7.1 soundtracks and Sony BDP-S550

[Obiit]

At weekend i watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The review here said it was "a most impressive DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless surround sound presentation". I found it lacking in surround channels.

I have the S550 connected to my Denon 1804 amp using 5.1 analogues so i was wondering what happened to the other two channels when using analogue. As i cannot find any way of downmixing them in the menu's are they automatically downmixed or just lost?

Cheers

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by Obiit

At weekend i watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The review here said it was "a most impressive DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless surround sound presentation". I found it lacking in surround channels.

I have the S550 connected to my Denon 1804 amp using 5.1 analogues so i was wondering what happened to the other two channels when using analogue. As i cannot find any way of downmixing them in the menu's are they automatically downmixed or just lost?

Cheers

So you have an 8.1 speaker configuration, you're using 5.1 analog connections, but you want to listen to 7.1...am I understanding you? Beyond that little mind scrambler, the two rear surrounds in the 7.1 audio are just dropped off if all you have is a 5.1 output.

[gekke henkie]

Originally Posted by VinnAY

So you have an 8.1 speaker configuration

No, that's the name/model# of the speaker; not the configuration .

[jdmac29]

Originally Posted by Obiit

At weekend i watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The review here said it was "a most impressive DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless surround sound presentation". I found it lacking in surround channels.

I have the S550 connected to my Denon 1804 amp using 5.1 analogues so i was wondering what happened to the other two channels when using analogue. As i cannot find any way of downmixing them in the menu's are they automatically downmixed or just lost?

Cheers

With the analog connections the surround back channels are not there.
If you use hdmi they should mix in with the left and right surround channels.

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by gekke henkie

No, that's the name/model# of the speaker; not the configuration .

well isn't that confusing?!?!?

[Obiit]

Originally Posted by jdmac29

With the analog connections the surround back channels are not there.
If you use hdmi they should mix in with the left and right surround channels.

Yeah that was what i was thinking

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by jdmac29

With the analog connections the surround back channels are not there.
If you use hdmi they should mix in with the left and right surround channels.

Really?
What's the point of 7.1 analog then?

[jdmac29]

Originally Posted by ADRiiAN`

Really?
What's the point of 7.1 analog then?

Well the analogs are a direct link for the left, center, right, surround, subwoofer, and surround back channels. Your system is a 5.1 system so you do not have a connection for the surround back channels. It is like if you did not have the center channel analog connection hooked up you would not get sound from your center channel speaker. The left and right does not move their sound to the center because it is a direct connection. Basically the receiver has no control over the direct links it just process what comes in from each connection. Analog is great for older receivers to get the high def sound but you are limited to what you can do with processing the sound compared to newer hdmi receivers.

[Scorxpion]

Originally Posted by Obiit

At weekend i watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The review here said it was "a most impressive DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless surround sound presentation". I found it lacking in surround channels.

I have the S550 connected to my Denon 1804 amp using 5.1 analogues so i was wondering what happened to the other two channels when using analogue. As i cannot find any way of downmixing them in the menu's are they automatically downmixed or just lost?

Cheers

http://www.dvdfile.com/article/pseud...evisited-12442

Read the article attached here in order to gain surround center speaker but you still need an additional speaker and a pro-logic receiver.This article states about 5.1 analog outputs from a BD but i'm sure in your case you can connect SC(Surround Center to an old receiver or amplifier standalone not related to your original receiver which has 5.1 analog inputs.


in this case you can listen to surround center speaker through your old Amplifier or Receiver nothing to loose you can try it.

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by jdmac29

Well the analogs are a direct link for the left, center, right, surround, subwoofer, and surround back channels. Your system is a 5.1 system so you do not have a connection for the surround back channels. It is like if you did not have the center channel analog connection hooked up you would not get sound from your center channel speaker. The left and right does not move their sound to the center because it is a direct connection. Basically the receiver has no control over the direct links it just process what comes in from each connection. Analog is great for older receivers to get the high def sound but you are limited to what you can do with processing the sound compared to newer hdmi receivers.

Oops, I mis-read what OP stated. I figured he was using 7.1 because he was talking about Narnia, then I just realized he was talking about using 5.1 analog.

It would make sense now that it doesn't mix.

[BIslander]

Boy, this thread is all over the map with bad information.

You configure your speaker setup in the player. If you have a 5.1 system, that's what you enter in the speaker configururation. Then, when you play a disc with a 7.1 soundtrack, the player will do the downmix to 5.1. You don't lose anything.

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by BIslander

Boy, this thread is all over the map with bad information.

You configure your speaker setup in the player. If you have a 5.1 system, that's what you enter in the speaker configururation. Then, when you play a disc with a 7.1 soundtrack, the player will do the downmix to 5.1. You don't lose anything.

