Wow, I'm Confused Now... (1 Viewer)

[JayKellen]

Howdy...I posted my first thread a few days ago regarding me buying a new home theater in a box system....well, I have it hooked up and I put in Matrix and it sounded great...however, i am very confused....I wanted a new system so it could be Dolby Digital and DTS capable and I never really understood what it meant but knew it was cool (please dont laugh)..anyway, I have no idea if everything got hooked up right (i had friends hook it up), but i bought a monster cable kit and assumed it had everything i needed....the instructions for the dvd player and receiver stated that you need an optical cable or something to enable dolby digital and dts sound settings, and I cant tell if the movies are played in these sound settings or if i have them on really loud and it just sounds really good....anyway, long story short, what is the differences in sounds of these settings, and what is the ideal setting to have for most movies??....yes, i am new to home theater and really want this to be a good system, but there are so many sound settings that i dont know what one i have it on and what they all mean...i have it currently on a "theater" setting and on a dolby setting of some kind, but most settings sound kind of the same to me....any advice and help would be greatly appreciated....thanks

 

[LaMarcus]

First you should read the manual. Being a guy I dread doing this, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. Second you want to check to see that all your connects are right (something thats covered in the manual ), you had your friends do it, but this is something that you need to know for yourself, for the future. Next make sure your selecting the right track on the dvd.

Normally the receiver will give some sort of indicator to weither it receiving a DD, DTS, or Pro-logic signal.

 

[Clark F]

Don't worry, many of us are very confused when we start off. It has taken me a couple of months to full appreciate my equipment and what the myriad of settings really do. :b

I think you will get more responses if you state the models of the equipment you are asking questions about. In this case, the receiver and dvd player.

Click on the links button at the top of the forum main page and then click on the Home Theater FAQ link. The differences between Pro Logic, Dolby Digital and DTS are explained.

I am using an optical cable between my dvd player and receiver. My (Yamaha RX-V630) receiver auto detects Dolby Digital or DTS and auto switches to that mode. The display has different phrases for the surround sound modes, so I can tell which mode has been detected. The digital surround sounds much better than Pro Logic on my system.
Hope this helps.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Click on the links button at the top of the forum main page and then click on the Home Theater FAQ link. The differences between Pro Logic, Dolby Digital and DTS are explained.

This is excellent advice. And to save time, there's a link to the HTF FAQ in my signature below.

And, BTW, The Matrix doesn't have a DTS track. Dolby Digital 5.1 only.

M.

 

[Christian_R]

Hi Jay.

Some receivers don't auto-detect so you will have to go through your manual to make sure that you don't have to manually select your DVD setting to recognize the optical cable. (I am not sure if I read in your post whether you actually had optical cable. If not, either optical or digital coaxial cable are required for digital audio which is what Dolby 5.1 and DTS are.) If you have your audio setup only with RCA composite cables, you will only get stereo sound.

One way to check if you are setup correctly is to look at the front face of your receiver. Usually, when 5.1 or DTS are enabled, the receiver shows "digital" and many times shows the logos of these respective companies as well. I am not familiar with your receiver, but this is likely the case with you as well.

Let us know how you are doing!
Chris