Onkyo HT-R500--HELP!!! (1 Viewer)

[MichaelM]

Hi there.

I have an Onkyo HT-R500 digital receiver. It works great and has great sound, EXCEPT when I'm watching Special Features on DVD or DVD's that are encoded with Dolby 2.0. Then it automatically switches from "Dolby D" to "Pro Logic II". Once this happens, almost always it sounds bad. Most of the sound comes out of the center channel. The sound coming out of the fronts and rears sounds choppy and sort of "blips" in and out, especially with dialogue. It's just not right. I first noticed it because I could hear some pops and clicks so I put my ear up to the speakers and it's all over the place. I have my DVD player hooked up with an optical cable. Again, with DTS and Dolby 5.1 all the speakers sound great.

The customer service guy at Onkyo thought it was because the sound was 2.0, not 5.1 so he said I should listen to in "stereo", any time the sound is not 5.1 (like most special features). But I thought that ProLogic receivers would decode the 2.0 and make the sound a "simulated" surround. In which case I shouldn't be hearing the bad sound.

Also, I've tried many DVDs and I've hooked up a different player with the same results. I have a PS2 hooked up to it also (with left/right audio cables) and with software labeled "Dolby Surround" it switches to ProLogic II and sounds great. So I hooked the DVD player up with analog cables and switched to that and it sounds good that way.

So, the problem is going from Dolby Digital 2.0 to ProLogic II. Shouldn't the receiver be able to do that? Do I have a defective receiver?Thanks for your help. The customer service people are pretty useless...

 

[Chris#Al]

Michael:
As your analog inputs sound fine when decoded into pro logic II, you must have a problem somewhere in the digital audio chain.
You are right and the Customer Service person is wrong: digital 2.0 does automatically (in this unit) get decoded to pro-logic II, and ought to sound excellent - just as it does with the analog inputs.
You say you have tried other DVD players. But have you tried another digital cable? or tried a different digital input on the reciver? If you have, and you get the same results, you probably have a defective decoder in the reciver.
Good luck.
Chris

 

[MichaelM]

Thanks Chris. That's what I thought. Now it's going to be a pain in the butt getting it fixed. I'd take it back to Circuit City but I didn't notice the problem until after I had it for 30 days. Now comes the fun part of dealing with an "authorized dealer".

Thanks again for your help.

 

[MichaelM]

Oh yeah, I did try a different cable--a coax cable--with the same results.