Sony S350 HD audio help!

[sh0rty2410]

I have the Sony BDP S-350 blu ray player and firmware is completely up to date. I also have the Sony DAV-hd265 5.1 channel surround sound. However, when I play Blu Ray movies the sound is worse than if I were to play a standard definition disc with regualr Dolby Digital 5.1.... Does anyone know how I can get the true HD audio out of my surround sound?

CURRENT SET UP

Blu ray player connected via HDMI to TV
Surround Sound connected via HDMI to TV

Thanks for your help guys!

[Rob J in WNY]

Sh0rty2410,

Not sure exactly what your surround sound system is - an all-in-one with a built-in DVD player? Can't seem to get a lock on it online. I'm not exactly following how your audio is sent out of your Sony BDP-S350. Not sure if you are playing your DVDs from your player or your all-in-one system (assuming that's what the Sony DAV-HD265 is one).

In order to get both options lossless HD sound, you will need a receiver which can decode the advanced audio options (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio), and you will need to connect it that receiver via HDMI. Having said that, the S350 WILL internally decode Dolby TrueHD, but it cannot decode DTS-HD Master Audio, so you will need to use HDMI and send to a receiver which can do all the decoding, and you must do it via HDMI, as the S350 doesn't have multichannel analog outputs (which give you an option to use an older receiver with multichannel analog inputs to get at least the Dolby TrueHD audio which the player can decode).

Also, I should note to you that the S350's menu option for "BD Audio Setting" must be set to "Direct" (not "Mix"). This will send the HD audio bitstream over HDMI to a receiver to decode. For more information on this, see page 44 of your Sony BDP-S350 Operating Instructions.

If HDMI from your S350 to your current receiver is not an option, You can get good audio quality by using either the coaxial or optical audio output on your S350 and connecting it to your current receiver (assuming you have a coaxial and/or optical input on it). You will get lossy audio - standard Dolby Digital 5.1 and standard DTS 5.1. These should sound as good as your DVDs - actually even better, as the bitrates for each on the Blu-ray are generally at the maximum, which often provides improved sound over the DVD quality multichannel audio.

[Zman2k2]

Okay, sh0rty2410. I did some looking and found the DAV-HDX265 on the Sony website. I think it's the same unit. Unfortunately, what I found is not the best news.

First off, with the DVD HTiB that you own, getting lossless sound out of your Blu-rays is impossible. On the back of the unit, all you have for audio inputs is the L and R RCA-style plug-ins. That would mean that all you can get is the lossy audio offered on Blu-rays. As such, the only way to send audio from your Blu-ray player to the HT unit is to use stereo RCA jacks, which it sounds like you've already done.

On page 44 of the Blu-ray player manual, it show that you need to set the "Audio Output Priority" of your player to "Stereo Analog". That will send audio signals out via the right outputs for your receiver. That will allow you to get the best out of your system, as it is currently.

Hope that helps.