Sony BDP-S370 BluRay Player - Audio Setup (1 Viewer)

[SimpleMan]

I've got a Sony bdp-s370 blu ray player that I'm having trouble with. The issue I'm having is the surround sounds doesn't work when watching blu ray movies. For instance, if I put "Despicable Me" in, I can hear sound from all speakers at the menu, but once the movie starts, I only get sound from the front left/right speakers and the sub. If I put in a dvd, I get surround sound.

I contacted support about a month ago and they had me change the "BD Audio Mix setting to OFF " but it still doesn't work. I've completely reset the unit to the factory settings and started over...in case i had changed something else, but still no go. The unit is up-to-date on the firmware.

I've go the player connected to my LG flat screen via a HDMI cable. I've got a digital audio cable going from my tv to my LG receiver.

Has anyone else had a similar issue like I'm encountering? Any suggestions?

### UPDATE ###
When the blu ray movie menu is up, DIGITAL is lit up on my LG receiver. But once the movie starts, DIGITAL disappears.


Thanks.

Nick

 

[SimpleMan]

Doing some more research, i've got a little more information. I should first start out letting you know my setup and model numbers:

My TV is an LG 52LG50
My receiver is an LG LHT874
My Blu Ray player is a Sony bdp-s370

Setup:

• 
  HD DirecTV reciever connected to TV via HDMI
• 
  Wii connected to TV via component cables
• 
  Blu Ray is connected to TV via HDMI.
• 
  Optical audio cable connected from TV out to receiver IN

So basically, everything is going into my TV and i'm having the audio route out to my receiver.

Well, I disconnected the optical cable from the TV and inserted into into the OUT of the blu ray player. No the sound is going directly to the receiver instead of going through the tv. Now i get a red DTS lit up on the receiver and the surround sound now works. Is DTS better than dolby digital? So it looks like the bottle neck is the tv????

I also connected the optical cable directly from the directv receiver to my audio receiver and the DIGITAL (i'm guessing dolby digital???) light is lit. It is also lits up if I connect the sound from tv to audio receiver...so no change here.

I also played a regular dvd in the bluray player with the optical cable connected from tv to audio receiver and I get the DIGITAL to display. I'm not sure if DTS would lite up if I connect the optical directly from the bluray to the receiver. I'm not going to try...too much cords...little room.

So, what do you think? Should I just purchase a Optical splitter and another optical cable? So when I watch a bluray i'll have to switch it? Not a big deal. It looks like my TV is preventing me from getting the most out of my blu ray player sound?

Thanks for any tips.

Nick

 

[SimpleMan]

Do you think I should just get this?

Optical Audio Switch -- http://www.parts-express.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=180-936&ctab=1#Tabs

It comes with a remote so I could probably train my harmony remote to control it.

What do you think?

Also, when we play the Wii, shouldn't I get sound out of all my speakers instead of just the front ones???

 

[Ed Moxley]

The optical output of the tv is for getting 5.1 surround from your local HD channels, from the internal tuner, while hooked up to an antenna. Most tvs that allow audio at all, the way you're connected, will downmix the 5.1 signal, to a 2.0 signal, and send that to the receiver. So, you'll just get stereo, or maybe Dolby Pro Logic II (simulated surround), depending how receiver is set. You need to run the optical cable from the blu ray player, straight to the receiver. Also, make sure the blu ray player's audio output is set to "Bitstream". You may also need to set the blu ray player to send audio over the optical cable instead of the HDMI.

Since the Wii connects by red & white analog cables for audio, which is only stereo, you'll need to set the receiver on Dolby Pro Logic II for simulated surround, and sound coming from all speakers. You'll also need to run an optical or digital coax cable (RCA type connector, usually color coded orange or black) from the DirecTv box, to the receiver for audio. If the receiver is set on "Auto" (should be from factory, if you haven't changed it), you should get HD channels in surround, and all other channels in Dolby Pro Logic II. You shouldn't need an optical switch, unless your receiver doesn't have enough inputs.

 

[SimpleMan]

Interesting...





Still confused on the 5.1 to 2.0 signal...I'd think with today's technology that the tv would transmit 5.1 in to 5.1 out...unless I'm missing something.





I'm not at home right now, but I my audio receiver only has 1 optical digital input. I believe it has one of those digital coax cable inputs....and I'm guessing the tv has the coax digital output.





So I shouldn't use the digital optical output from the tv? Use the coax cable instead?





I've gone through the settings of the blu ray player and I don't see anything about "bitstream" in the options. When I had connected the optical audio from player to audio system...DTS lit up...sound from all speakers.





Wii...I'll see if there is a setting on my audio box for changing the type of sound. I may be out of luck. Not a priority right now.





So, your suggesting I hook up the following like this:

1. 
   DirecTV HD receiver to TV via HDMI.
2. 
   Wii to TV via component cables
3. 
   Digital coax cable from TV to audio receiver (DirecTV and Wii sound will travel through this?) -- also, if my audio receiver has a digital coax input and tv has output
4. 
   Blu Ray player connected to TV via HDMI.
5. 
   Optical Digital cable connected from Blu Ray to audio receiver

Correct?





I'm willing to give this a try. I'll have to get a digital coax to try this out.





Will keep you informed.





Nick

 

[SimpleMan]

Well, looking at the spec's for my audio receiver online (http://www.lg.com/us/tv-audio-video/home-theater-systems/LG-home-theater-system-LHT874.jsp# right side of page you'll see the documents) it doesn't have a coax digital audio input.

It looks like I'll have to go the route by using a optical switch?

