No dolby digital sound (1 Viewer)

[PatrickMCM]

I hooked up my newly purchased Panasonic dvd-s35 to my Pioneer vsx-d608 dolby digital/dts receiver. I used an optical cable and connected it to the second optical input. The first input is already connected to my direct tv satellite receiver.
When I switched the receiver to dvd/ld and played a dvd (Band of Brothers) I had a beautiful picture but no sound.
My receiver display said that my audio was analog, and not digital as it should have been. I pressed signal select on the front of my receiver and the display changed from dvd/ld to dvd 5.1 channel however it still displayed the audio signal as analog and I got no sound.
I had to connect rca cords to the dvd/ld connections on my receiver to get sound and then it was only stereo.
I have gone into the menu for my dvd setup and made sure that it was set up correctly for dolby digital which is the default setting anyway. I have also tried connecting the optical cable to the other two optical inputs on my receiver, still no sound and the display shows as an analog signal being received. I get great dolby digital sound from my direct tv and it displays correctly on my receiver display as being a digital signal when I'm watching an HBO movie in dolby digital.
I just cannot get my receiver to recognize the signal from the dvd player as digital. Naturally I don't have my instruction manual for my receiver anymore, its an early dolby digital model.
Does anyone have any suggestions, I know its not my cable I have tried them both, both work for tv/sat but not for the dvd.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Welcome to HTF, so let's get to work. Try, just for the sake of elimination, connecting the player via the coaxial input and see if you get a DD signal. (You are sure you have correctly set up the DVD player's audio menu? Look again, write down your settings, and repeat them here.)

 

[PatrickMCM]

My dvd player has only an optical cable connection and component video out, no digital coaxial connection or I would gladly try that.
My dvd audio settings are pcm down conversion/no, dolby digital/bitstream,dts digital surround/pcm, dynamic range compression/off. Just for the heck of it I have tried these all in reverse order as well, still no sound and my receiver only recognizes an analog signal. My optical cable is fully connected to the dvd and the receiver.
If I switch the optical cable from the dvd from the second input on my receiver to the top input (where I have my direct tv optical cable) and switch the source on my receiver to tv/sat then I get a digital signal however then I have no picture from the dvd.
I'm at my wits end, maybe I can get a manual from Pioneer for my receiver which will explain what I'm doing wrong.
Anyway thanks for listening!!

 

[Jack Briggs]

Have you assigned the correct input to be your DVD source? That is, if you have the DVD player connected to "Optical 2" (or whatever it may be called on your receiver), have you told the receiver by assigning that input in the set-up menu?

Can you redo that list of yours as a list? I can't tell whether you have Bitstream enabled. Do it as a list and indicate "on" or "off."

How's the DBS receiver connected?

 

[David Judah]

Do you have any other optical inputs on the receiver? The particular input you are using is probably not assigned to DVD/LD, as Jack suggested. Try scrolling through the different inputs and see if one of them gives you sound(one of them should be assigned to that input, unless they default to the off position).

DJ

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I agree with Jack. It may be you have to assign your digital audio input to the matching video input (i.e. optical 2/audio -> DVD/video).

Pioneer does have their manuals available online. I would have looked it up for you but they require an e-mail address and I have no need to get Pioneer spam. You may try this to get a copy of your receiver's manual if you do not mind giving your e-mail to Pioneer.

 

[PatrickMCM]

Problem solved! I went to the Pioneer website and went to their FAQ section and the section for my model of receiver. There it took me through the whole setup process. Part of the setup was assigning the optical connections to whatever source input I wanted. My top connection was assigned to tv/sat and the other connections were off. So I assigned optical 2 to my dvd/ld and bingo!Dolby digital sound at its best.

 

[Jack Briggs]

See, Patrick, we all worked this problem together and now you're a happy sound-surrounded HT camper! Congratulations.