I have a RT2600 RCA Surr. Snd Tuner, a Philips DVD/VCR combo, and DISH Network 522 receiver. I have the Sat receiver and DVD/VCR going to the back of the Tuner with A/V cables. DVD/VCR is going into the VCR IN jacks and the Sat receiver is going into the SAT IN jacks on the tuner. From the Tuner I'm going out with A/V cables to my TV. The RT2600 is supposed to automatically detect and play a movie with surround sound. However, when I put my O Brother Where Art Thou DVD in and play it, I don't get suround sound. Even the speaker icons that light up on the Tuner when the signal is present on that channel don't light up. Only the FL and FR light up. I have turned Digital on in the DVD setup. I can use the test tone on the RT2600 tuner and get sound on all 6 speakers (the speaker icon on the front of the tuner lights up one by one when I do this). I just checked and O Brother Where Art Thou has surround sound encoded. Can someone tell me what I've missed or what I'm doing wrong?
I figured it out, and I'll post here in the interest of helping some other soul, who like me, may not have a clue. I've seen the letters RTFM, and I consider myself above average when it comes to technology and electronics, so RTFM usually doesn't apply to me. But, in this case, I had RTFM, many, many times. It just didn't jump out at me until tonight when I read it again for the umpteenth time. The RCA RT2600 is capable of playing Dolby Digital, but only if you have your components plugged into the digital inputs, of which, there are 3 to choose from: Optical 1, Optical 2, and Digital Coax. I was trying to use RCA, also known as A/V cables. They're not digital. I didn't even know there was such a thing as digital coax. I thought S-video and RCA was more advanced than coax. So, it seems I need to run my receiver to my DVD/VCR, and then from the DVD/VCR to the Digital Input on the RT2600 Surr Snd Tuner using digital coax (can anyone tell me where to find digital coax cables?). Then when I'm watching tv or a movie, I need to select digital on my tuner. I'll have to read up in all my manuals to make sure I have this right, but I think I'm on the right track. What I was trying to prevent from happening was having to have the DVD/VCR and satellite receiver both turned on at the same time, since they're in a very tight cabinet stacked (arghhh). I know this isnt good as far as heat, especially since my satellite receiver (DISH network 522 DVR) keeps telling me the temperature is unsafe when I have them both turned on. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I think I can handle it from here. If only the tuner had two digital coax inputs, but that's the price you pay when you pay less than $500 for a surr. snd. system. If you're serious about your surr. snd., do your homework. Don't just buy what the sales person is pushing, because they more than likely don't have a clue any more than you do. Use a board like this to research. Lesson learned the hard way for me.
Back to the drawing board. The digital inputs are only if you want Dolby Digital. Right now I'd be satisfied to get Pro Logic. Can someone read my first post and see if you find anything wrong with the way I've connected my components?
One last time, then I'll shut up. O Brother Where Art Thou only has Dolby Digital, not Pro-Logic, so that's why I'm not getting surround with it using the A/V cables. So back to the post before this, if I use digital coax or optical connection I should hear surround with O Brother WHere Art Thou. I was experimenting with this movie because I knew it had surround sound. Seems I just picked a bad movie to experiment with. I should have used a movie that supported both Pro-Logic and Dolby Digital, if such a movie exists.
Gina2004
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Hello, You need to run digital out of the DVD player to dvd digital in. And analog (red white and yellow) Out of the the vcr connections even though it's one box, it is still 2 seperate components. Also S-video is just what it states for VIDEO only. Not AUDIO. Optical or Toslink and coaxial is digital audio only. I'd try a different movie, ext Matrix or Jurrasic park. Good luck!!
As you can tell, I've learned a lot on my own just by typing my thoughts out on this forum, so thank you forum owners/moderators. Then Gina came along and helped me out even more. Now I have another newbie question that I'll probably get slammed for if anybody reads this, but, will regular coax work at all or do I have to purchase a digital coax cable to use the digital output of my DVD? I find it ludicrous that companies charge you $300 and up for a surround sound system then expect you to go out and buy a $40 plus cable to use it. I would much rather have the cable included with the system and you charge me the extra $40 up front. Printers are that way, coming without the cable. But HP can get away with it because they're selling you the equipment for peanuts (ie. $59 after rebates). I realize they charge an arm and a leg for supplies such as cables and cartridges, but with surround sound, they're charging you an arm and a leg for the quipment and then hammering you on the accessories also. Just a thought. Back to my question, will RF coax get the sound signal there at all, so I can see if it's gonna work before I plunk down $40 on digital cables, or am I gonna have to get a digital cable to begin with?
