DTS master 7.1 vs Dolby surround

[BIslander]

Bruce - I remain curious if your receiver ever shows it is getting DTS when you play a DTS track on a DVD or a Blu-ray.

Originally Posted by bsmooth

As for those cables, would you recommend any specific cables. I think, but I'm not sure I got my HDMI cables through Blue jean cables. Would you get them from them or anyone else?

You can use any analog cables you have sitting around. The red and white ones are OK, provided they are constructed decently and the runs aren't long. Component video cables work very well. Blue Jeans and monoprice.com are good places to buy quality cables for reasonable prices.

Also I need a left and right RCA cables for Fronts, Surrounds, Center, and Subwoofer. So sets of two for fronts and surrounds, but only singles for Center and Sub?

Analog cables are bundled as a convenience. Use any combination of singles and bundles that you want.

Other thing is should the Sub have thicker wire for the increased load going into the sub?

No need for the run between the player and the receiver.

Configuring analog is not simple plug and play, btw. Here's an article that describes what you need to do.

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Ho..._And_Why.shtml

Some Yamaha receivers make it difficult to calibrate for both digital and analog, especially when it comes to the sub.

[Riddler95]

Originally Posted by bsmooth

As for those cables, would you recommend any specific cables. I think, but I'm not sure I got my HDMI cables through Blue jean cables. Would you get them from them or anyone else?
Also I need a left and right RCA cables for Fronts, Surrounds, Center, and Subwoofer. So sets of two for fronts and surrounds, but only singles for Center and Sub?
Other thing is should the Sub have thicker wire for the increased load going into the sub?
I'm definately going to try the RCA cables.
Also need to have MORE Blu-Ray titles some of which to buy are:
Saving Private Ryan
The Protector(with Tony Jaa)
Patton
Grand prix
Polar Express
Pirates-Curse of the Black Pearl
Reign of Fire
Last of the Mohicans
Blade Runner
Wall-E
The Shining
Just a few I want to start with, going by the great reviews here. The Site itself makes having the Blu-ray player worth it.

I think that you should use a thicker cable for the Subwoofer, It is not necessary but I recommend it. Once you have everything connected properly you'll be pretty blown away by how good it sounds. A lot of people prefer to use this method for HD sound instead of HDMI. Some really good audio mixes on Blu-Ray are POTC: The Curse Of The Black Pearl, The Dark Knight, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Quantum Of Solace.

[bobbydrugar]

bsislander quick question about the comment about not needing the run from player to receiver i don't understand. if the source device with the sound is the player and the destination for amplification is the receiver and the receiver doesn't have hdmi then to get lossless the OP does need the cables exclusively from the player to the receiver. as per the cables monoprice and bluejeans both sell 5.1 and 7.1 ch analog cable sets but to save money if you already have male to male rca stereo sets or 3 cable red white yellow video cables from old dvd players and such laying around jus use those. use one set of red white for the fronts and one set of red white for the surrounds and use either another set of red white for sub and center respectively or if you had used the rde white yellow cables you can use the left over yellows from both sets for the center and sub. as noted yes there may be some additional calibration needed with this type of connection because it will likely bypass the autocalibration ypao or audyse from the receiver so most blu-ray players with analog out have additional tools to correct sub levels at least.

Thanks
T

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by bobbydrugar

bsislander quick question about the comment about not needing the run from player to receiver i don't understand. if the source device with the sound is the player and the destination for amplification is the receiver and the receiver doesn't have hdmi then to get lossless the OP does need the cables exclusively from the player to the receiver.

Sorry. I was saying he doesn't need a thicker cable between the player and receiver for the sub channel.

as noted yes there may be some additional calibration needed with this type of connection because it will likely bypass the autocalibration ypao or audyse from the receiver so most blu-ray players with analog out have additional tools to correct sub levels at least.

It's not just room correction that gets bypassed. Bass management, distance adjustments, and processing such as PLIIx all have to be done in the digital domain. That means with multichannel analog, the player has to do those tasks prior to the digital-analog conversion. The AVR can't do them because the signal is already analog by the time it gets to the receiver. A few expensive processors can re-digitize the analog inputs. But, that's a rare feature.

Level trims should be done in the receiver. Also, the subwoofer output needs to be boosted in the AVR or at the sub itself. That's needed because LFE is designed to play 10dB louder than the other channels, but it is output by the player at the same level to prevent clipping.

[bsmooth]

Well I got some better cables from monoprice, and hooked them up today.
When i hit the button Muti- channel inputs i lose my PCM light and any indicators for my speakers. I did go to the menu for setting them up on my bluray player and all the speakers go through the test, except my sub which just doesn't seem to be represented at all. When I do click on it I can't raise the db level, only lower it, and as it is i hear nothing at all from it.
I do hear sound from the other speakers though, just very faint.Now i know why its easier to have a receiver with HDMI inputs !

[BIslander]

No PCM or speaker indicators because the audio has already been converted to analog.

It is generally best to leave the player outputs at 0 dB and do the level trims in the AVR. That's especially true with Panasonics, which have dreadful interfaces for trimming. Pannys also lack subwoofer tones. You need to use a calibration disc. The sub output needs to be increased by 10-15dB in the AVR or at the sub itself.

As noted earlier in this thread, some Yamahas lack separate trims for analog and digital, which makes calibrating for both rather difficult.