I have usually had Straight as a setting on my 6 year old Yamaha RX-473. Recently, the sound has cut out for 2 seconds and the setting changes to Dolby Digital or others at random then back to Dolby digital but will not stay on Straight.This occurs on most cable channels. Would appreciate any help to identify the cause for this limited senior's understanding of the issue. Thank You!
See page 39 for selection of "straight". I'm assuming that you only have 2 speakers because if you have a 5.1 speaker setup you should really be listening to Dolby Digital (for DD5.1 input) or DPLII Movie (or similar) (for DD2.0 input) See pages 36-40. Straight would only utilize 2 of the 5-6 speakers.
IIRC, I did set up this system for you correctly in 2013... Did you remove the other speakers from the system?
Edit: If you want to have "Straight" regardless, make sure that you invoke "straight" when you're actually on the Cable TV input because I believe the AVR remembers the surround mode for each different input.
Edit 2: If you're on DPLII for the SD channels, which are all DD2.0, the AVR will usually switch to Dolby Digital for the HD channels which are mostly DD5.1.
Thanks for your reply 57. Yes it is a 5 speaker system. I have got Dolby Digital back and have watched for problems all day. No sound drop outs or random settings appearing except for CP24 and PBS (61) both of which show Dolby digital alternating with Pro Logic within seconds of each other but no sound issues.
I also tested my Blu-ray player with Netflix. When I power on PCM shows and Dolby Digital+ displays when Netflix movie starts -no issues .Is Dolby Digital + an automatic upgrade as I don't recall seeing the + before?
I hope I don't have to fiddle more and mess up.
It would help if we knew the provider and cable receiver model. In any case, I would test the A/V receiver input with another source that is known to be good. If that checks out, I would then take a close look at the problematic source. Are any of the cables damaged or loose? Are the signal levels good? Can the cable receiver be tested with another system? Is the issue on just certain predictable channels or all channels? Can other cable receiver be tried in the current setup?
Dolby Digital Plus, aka DD+, is a newer audio format from Dolby Labs. It's an adaptive format that changes the codec based on the source material and the capabilities of the destination device.
As I updated yesterday, Dolby Digital is back in setting with no issues except 2 channels I mentioned but I can live with that and no alternate equipment to test with.
Thanks for info on Dolby+ upgrade.
HD channels should all be Dolby Digital. That could be anything from 1.0 to 5.1 channels. SD channels are usually PCM though I've seen some with Dolby Digital sound. Sound dropouts can be caused by a number of sources. They are common with some channels and some BDUs.
AFAIK, on Rogers and most providers, as well as OTA, the incoming audio signal on SD channels is DD2.0, although some STBs may then send PCM to a TV or AVR, depending on the STB audio settings.
I recall repairing a Yamaha Receiver where the Dolby board was shot.
The unit had smoked on the protection Board and took some effort on my part to get it functional again.
After repairing the Protection Circuit, I noticed none of the Dolby Functions worked.
As long as I bypassed it, it worked flawlessly, so I left it at that.
Was just something someone gave to me. I fixed it up the best I could as I wasn't about to try and chase down a dolby board for it. Wound up giving it to my Brother to use for tunes in the Garage,
Just mention the story as makes me wonder if the intermittent cutout on yours could be something similar. Meaning possibly a hardware issue in the Dolby Circuitry on it's way out?
.
@57, ATSC will always be DD since it's part of the standard. My info is a bit dated. I recall that most SD channels on cable and satellite were PCM but it depended on the BDU and the broadcaster. Some BDUs converted the analog or PCM audio to DD by default. I haven't watched an SD channel in years, except by accident and haven't checked the few SD channels still on Rogers lately. One of the few broadcasters that used DD for SD was TMN. The rest were almost all PCM but that was a few years ago. It probably changed when channels converted to HD and BDUs started using a letterboxed HD channel for SD customers.
Channels all "broadcast" DD, either 2.0 or 5.1 (sometimes other formats like 1.0 or 5.0 as you mentioned). Nobody ever supplied PCM, although the output from some STBs was PCM if so selected (converting the incoming DD to PCM)
It's possible that some BDUs changed the incoming "broadcast" signal from DD to PCM, or sent PCM for digital cable with incoming analogue audio when there was still analogue broadcasting. That would have been quite a while ago.
I can assure you that DD was never a standard for SD channels of any type. Some BDUs converted the analog or PCM audio to DD to work on their particular equipment. DD was not a standard for TV until ATSC came along though most broadcasters and BDUs have always used DD for HD channels since the source material is usually supplied that way.
I've seen many DD formats used by HD channels and BDUs. They include DD 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 5.1. I've had BDUs that pass along the native audio signals (which varied from PCM to a number of DD formats) and others that converted everything to DD. I've also seen them recode and mangle various DD signals by switching or omitting audio channels. Shaw was the worst for audio dropouts and mangled DD audio and they still seem to be doing it. Don't know if Rogers still sources their west coast feeds from Shaw Direct but it could be the cause of issues on some of their west coast HD channels. That would also apply to other cable systems.
ATSC is only mandatory in Canada for OTA markets over 300,000 in population. There were a lot and are still some Canadian stations broadcasting in NTSC since then, one not far from here. There is no mandatory conversion date for those stations. Most NTSC stations in less populated ares have been shut down rather than converted to ATSC. There are still a few specialty stations operating in SD. ATSC is not mandatory for BDUs. There are much better HD formats available for closed system distribution.
Brief interruptions or noise in TV signals can be the cause of dropouts due to the way some receivers process DD audio. That typically is not nearly as noticeable with PCM audio. The brief signal dropouts can be caused by anything from the originating network feed to the broadcaster, BDU or TV receiver. There may also be issues with home equipment or cabling.
... except for CP24 and PBS (61) both of which show Dolby digital alternating with Pro Logic within seconds of each other but no sound issues.
Neither of those channels should have sound issues nor should they intermittently switch to PL. Doing so indicates an interruption in the DD audio signal to the AV receiver. It looks like the source of the issue has not been fully resolved. It may be a bad connection causing noise in the incoming TV cable signal. Have the signal strengths and S/N ratios been checked for those channels?
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums
1.7M posts
114.9K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to Canadian TV, computing and home theatre owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about home audio/video, displays, troubleshooting, styles, projects, DIY’s, product reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!