Page 1 of 5.1 help

got a sony amp no decorder on it or dvd getting3.2 sound is 5.1 different? would i need a new dvd player?

I have no idea what you`re talking about. How about providing the model numbers of your hardware ? What is the "3.2" you mention ?

BTW I deleted your post in the General Forum - This is the appropriate forum for this query, and to double-post is contrary to Forum rules and considered bad form.

DanB

I`m having a wild guess at this one, as many Sony home cinema amps e.g.:-

STR-DB830
STR-DB840
STR-DB930
STR-DB940

often display things like "Dolby Digital [3/2]" ot "dts [3/2]" in their displays. This does mean that they are going into DD5.0/5.1 and dts modes. And I believe that all of those amps have their own decoders. So you are getting some form of Dolby Digital.

But like Dan said, if you give us more information to work with (model numbers, how many speakers, how it`s all connected), we might be able to provide a better and more definitive answer.

Rich

John1 I have deleted ANOTHER thread you have posted in the General Forum. This is not a competition - you don`t get prizes for more multiple postings...

Please refrain from continuing to post the same rubbish, or I will have to stop you.

DanB
Moderator
DVD Reviewer

sorry did not no which forum to go in 2 last time i looked my message had gone the dvd player i have is a scan 2000 with no decorder built in the amp i have is a sony home theater system ht-k215 it has 6 speakers inc sub . i have hooked up by a optical lead. when i put a film on the amp says dolby dig 3/2 so when i press the 5.1 button all the sound goes i have been told it is because my dvd has not got a5.1 decorder in it. can uhelp thanks john

dan bates,have a cigar!sony always have to do things the posh way.
dolby digital 3/2=3 front(left,centre,right),2(surround left,surround right).
same go`s for dts.
for gods sake lets hope you dont buy edward scissorhands,we`ll be having-"whats dolby digital 4/1?"
hope this explains things clearly.

westy

The HTK-215 does have a Dolby Digital decoder (according to Sony`s site), and you have your set-up wired correctly - the optical lead means that the amp is decoding the signal sent from the DVD player.

When you see "Dolby Digital [3/2]" in the display this means that you are getting DD5.1 if that`s what`s on the disc. Are you hearing sounds from all speakers? Does the amp have a "test tone" facility, which sends white noise to each speaker?

Rich

John,
I have the exact same setup as you at the moment.

(Anyone please correct me if I`m mistaken)

Have you noticed that the amp has 6 co-axial input sockets (labelled 5.1) in the middle that you don`t seem to be using? Those I believe are what the `5.1` button on your remote chooses to when you press it. There`s no sound when you push the 5.1 button because there`s nothing plugged into your amp at those sockets!

On the DVD players that have a built-in decoder in them, these same 6 co-axail sockets appear! These are a 5.1 surround sound output which I suppose would plug into the sockets on the amp. Therefore, when the 5.1 button was depressed on the remote - 5.1 sound would emmerge from the speakers!

But one thing I don`t understand is that if the Sony HTK-215 has a built-in 5.1 surround sound decoder and the Scan SC2000 doesn`t, would you need a player that has these same 6 co-axial outputs on them too (such as Sony DVP-s725) in order to get true 5.1 surround sound or does the optical input provide this already?

Ok, let`s try and summarise this whole thread.

You *are* getting DD5.1 sound from your DVDs, and the amp is decoding this for you.

The "5.1 button" merely selects another input source, as explained by "Thesourmillman", so when you press it it starts "listening" to the 6 inputs at the back of the amp which have nothing connected to them. That`s why you hear nothing. You don`t need to press it to get 5.1 sound from your DVDs.

I think the summary is "no fault found" as everything appears to be working as it should be.

Rich

many thanks rich and to everyone who helped me