My new dvd player is hooked to my tv with an hdmi cable. I read where hdmi can pass up to 8 channels of sound. The tv speakers are turned off and an optical cable runs from tv to my receiver. I can receive Dolby Digital no problem from over the air. However, my dvd player only has 2 channel sound using the hdmi cable. I can disconnect the optical cable from tv and use it on the dvd and get DD so I know the player works fine. I only have the one optical in on my receiver. This is the reason I went with the hdmi dvd player so I would not need an extra audio cable. I read where this same thing happens on a Tivo recording, where it only passes 2 channel sound over hdmi. My question is why do the specs say up to 8 channel sound when it can only deliver 2? Not being an A/V expert, any thoughts are extremely appreciated.
Not knowing what brand or model DVD player makes it hard to be specific. However, the HDMI interface is new enough that some (many?) components have it but do not make use of it fully. My Samsung HD950 is a case in point. It will not pass *any* audio thru the HDMI, and reminds me of it repeatedly with a stupid "HDMI Audio Not Supported" message on the screen.
Except for the silly message, I don't mind because my audio and video are going to seperate components anyway.
fx
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Dellen,
In addition to Mr Nolan's response;
It may be as simple as an audio setting in the setup section of your DVD player. They often have seperate settings for the HDMI output such as: 1) Analog 2) PCM 3) DD5.1 (Dolby) 4) DTS
Try looking in your manual first and good luck.
xvxvxvx
M. Porter
Unregistered guest
Posted on
This is from an article from hometheaterhifi. I have dvi that has two screws to hold the plug in. Same article says hdmi is not as sturdy and plug may change next year. ???
(3) If you have an HDMI source such as a DVD player, and connect it to your display via HDMI, you may not be able to get 5.1 digital bitstreams to come out of the coaxial or Toslink digital output of the player at the same time as digital video and audio out of the HDMI output.
M. Porter
Unregistered guest
Posted on
From same article.
(4) HDMI is a two-way digital communication, and some displays send a handshake signal to the DVD player that permanently messes up the player's ability to output digital video through its HDMI jack.
Man, that would really pi$$ me off.... Fortunately I can report that Oppo to Panasonic Plasma, Oppo to Gefen switch to Panasonic Plasma and Samsung HD950 to Panasonic plasma all work (except for the aforementioned lack of audio support by Samsung HDMI)
I just read the thread on hometheaterhifi. Scary stuff. If I'd read that first, I probably would have avoided HDMI. Guess I got lucky.
Kolchak
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Putting aside the different specifications for HDMI (1.0, 1.1 and others to follow) and handshake problems, your most likely "problem" is the display device itself. Most, if not all, consumer displays will accept the digital audio input from HDMI and convert it into 2 channel analog. Look in your service manual for your particular model (not the user manual). Look at enough manuals and you will even notice the digital video stream converted into YUV (analog component) on displays such as LCD rear projection. Your "digital" display has several digital to analog and analog to digital conversions. The problems indicated above #3 and #4 are software problems that can be easily fixed by a firmware update from the manufacturer of your product. They are not caused by an inherent problem in HDMI.
leeboy22001
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Rick, your problem is that the display does not support multi-channel audio such as DD, so if you change the bitsream and MPEG audio setting in the HD950 audio menu to PCM it will now work. This will then pass downmixed stereo digital version (pro-logic) of the DD to your display, and it will work.