So even with multichannel analog, it will downmix?

[jdmac29]

Originally Posted by BIslander

Boy, this thread is all over the map with bad information.

You configure your speaker setup in the player. If you have a 5.1 system, that's what you enter in the speaker configururation. Then, when you play a disc with a 7.1 soundtrack, the player will do the downmix to 5.1. You don't lose anything.

This is from a 550 owner at avsforum. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...2&postcount=12
Analog connections are direct sound, the subwoofer has it's own line, the same for the rest of the connections. If you unplug the center channel the blu ray player does not mix that information into the left and right channels. If anything via hdmi it might mix the surround back info to the left/right surround backs the same way DDEX or DTSES will matrix the back surround channel into the left/right surround channels via toslink or coaxial but this is in the digital domain analog connections are entirely different.

[mx2004]

Originally Posted by ADRiiAN`

So even with multichannel analog, it will downmix?

Hi, hope no-one minds me chipping in here:

When you set up your speaker configuration in the player you'll have options large/small/none for all speakers except the front stereo pair. If you select 'none' for any speaker, the sound will be mixed with the closest equivalent -

for instance if you select 'none' for your centre channel, the dialogue will be reproduced by the front stereo pair (what's known as 'phantom centre' like the original Dolby Surround systems before pro-logic)

Therefore if you select 'none' for the back channels the information will be sent to the other surrounds - left back will go to left surround and right back will go to right surround. There may be some clever jiggery-pokery that creates a 'phantom rear centre'. No information is lost and 7.1 becomes 5.1.

This is especially and only true for mch analog. For HDMI or digital coaxial/optical the speaker set up would be done by the receiver but the same rules apply.

Regards
Malcolm.

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by mx2004

Hi, hope no-one minds me chipping in here:

When you set up your speaker configuration in the player you'll have options large/small/none for all speakers except the front stereo pair. If you select 'none' for any speaker, the sound will be mixed with the closest equivalent -

for instance if you select 'none' for your centre channel, the dialogue will be reproduced by the front stereo pair (what's known as 'phantom centre' like the original Dolby Surround systems before pro-logic)

Therefore if you select 'none' for the back channels the information will be sent to the other surrounds - left back will go to left surround and right back will go to right surround. There may be some clever jiggery-pokery that creates a 'phantom rear centre'. No information is lost and 7.1 becomes 5.1.

This is especially and only true for mch analog. For HDMI or digital coaxial/optical the speaker set up would be done by the receiver but the same rules apply.

Regards
Malcolm.

Ah makes sense.
Thank you for the input. I'm getting an S550 today, so this will be useful.

[mx2004]

Originally Posted by ADRiiAN`

Ah makes sense.
Thank you for the input. I'm getting an S550 today, so this will be useful.

I'm jealous - it's a few weeks at least until I get mine - car repairs need paying for.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by jdmac29

This is from a 550 owner at avsforum. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...2&postcount=12

That post is about a workaround for a problem with an Onkyo receiver. It has nothing to do with the issue at hand - how to properly set up a player to downmix 7.1 to 5.1

Analog connections are direct sound, the subwoofer has it's own line, the same for the rest of the connections. If you unplug the center channel the blu ray player does not mix that information into the left and right channels.

I don't know where you are going with this. But, if you configure the player for No Sub, then LFE is mixed into the main channels. Why would you simply unplug the subwoofer and how would the player know you had done so?

If anything via hdmi it might mix the surround back info to the left/right surround backs the same way DDEX or DTSES will matrix the back surround channel into the left/right surround channels via toslink or coaxial but this is in the digital domain analog connections are entirely different.

??? This makes no sense. If you use HDMI, the player ignores speaker setups. It will send all eight channels of PCM to the receiver no matter how you've set up the player. With digital, it is up to the receiver to do the downmixing. If you've configured your receiver for a 5.1 system, it will then downmix 7.1 to 5.1.

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by mx2004

I'm jealous - it's a few weeks at least until I get mine - car repairs need paying for.

Well, i'm picking mine up today, for my dad.
It's a christmas gift, so i'm opening it on christmas morning

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by ADRiiAN`

So even with multichannel analog, it will downmix?

Yes. It would be a pretty bad design if the audio from 7.1 tracks was simply thrown away on 5.1 systems.

With analog, you do all of the speaker configurations in the player instead of the receiver. How many speakers? Large or small? Different distances? All of the adjustments associated with those settings (downmixing, bass management, and time delays) need to be done while the audio is still digital. So, the player decodes the audio track, does all of the digital processing work, and converts the digital audio to analog for transmission to your receiver.

[olitas]

Page 46-47 on the instruction, go to speaker setup and put none at the surround back speakers, they wil be doenmix mono to the surround speakers.