Page 1 of 5.1 hookup problem

I am probably gonna get laughed off the forum for missing something obvious here :) but I really can`t get my head round this.

I have a Toshiba SD-2109E DVD player and a Sony TA-VE150 amp, with 5 speakers and a woofer. Had the setup for about a year, set to 2CH sound, because I couldn`t be bothered setting up anything else. Until now :)

This is the problem...

In my DVD manuel, it says that for 5.1 sound you need a coxial cable from the Bitstream/PCM socket, to the Digital Audio Input socket on the amp.

But my amp doesn`t seem to have a Digital Audio Input socket. In the amp manuel, it says that for 5.1 sound, you need to connect up all the speakers seperatly, from the amp to the speaker sockets on the DVD player (sockets which my DVD player doesn`t have).

Does that make sense?

I have a cable for 5.1 sound from my DVD player that doesn`t go any where, and I have an load of cables for 5.1 sound from my amp that don`t go anywhere.

I am confused. Which manuel is telling the truth? Do I need an extra piece of kit (would this be a Dolby Digital AC-3 decoder)? Am I missing something obvious? Should I be beaten for not knowing the simple connecting methods of 5.1 sound? Am I going insane?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

hi, it sounds like you`ve got a prologic amp. A digital coaxial cable looks like a normal phono lead at each end, but dont use one of those.You should still be able to listern to dvds in prologic by connecting the dvd to amp and setting the amp to prologic/surround
hope this will help as i dont know what the back of your amp looks like.
cheers
Ham cob

On your amp for 5.1 you`ve got to have either an Optical, Digital Coax or 5 separate Analogue connections. Best option, ensure your DVD player has Optical or Coax output. Get an Amp from Richer Sounds (or next best value for money place, £199 or even less) which has Dolby 5.1 input connections. Wire up the 5 speakers to the amp. Sit back and enjoy the full flavour of Dolby 5.1.

Beware there are some old DVDs which are Dolby 2.0 (Eg. GoodFellas). Also ensure that the Audio setup is set to 5.1. I`ve found that a lot of R1 DVDs default to Dolby 2.0 even though 5.1 is available on them.

Hope this helps.
BB.

PS. (No laughs from here `cos we all have to start somewhere!).

Your amp is a prologic amp, taking a stereo signal and splitting it into left, right, centre, rear and possibly sub. From what you say it also sounds as if you have six phono inputs to take a "decoded" 5.1 signal and feed it separately to all the speakers. For this you will need a separate decoder or a DVD with an on-board decoder and hence the separate 5.1 outputs. Or as BB suggests, a new amp. So you haven`t done anything wrong, you just can`t get 5.1 from your DVDs with the kit you have now.

Dave

I think it must be that my amp is set up to take a "decoded" 5.1 signal and feed it seperatly, I`m pretty sure it is a 5.1 amp, since it does have the option to listen to 5.1 sound.

But I am a poor student, and can`t really afford a new amp :)

About how much is one of these seperate decoders? and where could I get one from?

I am guessing the decoder would take the six seperate phono inputs from the amp, and then the decoder would connect up to my DVD player with the coxial cable from a digital audio input? (Oooooo I sound smart :))

Thanks for the help you guys are giving :)

Get down to Richer Sounds and get yourself a Yamaha 396 5.1 amp, or if they`ve got any left, a Pioneer 510. Both are available for under £120, which is cheap even for a student!

Just connect a coaxial cable from the coaxial out socket on your Tosh to the DVD coaxial in socket on the amp. If it`s got optical only, then a good quality cheap otpical lead from http://www.beyondhifi.net will do the trick nicely. Just follow the same formula as above but from the optical instead of the coaxial.

Read it slowly :-)

And if you`re havin trouble setting up, go here http://www.area450.com/homecinema/odeon.htm for my guide to setting up your own private cinema

Westy

....and remember that you`ll get a few ££ from someone for your old amp - anyone with a DVD player with on board decoder would love an amp such as that to amplify their decoded signal to get 5.1! A hifi shop near me (AudioFile Objective in Hoddeston, Hertfordshire) sells prologic amps for around £100 second hand - he said they couldn`t give them away when he labelled them as simply prologic amps, but since he promoted the fact they would do 5.1 from a decoded signal, they fly out of the door!

A Videologic Dolby Digital Decoder (videologic.co.uk) to hook up your existing amp to your DVD player will set you back £85.10 excluding VAT and delivery, so unless you`re dead set on keeping your existing amp it would be simpler to get a new amp.

Dave