Nick

 

[Brian McHale]

As already mentioned, most TVs do not send surround sound out of their optical output except for over the air signals (received via antenna by the TV). All other signals are down mixed to 2.0. So, if you want surround sound, you probably need to go directly into the receiver from each source (BD player, sat receiver, etc.).It looks like your receiver has an HDMI input and an optical input. So, it looks to me like you can connect the BD player to the receiver via HDMI, the satellite receiver to the receiver via optical, the Wii to the receiver via red/white RCA plugs and run HDMI to the TV.

 

[SimpleMan]

Brian,

Thanks for the response. I'll give that a try. I've got enough HDMI cables at home. Before I had the blu ray player, of course we'd watch dvd's with the lg dvd/receiver. I did have troubles with the player...the tv didn't detect the signal from it, etc. I had an HDMI cable from the output to the input of the tv. In the setup, i could not change the output to 1080p...it had to be 480 otherwise it would mess the player up. Even had the player itself replace because my other one was boned up. Didn't matter...still have issues.

Like I said, I'll try that. I just hope that the video out of the audio receiver will work and be hd quality on the screen.

The Wii I can manage too. I'll hook it into the audio receiver and then make sure that I change the audio to ProLogic II. I see where that is in the manual.

If this all works, that would be awesome. One thing I have to say though is....thank God for Harmony remotes!

I'll give it a shot on my lunch hour and let you know.

Nick

 

[Ed Moxley]

Originally Posted by SimpleMan
So I shouldn't use the digital optical output from the tv? Use the coax cable instead?

Don't use anything from the tv, unless you use the built-in tuner and antenna.

As Brian said.........if you have an HDMI input on your receiver, use HDMI from BD player to receiver. I didn't know the receiver had an HDMI input, when I said the other. For tv, use HDMI from sat box to tv for video, and optical cable from sat box to receiver for audio.

 

[SimpleMan]

Kudos to both of you. It actually works!





I was skeptical on using the input on the audio receiver because I had issues with video when I had used the player for movies. The video setup on the audio/dvd player is set at 480p, but I'm guessing that is for the display of the setup screens and/or for the up convert?





New setup:

1. 
   DirecTV receiver conntect to TV via HDMI and optical audio connected to audio receiver.
2. 
   BluRay connected to audio receiver hdmi in and audio receiver connected to TV from hdmi out
3. 
   Wii connected to TV via component video...red/white sound connected to aux input on audio receiver. To get sound on all speakers I have to change it to ProLogicII. Hopefully I can do this on my harmony remote.

It doesn't make sense to me why most tv's don't transmit 5.1 sound out of the optical output (other than air cable). Also, I wonder why "Dolby Digital" was lit up when I play a dvd from the blu ray...or even the menu of a blu ray movie even though it was connected to the tv via hdmi cable and then optical audio out to the receiver. In addition, my DirecTV sound was surround sound when going through the TV. Anyways...it seams to be working...that is all I care. Plus I didn't have to spend anything.





There always is a few ways to set these things up...one way is better than the other.





Appreciate your knowledge. Thanks.





Nick

 

[RobinsonLittrel]

I'm having a problem with my player/audio receiver. I have the same (or similar) Sony BDplayer with a 3 year old Phillips surround sound and a cheapo brand led/lcd tv. I have the BD player running to the TV in HDMI and BD player Audio going to the Phillips receiver via optical cable. It works most of the time properly, but on Inception, the only surround sound features are n French... When it isn't in French, it is in DTS and I'm not sure my Philliips system can pick up DTS, although it lights up with "DTS". But if I turn the volume on on my TV, I can hear it through the TV speakers. UPDATE: I just downstreamed it and then changed the downstrem settings to surround as opposed to stereo. I understand that downstreaming it means that I lose 5.1 surround sound, but I have two questions still. What is the difference between 5.1 and 2.1? And why would my 5.1 receiver not accept it/ would it be possible for a relatively new (3 year old) surround sound system to not receive DTS?

 

[Phil A]

Welcome to the forum. I have the BDP-BX37 which is the same model (Costco's version). Mine is in the office system connected to a Pioneer 2210 receiver. It would appear, unless I am misreading what you posted, that the player is doing HDMI for both audio and video. So if that is the connection you are going to use (I assume the Phillips does not have HDMI?) you need to adjust the player settings that HDMI is just for video

 

[schan1269]

I'm having a problem with my player/audio receiver. I have the same (or similar) Sony BDplayer with a 3 year old Phillips surround sound and a cheapo brand led/lcd tv. I have the BD player running to the TV in HDMI and BD player Audio going to the Phillips receiver via optical cable. It works most of the time properly, but on Inception, the only surround sound features are n French... When it isn't in French, it is in DTS and I'm not sure my Philliips system can pick up DTS, although it lights up with "DTS". But if I turn the volume on on my TV, I can hear it through the TV speakers. UPDATE: I just downstreamed it and then changed the downstrem settings to surround as opposed to stereo. I understand that downstreaming it means that I lose 5.1 surround sound, but I have two questions still. What is the difference between 5.1 and 2.1? And why would my 5.1 receiver not accept it/ would it be possible for a relatively new (3 year old) surround sound system to not receive DTS?

I think you mean bitstream... Bitstream means the "other end" is doing the decoding(IE the AVR/HTiB) It would help to have a model number for this Philips. The vast majority of HTiB can't decode DTS via toslink. The toslink on HTiB is intended for cable/sat STB, which only do DD. So, is this Philips a HTiB or an actual AVR?