HD sound issues, please help..

[Lush23]

I know there are hundreds of threads about DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD, but I have read them and I still cant figure out how to get my Sony STR-DH800 to say DTS HD. This might be a dumb question, but do I need 7 speakers for the HD sound? Currently I only have 5 speakers plus the sub.

I called Sony Customer Service and he had me do some changes and still no luck. He told me to set my receiver up for 3/4.1. But when Transformers 2 plays, it still says DTS 3/2.1. Please any help with this issue is greatly appreciated. I also have the receiver on "AFD Auto." Below is the setup I have for my Blu-ray player (Sony BDP-S300).

DTS Downmix- Stereo or Lt/Rt, I have Stereo selected
Dolby Digital- Dolby Digital or Downmix PCM, I have Dolby Digital selected
DTS- DTS or Downmix PCM, I have DTS selected
Audio (HDMI) - Auto or PCM, I have Auto selected

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by Lush23

I know there are hundreds of threads about DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD, but I have read them and I still cant figure out how to get my Sony STR-DH800 to say DTS HD. This might be a dumb question, but do I need 7 speakers for the HD sound? Currently I only have 5 speakers plus the sub.

I called Sony Customer Service and he had me do some changes and still no luck. He told me to set my receiver up for 3/4.1. But when Transformers 2 plays, it still says DTS 3/2.1. Please any help with this issue is greatly appreciated. I also have the receiver on "AFD Auto." Below is the setup I have for my Blu-ray player (Sony BDP-S300).

DTS Downmix- Stereo or Lt/Rt, I have Stereo selected
Dolby Digital- Dolby Digital or Downmix PCM, I have Dolby Digital selected
DTS- DTS or Downmix PCM, I have DTS selected
Audio (HDMI) - Auto or PCM, I have Auto selected

you dont need a 7.1 set up.
how are you conntected to your receiver? when i look at the specs of your player, it says it doesnt bitstream true hd and dts ma. was there an update? if your usinga analog outs of your player to your receiver, you wont get the receiver to display the hd audio logos.

[Lush23]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

you dont need a 7.1 set up.
how are you conntected to your receiver? when i look at the specs of your player, it says it doesnt bitstream true hd and dts ma. was there an update? if your usinga analog outs of your player to your receiver, you wont get the receiver to display the hd audio logos.

I have it connected thru HDMI.

[dolphinc]

Originally Posted by Lush23

I have it connected thru HDMI.

According to Sony's website your receiver does support DTS-HD and DolbyHD so I would check your settings on your BD player. Make sure you have the audio settings correct on it.

[un4gvn94538]

supprt can be either internal decodeing or bitstreaming. does the player bitstream dts ma? thats the million dollar question.

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by dolphinc

According to Sony's website your receiver does support DTS-HD and DolbyHD so I would check your settings on your BD player. Make sure you have the audio settings correct on it.

the sony site i saw say it doesnt. true hd decoding could have been added with an update but the site makes no mention of dts ma, only the lossy dd and dts.

edit: the only firmware i see is on that does include true hd decoding.

[dolphinc]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

the sony site i saw say it doesnt. true hd decoding could have been added with an update but the site makes no mention of dts ma, only the lossy dd and dts.

Here is the link, under specifications it states that is does support the 2. Maybe I am looking at it wrong. Check it out..

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...specifications

[Lush23]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

the sony site i saw say it doesnt. true hd decoding could have been added with an update but the site makes no mention of dts ma, only the lossy dd and dts.

edit: the only firmware i see is on that does include true hd decoding.

Yeah I noticed that the upgraded firmware is only DD TrueHD, so I put in Star Trek because thats what it supports and now my receiver says Dolby Digital 3/2.1 and not Dolby TrueHD...

But if my player does not support this option, shouldnt my receiver? My Blu-ray player does not have the option anywhere to switch to Bitstream, could that be the issue why my receiver wont read it as DTS-HD or DD TrueHd?

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by dolphinc

Here is the link, under specifications it states that is does support the 2. Maybe I am looking at it wrong. Check it out..

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...specifications

thats a link for a receiver. its not going to matter if the receiver supports it or not since his player cannot bitstream either codec. i looked at a few websites and firmware updates. the initial release of the player doesnt support true hd and dts ma. a firmware update added true hd support that enable internal decoding. nothing on dts ma. since the player can only internally decode true hd, all his receiver will get is pcm audio. the best he can get from dts ma, is the core dts

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by Lush23

Yeah I noticed that the upgraded firmware is only DD TrueHD, so I put in Star Trek because thats what it supports and now my receiver says Dolby Digital 3/2.1 and not Dolby TrueHD...

