Is my system hooked up alright??? I cannot get Dolby Digital.. (1 Viewer)

[Saab340]

Hey everyone,

I am a new member, I joined because I recently purchased a new system for my new home and now I want to know how to get the most out of it. So I guess I'll start out with what I have, it's far from the high end stuff I 've been seeing alot of talk on here about but here it goes.

42" Samsung Plasma Flatscreen Series 4 450
Sony BDP-S350 Blu-Ray
Denon AVR-589 Surround Reciever
5.1 Energy Take classics Speakers.

This is how it's hooked up.

Receiver.
HDMI Monitor out > HDMI T.V.
HDMI DVD/HDP > Blu-Ray
L+R Audio RCA >L=R Audio BLU-Ray ( I thought I didn't need audio cables with HDMI, but it's the only way I can get sound)

T.V.
Has just the PVR going from it to the PVR
PLus the HDMI from the reciever.

So the question is why am I not getting Dolby Digital when playing blu-ray movies??? I set my reciever to pro logic 2 and it switches but the analog light is still lit up. Do I need to have RCA cables for audio running when I have HDMI all around??? What am I missing?? Please help!!

Saab340

 

[troy evans]

In the Blu-ray players setup menu make sure the audio settings are set to output sound over HDMI. There should be choices like: bitstream or PCM. I would suggest setting it to bitstream. Once you set this you shouldn't need the RCA cables anymore. If possible set your receiver to "direct" or "auto detect" so when you select which sound format you play on the Blu-ray( example: 5.1 DD, TrueHD, DTS or DTS Master) it will be the one the receiver defaults to.

 

[Brent_S]

According to p.10 of the AVR-589's Owner's Manual, the 589 doesn't accept audio via HDMI, it's pass through only. For DD/DTS you'll need to make a digital coax or optical connection form the 350 to the 589. You'll need to upgrade your receiver to something that accepts at least MPCM via HDMI to take advantage of the lossless codecs on BluRay.

-Brent

 

[Saab340]

O.K. Thanks so much guys for the help....so let me get this straight....I need a digital Coax or optical connection to make the dolby digital?? What are lossless codecs????Sorry guys I am very new to this......So if they sold me this in a package deal shouldn't they have mentioned that it's not possible to even have dolby digital Surround sound???? Is there much difference???? Sorry for all the questions.

Saab340

 

[Al.Anderson]

Codec stands for COder/DECoder. Lossless means that no music "information" was thrown away in the act of storing and retrieving the music on the disc. Usually, when music is put on any medium, it's compressed to save space. A lossless storage doesn't have this limitation.

If you purchased all your equipment from the same place, particularly including the Bluray, then yes, they should have mentioned this. Definitely if it was a specialty store.

On the other hand, Dolby is very, very good, and unless you are an "audiophile", you probably won't be noticing what you're missing - so I wouldn't fret over it too much. (But you definitely want the digital connection, not the RCA R/W.)

 

[Saab340]

Well I bought the system as a package sale at Futureshop.....Thanks for the help guys.....a little dissapointed here now.

Saab340

 

[Ennsio]

You don't really need to feel disappointed, as you can still get great Dolby Digital sound from your blu-rays. You're just one easy step away from that at the moment, and that step is getting a digital optical cable.

One thing that has not been mentioned is that you should not buy that cable from Future Shop, as they will try to sell you Monster Cable at about $45 which is completely ridiculous. Buy it online from Monoprice instead as I did for my second cable (after making the Monster Cable mistake the first time). Here's the one I bought for $4.50: 6ft premium Fibre optic audio cable.

You can also order any other cables you (or your friends) need from there for an incredibly low price. If you are in Canada, you'll need to pay for shipping and customs if your order is too big for air freight so you might want to limit your order to a couple cables and check with monoprice if it qualifies for air shipping, where I believe you do not pay for customs. I think it will let you know on your order form as well.

 

[Saab340]

oh o.k. then I was under the impression I wold ot be able to get it at all. I only really want Dolby DIgital for the blu-ray.. Thanks again everyone you have all been a huge help....now to go get that cable and see what happens.

Thanks again

Saab340