Panasonic BD35 to Denon 3808CI lossless audio

[doublegarage]

Hello,

hopefully someone can help me, big audio setup issue between my Panasonic BD35 and Denon 3808 CI - both are now upgraded to latest firmware (Dec 22) - I'm using Batman Dark Knight as a Dolby TrueHD source.

BD35 is setup to output bitstream for Dolby or DTS over HDMI, Secondary audio is set to 'off'. when playing the movie I use the pop-up menu, go to languages and select "English Dolby TrueHD". Then when I press 'display' the 'signal type' on the BD it says I am outputting sountrack '2ENG - Dolby TrueHD Multi'.....therefore as far as I am able to tell, the BD Player is set up right.

On the other end of the HDMI cable is the Denon 3808CI. It just sits there saying "Dolby Digital" and not lighting the TrueHD light ever. (same with other disks too btw). If I look at the 'signal monitor' in the menu it says 'Dolby Digital 3/2/.1, Fs 48kHz'...which all adds up to it not seeing a TrueHD source.

Right now I'm suspecting the Player, because it actually admits to downmixing to Dolby Digital when secondary audio is enabled (it isn't) - but it could be the receiver. I can set the Player to PCM, the Denon then correctly reports "Multi-CH" but I have no idea whether it's plain DD or TrueHD, because I don't trust either of them right now - and I really hate not understanding why it won't say TueHD on the receiver.

All I can think of now is going to buy a non-Panasonic BDplayer to determine whether it's the receiver or the player and returning whichever is bad. 4 days playing with setups now and I am spent

anybody any more ideas? Thanks

-Richard (doublegarage)

[djstephan]

I have the Panny 55 and the Denon 2808Ci and I have connected them through HDMI,with the Panny set to bitstream, and I'm getting the receiver to show Dolby true HD or DTS HDMA(depending on the source of course).Not sure why your receiver won't do the same...Are your inputs set to "Auto" or "HDMI"?...same for the decode modes?.....I suggest you contact Denon, they are fast to reply to email questions.

[mr peepers]

huh. yeah i don't know what to tell ya on this one.

i have the exact same setup. bd35 - hdmi - denon 3808.
bd35 set to bitstream obviously, and the denon input selector set to automatic works just fine for me because i actually have 2 different components plugged into the same input im using for blu-ray.

im thinking i'd be double checking that the audio on the bd is actually set to the lossless audio track, because unless its selected manually after the movie starts or during the menu process, the warner titles especially always revert to the standard dolby tracks.

[doublegarage]

Thanks Mr Peepers but I've checked the best I know how - set the right soundtrack in the disks pop-up menu (so lame that you have to do that...why isn't there an option to say "use the trueHD track if there is one")

Then, you can press the display button on the remote and look at 'signal type' and it says it's sending the TrueHD track.

I wrote to Denon as the previous poster suggested so will see what they say.

I keep thinking...if the player was sending TrueHD, and the 3808 tried to decode it as DD, then it wouldn't work and I'd hear no audio...but I do hear audio and it sounds fine (just like DD should..) therefore it's probably the player not sending the TrueHD bitstream, but downconverting to DD instead because it thinks I have Secondary Audio turned on, which I don't. So..I think it's the player, now just have to prove it...

-Richard

[callas01]

If you have the audio on the bd-35 set to bitstream with the secondary audio off then it is sending out the HD audio... I think it has to do with a setting in your receiver.

[doublegarage]

Thanks to all who contributed - I fixed it.

First I bought a Philips $199 player and hooked that up to the Denon's same input with the same cable. about 5 minutes of secondary-audio settings and the Denon was reporting TrueHD. Finally! and proof it was the player and not the AVR.

Then, more playing with the BD-35 - was about to give up and return it, and saw the "restore factory default settings" button, realized I hadn't tried that, pressed it, back in to 'audio' menu to turn off secondary audio (bitstream is factory default) and suddenly it's producing TrueHD according to the Denon. Phew. Only took a week.

I wish I could tell you how I got it in that state but I have no clue - some combination of firmware-update while set in the one mode then switching to another etc. I just don't know.

all the best,

-Richard

[blujacket]

Glad you got it fixed. I have the same player and receiver. Are you getting the Audyssey $100.00 upgrade from Denon? I just got it and it's great.