Joey: Yes an RF coax will work. RG6 cable is best rather than the cheaper and thinner RG59, though it would be OK too. But bear in mind that the regular "F" ends won't work into a digital coax in/out, which are the same as RCA phono jacks. So that coax must have either RCA jacks built onto both ends, or you must get two "F" to RCA screw-on adaptors. You don't need to spend a fortune on "Monster"-like products just because the product says something about it being special for digital use. Also, let's make sure you understand that this digital coax line carries the undecoded audio digital signal off the DVD into your RCA audio receiver where it is then decoded into multichannel surround sound. You have to deal with video by other means.
Your only real problem is that, since you only have one coax digital audio input on the RCA receiver, you could have a problem utilizing the digital surround available on the DISH receiver, as it may have only coax as its digital output.
But if either the Philips combo or the DISH receiver have an optical output, then you'd use coax for one and optical for the other. If not, maybe our friends a Radio Shack have a solution.
Six years ago I went through the same thing you're doing now, so I feel your pain. There's still lots of blood, sweat and tears on my FM.
Hey Brendan? What does it feel like to be such a loser that you have nothing better to do but read posts about surround sound that are 6 weeks old and then make smart*** comments about them? Even if you're a genius, I know that there was something at some point in your life that you didn't know everything about and had to ask for help on it. Going to the bathroom and not peeing your diaper is one thing that comes to mind, and I'm sure there's been many more in your life. So when you were learning this new thing which was more helpful to you, people giving you real answers or laughing and trying to make a joke at your expense so they could build up their low self-esteem? Get counseling man! There are pills you can take for feeling so low about yourself on the inside that they have to laugh at others and try to embarass them and make them look bad! I was a newbie when I posted this, knowing as much about surround sound as the outside of the box told me. If you'll read above, by the time I was through posting, I had pretty much figured it out for myself, with the exception of a couple of people who posted. And read the last post before yours where "John S" went through the same things I was going through. So, lighten up and stop going through here trying to find posts to make fun of. If it doesn't help people, then why waste bandwidth to post something that people don't need to read? Oh, we established that already. Because you're so small it makes you feel like a "big man". Well, as long as it makes you "feel" that way!
Hey Brendan? What does it feel like to be such a loser that you have nothing better to do but read posts about surround sound that are 6 weeks old and then make smart*** comments about them? Even if you're a genius, I know that there was something at some point in your life that you didn't know everything about and had to ask for help on. Going to the bathroom and not peeing your diaper is one thing that comes to mind, and I'm sure there's been many more in your life. So when you were learning this new thing, which was more helpful to you, people giving you real answers or laughing and trying to make a joke at your expense so they could build up their low self-esteem? Get counseling man! There are pills you can take for feeling so low about yourself on the inside that you have to laugh at others and try to embarass them and make them look bad! I was a newbie when I posted this, knowing as much about surround sound as the outside of the box told me. If you'll read above, by the time I was through posting, I had pretty much figured it out for myself, with the exception of a couple of helpful people who posted. And read the last post before yours where "John S" says he went through the same things I was going through when he started playing around with surround sound. So, lighten up and stop going through here trying to find posts to make fun of. If it doesn't help people, then why waste bandwidth to post something that people don't need to read? Oh, we established that already. Because you're so small it makes you feel like a "big man". Well, as long as it makes you "feel" that way!
People who use quotes around single words or make quote marks with their fingers to emphasize a point. People who have no common sense.
You fit both of those categories. I bet as a kid you tried endlessly to fit the square peg in the round hole. Same concept, only for adults...
Nice double post! Speaking of bandwidth wasting.
And this kills me, "I was a newbie when I posted this"
ROTFLMAO--AGAIN!!
Seriously though, I thought you'd have a sense of humor. The post wasn't meant to be degrading, but I see you took it that way so that makes it even more funny. Thanks for the entertainment while I write my thesis.
You're still a newbie. Just because you hooked up a cheap surround sound system doesn't make you an expert or even close. If you read, it says, "A few things that piss me off" I am most likely amused at your stupidity and lack of ability to get a joke. There you go with the quotes again. and the acronym is ROTFLMAO. Retard.
My apologies to everyone who has read this banter back and forth for the last couple of days between me & Brenden. If I had it to do over again, I would have said the same things, only not in a public forum for everyone else to have to waste their time reading. I still feel the same way, if you don't have anything nice, or helpful to say, then just don't say anything at all. But I know I chose the wrong way to express my feelings, and I'm trying to make it right. To those of you who did help me when I was having trouble getting my system working, thank you. Everything is working fine, and it's hard to believe I went so long without being able to enjoy movies at home with surround sound.