when DTS is on, always says NEO-6, how can i change it to matrix or discrete? (1 Viewer)

[Dustin Wind]

Hi all,
I have a Harmon 325 receiver.

When watching movies i can only watch them in DTS NEO-6, i don't have an option to put on DTS-Matrix or DTS-discrete.

When i go into my receiver i can only switch my DTS to Neo-6 music and Neo-6 movie.

To my understanding Matrix and discrete is better to watch movies, but for some reason i don't have those options.

Can someone tell me whats going on in "baby steps". I'm pretty clueless with this sort of stuff.

 

[JamesHl]

NEO is DTS's version of prologic. You need to make sure the movie has a DTS soundtrack, make sure that your dvd player is setup to output DTS, and select DTS on the movie's menu.

It seems like you are applying NEO:6 to a dolby 2.0 soundtrack with what you describe right now.

 

[Dustin Wind]

On my pioneer 543 its set to "DTS"

On my receiver's OSD when there is no movie in the DvD player it will only let me scroll between Neo 6- movie and Neo 6- music.

When there is a movie in there, it won't let me scroll since i have no OSD on the DVD INPUT....i do put it on the TV INPUT so i can see the OSD and hear the DVD, but i can still only select NEO 6.

I do select DTS on all the movies i watch....new movies....but only the NEO-6 comes out.

I have no idea what to do!

Someone help!


So if i went to my on screen display for my Harmon, i can go to the display where it shows DTS, Dolby,logic 7, dsp ETC

I can click on dolby and it gives me options of:
digital EX, pro logic 2, dolby 3 ETC

If i click on DTS it gives me:
NEO-6 music and Neo-6 movie as the only 2 i can select from.
In the manual it says it should give me es discrete, matrix and neo.
I have 7 speakers.....

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Dustin,

What happens when you select DD-EX on the receiver and select the DTS track in the dvd's audio setup menu?

Most receivers auto-detect whatever the incoming format is and display it on the front panel--you don't have the option of manually selecting 5.1 or 6.1 DTS manually.

I know it's a pain, but somewhere in your manual it should tell you how to set the receiver to auto-detect and correctly playback the various multichannel DD and DTS formats.

 

[Greg Thomas]

Dustin,

I have the HK 325 so I can hopefully walk you thru this.
You're only going to get the display to show DTS ES Discrete or DTS Matrix 6.1 if the movie is encoded that way. You won't manually be able to change anything. Check your movies. I've probably got 60+ movies in my collection and only Gladiator and maybe Lord Of The Rings:Extended Edition are DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete.

1. If the movie is DTS-ES Discrete the display will show just that. Also look at the speaker diagram on the main display of the unit. There are 7 orange boxes. If the movie is DTS Discrete all 7 speakers will be illuminated.

2. If the movie is DTS-ES Matrix, like Terminator 2:Ultimate Edition, when you select DTS and play the movie it will display DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 on the unit. Only 5 of the speaker boxes will be illuminated, not all 7.

3. If the movie is standard DTS, the display will show DTS + Neo:6. I'll bet that's what most of your movies are, DTS 5.1. Those 5.1 channels are discrete but the extra two aren't. Only 5 of the speaker boxes will be illuminated.

The reason why you see the Neo:6 is because you're running 7 speakers. The Neo:6 does the mixing for the surround back speakers if there isn't a discrete signal. If you switch your system back to 5 speakers, you'd only see DTS, not DTS + Neo:6.

For 2 channel sources you'll get the options of DTS Neo:6 Music and DTS Neo:6 Cinema. It's kinda confusing but it looks like your HK 325 is working correctly.

To verify this, rent or borrow Gladiator and T2:UE if they're not in your collection. You'll be able to see the differences.

 

[JamesHl]

On my receiver (NAD T762) if I want to use my back surround I turn on forced ES matrixing. An interesting difference.

 

[Greg Thomas]

James,

Even in the three scenarios I listed, 7.1 processing happens in all of them. It's just done 3 different ways and called 3 different things depending on how many discrete channels are present.

I'm sure on your NAD you don't have to turn on forced ES matrixing for DTS Discrete 6.1. The receiver will recognize the signal w/o you doing anything.

 

[Dustin Wind]

Thanks all.
Ya, i put in FotR and castaway and the NEO-6 disspeared!

My entire setup is all new.
Harmon 325
Pioneer 563A
two JBL N310II, N-center, two N26's and twp N24's.

I just don't seem to get a lot of sound coming from the surround and rear speakers.

The front speakers sound amazing, but i don't hear much when i'm sitting and watching a movie.

I do hear stuff from the speakers if i go up to them....but its so low volume.

I have my system calibrated also with a SPL reader.
I just don't understand.

 

[AaronBatiuk]

NEO is DTS's version of prologic. You need to make sure the movie has a DTS soundtrack, make sure that your dvd player is setup to output DTS, and select DTS on the movie's menu.

It seems like you are applying NEO:6 to a dolby 2.0 soundtrack with what you describe right now.

Not really. DTS touts NEO:6 as more than that. It is their scheme of taking either 2 channels or 5.x channels and decoding 6 channels out of them. According to them, it can be applied to surround-encoded stereo tracks as well as 5.1 (non extended surround) sources like DD or dts 5.1. For DD or dts 5.1 (not DD-EX or dts-ES) it will still generate the extra sixth (surround-back) channel, using its proprietary steering logic (or whatever). For dts-ES matrix or discrete, it will apply the appropriate decoding to generate that channel.

So, NEO:6 is designed to be applied to dts 5.1 and 6.1 tracks in addition to 2 channel tracks. I would say to the original poster that as long as he has the DVD player itself setup properly (to pass through the dts datastream rather than decoding to 2 channel PCM!) then don't worry about it.

 

[Bill_D]

I have a 7200 and it operates the way Greg described:

The reason why you see the Neo:6 is because you're running 7 speakers. The Neo:6 does the mixing for the surround back speakers if there isn't a discrete signal. If you switch your system back to 5 speakers, you'd only see DTS, not DTS + Neo:6.

I find that the DTS + Neo:6 puts too much information in the back channels and silences the sides a tad too much on some titles and I manually switch to 5 channel mode on certain movies.

 

[Dustin Wind]

How would i go about turning off the back speakers and just keeping my surrounds?

Not too much noise comes from the surrounds...mabye turning off the backs will help.

I can't seem to find how i turn off the backs with Harmon 325

 

[The Void]

I can't seem to find how i turn off the backs with Harmon 325

In the onscreen display it's under speaker setup. Just set the back speakers to none.

 

[Greg Thomas]

How would i go about turning off the back speakers and just keeping my surrounds?

Go into the On Screen Display, select Speaker Settings. Toggle down to Surround Back and change them from large or small to NONE. That's all you need to do.

 

[Dustin Wind]

doh, thats easy enough.
Thanks.
Mabye thats why my surround doesn't sound that good.


Also should i have my "DTS DOWNMIX" to "STEREO" or "LT/RT"?