But if my player does not support this option, shouldnt my receiver? My Blu-ray player does not have the option anywhere to switch to Bitstream, could that be the issue why my receiver wont read it as DTS-HD or DD TrueHd?

your receiver should say pcm or multi channel, not dolby digital. if it says dolby, your not hearing true hd.

as a stated in my last post, it wont matter what your receiver supports if your player cannot bitstream it.

[dolphinc]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

thats a link for a receiver. its not going to matter if the receiver supports it or not since his player cannot bitstream either codec. i looked at a few websites and firmware updates. the initial release of the player doesnt support true hd and dts ma. a firmware update added true hd support that enable internal decoding. nothing on dts ma. since the player can only internally decode true hd, all his receiver will get is pcm audio. the best he can get from dts ma, is the core dts

Oh, I thought it was a receiver question. My bad.

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by dolphinc

Oh, I thought it was a receiver question. My bad.

it is a receiver question but you have to start with the source

[dolphinc]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

it is a receiver question but you have to start with the source

I know, I know. I just didn't look at the specs for the player. Lazy I guess. The good news is that his receiver is not the issue and and decent BD player can be had for under $200 these days.

[progers13]

I have this receiver and it does decode TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. As another poster said, you have to hook up the blu-ray player via HDMI and then make sure the player is capable of bitstreaming those signals over HDMI. I don't know much about the OP's player, but I suspect it is the culprit (not bitstreaming TrueHD and DTS-HD MA).

OP - if you set your player to Audio HDMI - PCM, is there a display that tells you which codec is playing? In this case, your receiver will show "Multichannel" but the player will say TrueHD or DTS-HD MA.

[Lush23]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

your receiver should say pcm or multi channel, not dolby digital. if it says dolby, your not hearing true hd.

as a stated in my last post, it wont matter what your receiver supports if your player cannot bitstream it.

These are my settings on the blu-ray player

DTS Downmix- Stereo or Lt/Rt, I have Stereo selected
Dolby Digital- Dolby Digital or Downmix PCM, I have Dolby Digital selected
DTS- DTS or Downmix PCM, I have DTS selected
Audio (HDMI) - Auto or PCM, I have Auto selected

No option to bitstream so that means the receiver wont decode it right? So I should probably switch everything to PCM on this player, right?

[Lush23]

Originally Posted by progers13

OP - if you set your player to Audio HDMI - PCM, is there a display that tells you which codec is playing? In this case, your receiver will show "Multichannel" but the player will say TrueHD or DTS-HD MA.

When I switch it to PCM on the blu-ray player, then the receiver says "Linear PCM." Is this just as good as DTS-HD and DD TrueHD?

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by Lush23

These are my settings on the blu-ray player

DTS Downmix- Stereo or Lt/Rt, I have Stereo selected
Dolby Digital- Dolby Digital or Downmix PCM, I have Dolby Digital selected
DTS- DTS or Downmix PCM, I have DTS selected
Audio (HDMI) - Auto or PCM, I have Auto selected

No option to bitstream so that means the receiver wont decode it right? So I should probably switch everything to PCM on this player, right?

change the audio (hdmi) to pcm. dd or dts should be fine and it may enable it do bitstream for your receiver to decode so leave it.

[progers13]

Originally Posted by Lush23

These are my settings on the blu-ray player

DTS Downmix- Stereo or Lt/Rt, I have Stereo selected
Dolby Digital- Dolby Digital or Downmix PCM, I have Dolby Digital selected
DTS- DTS or Downmix PCM, I have DTS selected
Audio (HDMI) - Auto or PCM, I have Auto selected

No option to bitstream so that means the receiver wont decode it right? So I should probably switch everything to PCM on this player, right?

Yes, it seems so. It really doesn't matter whether the player or the receiver does the decoding. So long as your player shows it is decoding as TrueHD or DTS-HD MA, you're good to go. You won't have the purty light on your receiver, unfortunately, but at least you will be getting the lossless through PCM.

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by Lush23

When I switch it to PCM on the blu-ray player, then the receiver says "Linear PCM." Is this just as good as DTS-HD and DD TrueHD?

pcm is what the receiver outputs anyway after it decodes the audio. if you play a movie and the receiver says pcm, then check the audio of the player and it says true hd, then your hearing hd audio (true hd). dts ma is another story and you wont get it

[Lush23]

Ok I will just change the Audio HDMI to PCM. It does sound better and my receiver says "Linear PCM" I guess thats all I can do until I get a new blu-ray player that way I can have peace of mind with the receiver saying "DTS HD or Dolby Digital TrueHD"

Thanks to everyone for their help!!!!