Audio problems

[GrandPoobah]

I just got my new vsx-919ah-k and I have my blu ray and hd dvd player running through the hdmi for audio and video, but the receiver won't output digital audio only pcm. So I can't listen to HD audio. I checked the owner's manual, but it was absolutely useless. Hoping someone might be able to help.

[ZIPPO]

Have your sony bdp-s350 set to bitstream?

[ZIPPO]

If not, switch audio choice to bitstream for your Blu-ray & HD-DVD players. On your Blu-ray player, go into the audio settings menu & set Audio Output Priority to HDMI, Audio(HDMI) to Auto, BD Audio Setting to Direct, Dolby Digital to Dolby Digital, DTS to DTS.

[GrandPoobah]

Got the blu ray fixed. Now just need to figure out the hd dvd player. Thanks for your help I really appreciate it. I was going crazy trying to figure it out. I almost took the unit back I was so frustrated

[ZIPPO]

No problem.

[GrandPoobah]

Still can't get the hd dvd player to output digital. Used the settings the manual said to. Oh well 1 outta 2 is not bad

[ZIPPO]

When you connected an HDMI device to the HDMI OUTPUT jack ( page 15, 16):
Press up /down to select “Digital Out HDMI”, then press OK.
Select one of the followings according to your connection, and press OK.

Auto
When an HDMI device equipped with built-in Dolby Digital, DTS, MPEG or linear PCM
decoder is connected to this player.
When you play a disc recorded in Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, PCM is output (core only
for DTS-HD).
When you play a disc recorded in Dolby Digital or DTS format, digital audio signal (bitstream audio) is
output. If a connected HDMI device does not support Dolby Digital, DTS or MPEG, sound is converted
into linear PCM to output.
To output high bitrate audio, select “Auto”, then make another setting. For details, see page 34.

PCM
When an HDMI device which has multi channel input is connected to this player.
When you play an HD DVD or DVD video disc recorded in multi channel in Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus,
Dolby TrueHD, DTS or DTS-HD format, the sound is decoded and output in multi channel in linear PCM
format.

Downmixed PCM
When a 2ch digital stereo AV receiver or processor is connected to this player.
When you play a DVD video disc recorded in Dolby Digital, DTS, MPEG1 or MPEG2 format, sound is
converted into PCM (2ch) format to output.

Note
• Setting “Auto” or “PCM” will reduce output level of multi channel sound from the ANALOG AUDIO OUTPUT
jacks and the DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT BITSTREAM/PCM jack if you:
– view the playback picture on an HDMI TV connected to this player.
– play an HD DVD video disc of a certain type, recorded in linear PCM format.
In this case, the output level will be restored by setting to “Downmixed PCM”.


According to this, your HD-DVD player can't bitstream lossless audio. It decodes it in the player & sends to the receiver as LPCM. So set your audio option to PCM on this player. It's still lossless audio, but your receiver display won't show Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD. It will show LPCM or PCM instead.

[GrandPoobah]

Thanks. So I guess I'll never really know if the audio is working correctly

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by GrandPoobah

Thanks. So I guess I'll never really know if the audio is working correctly

Do you have reason to believe the HD DVD is not working properly? I have an HD-A3 and have no problem seeing how the player is handling audio. It tells you what track is being played and decoded. The player manual explains that it decodes TrueHD, but not dts-HD, when connected via HDMI and the HDMI digital output is set to Auto or PCM. (While the S/PDIF setting should not matter, I seem to recall that it needs to be set to Bitstream to optimize player performance.) Your receiver won't give you any of this information when the player is doing the decoding. But, the player provides the same kind of information.