I'm a newbie so please bear with me. I have just purchased a Samsung 5064 plasma, an Oppo DV-980H DVD player, Onkyo TX-SR605 receiver, and Onkyo SKS-HT240 6.1 speaker package. It's all working but my receiver won't display Dolby as an option. I've read a couple of posts elsewhere that say that I won't get Dolby as an option if I use an optical connection for audio. Everything is hooked up via HDMI but in order to get audio I had to use an optical cable. I've read about pass through but I'm just not getting the definition. Can someone explain very simply what pass through is/does and if I should be able to get Dolby? Thanks
Hey Shirleen, welcome to the forum. If you using HDMI from the Source(DVD player, Satelite receiver) for video to the TV and and Optical cable from the Source to the Onkyo receiver for audio. That is perfect. When using a digital audio cable, such as your optical cable, your receiver is only going to receive the audio format the source is telling it to. For example, if your watching a DVD that is not using Dolby Digital for audio, then the receiver will not receive dolby digital. Same goes for TV. If you put in a movie, go to the languages section of the DVD's menu, and make sure you are watching it in Dolby or DTS, then your receiver should switch by itself.
As far as the DD pass through your talking about. People are referring to the new High Def Audio Formats. Like TRUE Dobly Digital or True HD DTS that is only seen on Blu-Ray or HD Dvd players. These HD Audio formats can only be pass through using an HDMI cables or RCA cables from a 5.1 audio output connection on the back of the player which will convert the HD audio format into PCM. You dont have to worry about this. Unless your watching a Blu Ray movie or HD DVD movie.
I must admit I'm a bit confused by Nick's response.
I was using an Onkyo TX-SR605 just last week and I had no problems with getting it to decode Dolby Digital from a Denon DVD player using a coax connection. I would be surprised if there were any problems if using the optical input provided you've setup the 605 correctly.
You do need to tell the 605 to use the optical connection instead of the coax connection. This is in the Setup menu of the AV receiver under the input mapping section I believe. By default, the DVD input is set to the COAX-1 input I believe.
The HDMI input can also be used to deliver both video and audio to the 605, but I don't think this is what you want to do is it?
I do wonder what you are getting though. You say you're not getting Dolby - so what do you get? Anything? And do you get any sound? If not, then i think it comes down to the input mapping.
I'm not sure about this 'passthrough' business either. Typically, the term 'passthrough' implies taking a signal and passing it through directly to an output without any processing. What Nick seems to be talking about in his last paragraph is the ability of the 605 to accept HDMI signals and decode them. In this case, it can mean one of two things:
1. Accept a signal from a DVD player and upscale the video to 720p.
2. Accept a signal from a BluRay or HD-DVD player, pass through the video at 1080p and decode the audio stream which can be any of the streams available on the disc including Dolby Digital Plus and the uncompressed (higher fidelity) Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio.
I hope this helps a little. It's always difficult when working one is new to this game. I found the Onkyo manual to be very helpful actually. Just hang in there and hopefully you'll get there eventually.
I think I might need a little lesson in what I'm looking at on my receiver display. Remember I'm a newbie. I do know that what type of sound comes from your speakers depends on many factors. Among them what format the movie uses for audio. I guess in my reading I heard that Dolby Digital EX/Dolby EX is a better format so I was looking for it in my listening mode selections. What I am getting is Dolby PLll. Am I just totally confused about this? I will check to make sure that I have my selection to optical and not coaxial.
Dolby Pro Logic 2, so its working. You can always change the audio setting on the receiver, what I meant in my last post, was to let the receiver decide what audio format it should be in. Im sure Onkyo does this as well as most receivers. But yes, you set the receiver to decode in several audio formats.
Dolby PLII is a method for giving you surround sound from a stereo signal. It's also the default setting on the receiver if the receiver believes it's receiving stereo. The receiver automatically detects the digital stream that's coming in and adjusts itself according to what's coming in. You should not need to tell it what mode to choose - that would be unworkable!
Since you say "it's all working" I presume you are getting sound. This indicates to me that the DVD player is sending a stereo signal instead of the full surround signal from a DVD. Now, you can easily be misled here so here's some things to check...
1. When you notice the problem, are you in a movie or at the DVD menu? DVD menus are only in stereo usually. You need to actually be in a movie chapter to get digital surround sound.
2. Your DVD player has a setup menu too. Can you verify that the player has been setup to output the correct audio stream? Even if you think it's set right, try the other setting. I always get confused on which setting is which - the usual settings are PCM and bitstream; IIRC the bitstream setting is the one you want but I could be wrong about this! The difference is literally between stereo and surround...
To summarise:
1. It sounds like the reciever is probably OK and this is a setup issue.
2. Ensure you're actually in a movie, not on a DVD menu, since it's the movie that has Dolby (or DTS) surround streams.
3. It's possible, though unlikely if the player is new, that the player needs to be set to output digital surround.
4. The receiver does not have to be told what particular audio format to expect. You can set it to a particular effects mode, but that's not really the aim here. Incidentally, apart from the Dolby Digital surround stream, DVD discs can come with a DTS audio stream. This is generally considered to be better than Dolby, but Dolby is the default on the disc (by definition). If your DVD disc has a Setup or Audio menu, there is a good chance it'llhave a DTS option and choosing that will usually sound better. The AV receiver should automatically see the DTS stream coming in once the movie has started and display DTS in its display.
I do know that what type of sound comes from your speakers depends on many factors. Among them what format the movie uses for audio. I guess in my reading I heard that Dolby Digital EX/Dolby EX is a better format so I was looking for it in my listening mode selections. What I am getting is Dolby PLll. Am I just totally confused about this? I will check to make sure that I have my selection to optical and not coaxial.