No DTS sound. (1 Viewer)

[jblfx]

Hi everyone. I purchased a Sony STR-DG800 Receiver and connected a Denon LA-2300 Laserdisc player and a JVC DVD player. This receiver decodes 5 Dolby Digital and 4 DTS signals, but when I try to play a disc or dvd with DTS I get no sound! AND the dvd is in black & white. Regular discs & dvds play fine. The only thing I know for sure is that without the remote(getting one soon),I can't access certain settings. Could this simply be the problem, or something else? Also, the disc player has the AC-3 RF out but the receiver doesn't have the RF in. What can I get to make this work? Appreciate any help. Thank you.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Can't help with the Laser Disk, but most DVD players come from the factory with DTS set to off. This is a legacy thing back to when most receivers didn't decode DTS and if you sent them a raw DTS stream it came out as awful screeching. So, when/if you can get into the setup menu, set Dolby Digital to "Bitstream" and DTS to "On".

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I'm not sure what this means. 5 DD signals? 4 DTS?

How do you have each component connected? (What video and audio inputs, what type of cables?)

Are you saying you only get a black and white picture when you're playing back DTS discs? I have a feeling you've got some audio and video connections mixed-up.

To get your LD player to output digital audio you'll need an RF demodulator to convert the output from the LD player into a digital stream the can be sent via digital coax or optical cable to your receiver. (The RF output is a bit like a modem. It sends digital data in analog form. Since your receiver does not have a built-in demodulator you need an outbound one to convert the signal to something your receiver will recognize. A cheap one went for about $100 when I first got into laserdisc. Have no idea what they cost now.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[jblfx]

The receiver decodes the following:

Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Pro Logic IIX.

DTS, DTS 96/24, DTS-ES, DTS Neo:6

I'm sure I have the cables right. Quess I'll wait and see wat I can do with he remote. Thanks.

 

[keithVANhorn]

The picture being black and white tells me you have the Comp cables hooked up wrong. Being only the "Green" cable is correct. "Red" and "Blue" are not connected. Check your wires

 

[John Garcia]

OK - DTS doesn't work with EITHER player? For the DVD player it is most likely what Jeff said. For the LD player, you need the demodulator as mentioned by Joseph.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

If something is showing up as b&w on one input or another, there's about a 90% chance that the problem is how things are hooked up. Is all the audio and video going through the receiver or is some of the video going directly to the TV?

Joe

 

[jblfx]

Well, when I go to the DVD menu if I select to watch the movie in Dolby 5.1 it plays fine. Color and sound. But if I select DTS then there's no sound and it's in black & white. The dvd player is completely wired to the receiver. I used s-video and coaxial (is that correct? white and red plugs) for sound. Can't use comp cables because apparently I need the remote to reassign the inputs.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

You can't get DTS from the "white and red" plugs. Those are stereo analog connections. When you use those, your player internally decodes the DD soundtrack and outputs a downmix of 2.0 analog stereo only; no 5.1, no discrete surround sound and definitely no DTS (your player probably can't even decode DTS). You aren't even getting Dolby Digital with an analog connection.

In order to get true DD/DTS sound, you need to have a digital coax or optical connection to your receiver. Then the DVD player will output the DD/DTS bitstream to the receiver, where it will be decoded. This is an all digital connection, what you have now is all analog and can't possibly give you anything besides stereo with Pro-Logic surround.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Jeff is right. The DVD spec makes DD a mandatory sound format and also requires players to either contain an analog mono, stereo or Dolby Pro Logic track (matrixed surround sound) or automatically downmix the DD track to an an analog format to be sent out over the red & white audio jacks. Since DTS is an optional format that requires specific hardware, there is no similar requirement for it. Hence you are listening to analog DPL when you select DD, and nothing when you select DTS, but you aren't getting digital audio no matter what you do.

I'm still betting the red cord is plugged into the component red out on the DVD player or the component red in on the TV. You may be getting basically mono DPL downmixed from the DD tracks via the white wire with the input from the red wire being ignored, but for some reason when he tries to listen to DTS a signal is coming down the red wire that is interfering with the color display.

That's the only thing I can think of that makes any sense.

BTW, looking at the manual for your receiver, I don't think you need the remote to assign the component inputs. It looks like they are preset to TV/Sat and DVD IN, but that you can optionally assign them to the video 1 or video 2 ouputs if you prefer. It also appears that you can reach all of the menus needed to reassign digital audio inputs and component inputs from the front panel, so you shouldn't actually need the remote to do most of what you need to do.

Did you buy the receiver new or used? (I'm only wondering because it seems odd that you'd lack the remote.) Do you have the owner's manual? If not, you can view and download it from this link.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

P.S.

What is the model number of the DVD player?

Joe

 

[Gralen]

I agree with everybody else. I think you have the cables hook up wrong plus you need to hook up the optical cable from you reciever to your dvd player. When I first got my dvd player, I did the same thing. It was a emerson which only lasted a year. Only after I hook a optical cable to it did I get DTS. I now have a sony. Good luck. I am now off to get a Panisonic RPTV in HD.

 

[jblfx]

Thanks everyone. I understand now.