was Cinema or Game even with Cable as well as Chromecast. When I connected the front speakers back they were so loud that I couldn't feel the rear speakers at all.

Is there a way I could calibrate the system so the sound feels more like surround or maybe I could control the volumes of individual speakers myself so I can decrease volume of front ones and increase rear and subwoofer. Any ideas?

Not with HTiB. (I'm sure it has "some" level adjustments. But then, you can't make up for "not decoding correctly in the first place")

 

[NiceWarlock]

Ok. So how do I go about setting up a 5.1 home theater system in around $500 budget. Are there any tutorials/ articles etc for things I should look for so I dont run into the same issues again?

 

[schan1269]

Start at Accessories4less.

Buy a pre-package(A4L lists HTiB with pre-package). Do not buy the Onkyo 34/35/3600.

The Denon DHT(there is only model, every year), Onkyo 54/55/5600 and whatever Yamaha YHT is under $400(cause, you still need a BD player...save some cash for that)...

Buy it.

 

[ArmSC]

Instead of the YHT sets just get the RX-V377 and add in the Yamaha NS-SP1800 because you'll save yourself some money. Unless you just want to have everything in one box then get Yamaha YHT-399U. Either way you'll be plenty under your $500 budget. That should leave you room for a roku, Blu-Ray or whatever else you want for a source. I would also look at getting some speaker stands to put your speakers on but that's just me.


Another option to look at would be this Denon X1100w for $250 with the yamaha speaker set above as it's a better AVR and comes with a 3 year warranty.