Help with audio and my sony bd 350

[skatinkamel]

im running a bd 350 and as far as audio im really lacking i have a philips surround sound system that isnt really a receiver, but the point is it was for dvds. now for blu rays especially those running truHD audio im lacking in volume is there anyway on the player to reduce the quality to allow me more quantity of volume atleast till i get a good receiver? thanks

[phansson]

Originally Posted by skatinkamel

im running a bd 350 and as far as audio im really lacking i have a philips surround sound system that isnt really a receiver, but the point is it was for dvds. now for blu rays especially those running truHD audio im lacking in volume is there anyway on the player to reduce the quality to allow me more quantity of volume atleast till i get a good receiver? thanks

There should be some kind of dynamic range limiter. I do not have any experience with the 350 but most Blu Ray players have this option. I am under the impression this setting is used for smaller speakers or a standard tv.

I don't know why you would have a lack of volume. Can you describe the problem better? Are you getting audio via HDMI/optical/composite?

[skatinkamel]

im running my player as such. blu ray hdmi out to tv hdmi in. then Audio cables from TV audio out to my surround sound in. its limited even in the TV and not surounf sound also. playing dvds on the player gives me alot of sound though.

[phansson]

Originally Posted by skatinkamel

im running my player as such. blu ray hdmi out to tv hdmi in. then Audio cables from TV audio out to my surround sound in. its limited even in the TV and not surounf sound also. playing dvds on the player gives me alot of sound though.

Does your tv have an optical out? If you are running audio cables from your tv to your receiver, you are not getting any advanced audio anyway. The tv would be down rezzing it.

What kind of model Phillips htib and tv do you have? Is the dvd player you are talking about built into the phillips piece?

[skatinkamel]

not 100 percent sure i have the audio output ive tried running from the way i have it now and also directly from the blu ray to the surround sound. I think what i need is a good receiver. i have a Samsung 46'' lcd and and a Phillips hts3151d home theater system, my player is bd 350. also, searched for a dynamic range change but couldnt find it anywhere.

[phansson]

Check to see if your samsung lcd has an optical out (my 650 does) and see if your 3151 has an optical in. That would be your best bet.

[browndk26]

Optical out from the TV is only for the built in tuner. It will not affect the BD sound. Your assumption that you need a better AVR is correct. Your existing speakers probably won't work well with a new AVR.

See page 45 of the S350 manual for Audio DRC. Set it on "auto".

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by browndk26

See page 45 of the S350 manual for Audio DRC. Set it on "auto".

Auto doesn't engage DRC unless the disc is set to do so. And Iron Man is the only disc known to do that. Set DRC to TV Mode for maximum Dynamic Range Compression. Plus, DRC only applies to Dolby encodes, not DTS, so it only helps with about half the BDs you'll be playing.

I suggest you remove the TV from the equation here. Since there's no digital input on the Philips, connect the analog stereo outputs from the BD player to the AUX input on your Philips system. Use the following settings on the S350:

Audio Output Priority = Stereo Analog
Audio DRC = Wide Range*
Downmix = Dolby Surround**

* This is the default and means no DRC is applied. If you find the effects are drowning out dialog, change this to TV Mode, which has the effect of boosting dialog on discs with TrueHD.

** This is the default. Dolby Surround is a technique that folds a center and mono surround channel into the stereo signal. Using ProLogic II in your Philips system will extract those extra two channels back out and give you fairly decent surround sound.

The signal from the S350 will be stereo. But, you can create surround sound on your Philips system. Press the Surround button and select ProLogic II.

This wiring approach and these configuration settings should give you decent audio. It won't be as good as the sound from DVDs because the Philips system can decode the DD 5.1 tracks on its own built-in DVD player. But, it should be better than what you are getting now.