I just finished mounting my plasma (Vizio 60MP) and hooked it up to my Sony ES444 AV Receiver and DVR cable box.
For the life of me, I cannot get 5.1 working. My reciever only has digital optical in- no digital coax cable in, so I have my digital optical out on the DVR connected to Digital Optical In (TV/SAT on my receiver). I have no problem getting sound out of the speakers, but it is definitely not 5.1. I can toggle through many of the settings on the reciever to get different flavors of pro logic.
I've never had a problem get 5.1 working on this receiver with my old TV and DVD player. The speakers are all setup properly....(B&W 705's- HIGHLY recommended)
Is there something I'm missing in my setup? Do I need to connect the reciever to the TV at all (don't think so...but figured I'd ask)?
... really want to experience tue HDTV, but feel I'm missing a big part of it without 5.1...
Damon, your implication here is that the DVR cable box is also new. If so, there could be a setup issue with its digital output such as enabling Dolby Digital 5.1.
Secondly, a lot of channels on the cable output Dolby stereo only, so are you sure you are listening to a channels with real 5.1?
Thanks John... sorry, I should have clarified. Yes- the DVR box is also new. I was definitely tuning into channels that should have been broadcast in 5.1. So I was troubleshooting some picture problems today and as a by-product got 5.1 to work.
Yesterday I had some issues with my picture flickering so I was trying to troubleshoot by switching out the connections. I had an HDMI cable running from the DVR box to the plasma. I swapped that out for a component cable and all of a sudden I had no picture flickering and 5.1!
So- this now leads me to another question. Ultimately, I want to stay with an HDMI hookup (I personally can't tell the difference between the HDMI and component- but it's more for peace of mind) If I take the component cable off and put another HDMI cable between the DVR and Plasma, do I need an additional connection for audio? When I set the system up I figured I'd keep the audio controlled by the receiver so no connections would be necessary between the cable box and plasma for audio...
Hmmmm...Let's see now. You've eliminated the HDMI hookup in favor of component and your audio/video troubles went away. Moreover, you can't see the difference between HDMI and component PQ. And you still want to use HDMI?? To me your work is done.
Properly implementing HDMI is very difficult to do on mass produced devices. My guess is that cable box has a defective HDMI output. But of course we can't eliminate the TV either. Vizio hasn't been around long enough to be above suspicion. I definitely believe that there's almost no chance the fault lies with the HDMI cable itself. I only hope you didn't spend too much for it. Sounds to me like you're overly attached to it....or at least the idea of it. But if I were you, I'd be sticking with what works.
The question I have is that since component only carries video, how did using it solve your 5.1 audio problem?
"If I take the component cable off and put another HDMI cable between the DVR and Plasma, do I need an additional connection for audio?"
Only if you want to hear audio on the Vizio's internal speakers, and for whatever reason the TV is not recognizing the digital audio signal on the incoming HDMI signal.
"When I set the system up I figured I'd keep the audio controlled by the receiver so no connections would be necessary between the cable box and plasma for audio..."
Since you are connecting the DVR's optical out into the Sony, that's exactly what you are doing. Once again, I don't see why changing to component from the DVR to the TV suddenly changed the character of the DVR's digital audio output into the Sony....
With regards to using HDMI versus Component-- I am most likely going to take your(and my wife's ) advice and stay with the component cable. Now I just need to get my friends back over to lift the 165 lb TV off the wall so I can run the cable in the wall...ughh.
I am also completely confused as to why switching out the HDMI cable for component should have had anything to do with the audio. My guess is that the optical cable wasn't seated perfectly and I must have plugged it back in when I was troubleshooting the picture issue...
) advice and stay with the component cable. Now I just need to get my friends back over to lift the 165 lb TV off the wall so I can run the cable in the wall...ughh. 