Really newb question about DVD/dolby.

[brandontw 10+ year member]

I have been a two channel guy all my life so far, and have always sort of scoffed at surround sound, mostly because its usless for music, and thats mostly what i do. But now i got a nexflix account and a surround sound system in my room, so im going to be watching alot of movies on it.

My newb question is about hooking a DVD player up to my reciever. the DVD player has Digital out(my reciever doesnt have this) and analog out (just left and right) so how does it output 5.1 on left and right channels? or does it?

I fugure mabye it encodes it, then when it gets to my dolby reciever, it decodes it. is that how it works, or do i need to find a DVD player with 5.1 analog outputs.

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[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Wow you much have a REALLY old receiver. If you only use the Left and Right that is only what you will get. I would double check to make sure that it doesn't have a digital in. Is the receiver even a surround sound receiver or a stereo receiver?

 

[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

You cannot do Dolby 5.1 without using a digital output. You need an optical cable or digital coax to transmit dolby digital. It isn't going to work unless you upgrade the receiver to one with digital ins or find a DVD player that decodes Dolby Digital and outputs the decoded signal as analog (do they even make these?).

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

YES they make those..... My Pioneer Elite Player does that throught the mult-channel out..... However for movies I still use the digital....

 

[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

Heh, how much did that DVD player cost? I don't know what level of component the OP is using but he might spend less just buying a realtively reasonable receiver that has dig in's.

THREAD JACK - B&W's are nice, bro. My good friend just bought some 803s's for his stereo setup.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

Crap! it sucks being poor! I cant afford a new reciever.

I guess ill just use my compy for a DVD player for now, cause i get full 5.1 on analog outputs from it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GATEWAY-ADC-220-CONNECTED-DVD-MEDIA-PLAYER-WI-FI_W0QQitemZ230030486890QQihZ013QQcategoryZ50600QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i was looking at this last night, cause it has 5.1 analog outputs, but it doesnt come with a remote and i dont know if i could get a universal to work with it.

ps: my receiver is a crappy sony STR-DE515, no digi-in //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Heh, how much did that DVD player cost? I don't know what level of component the OP is using but he might spend less just buying a realtively reasonable receiver that has dig in's.
THREAD JACK - B&W's are nice, bro. My good friend just bought some 803s's for his stereo setup.

I think they retailed for $1k or something like that. My friend works at the home audio store where I buy my stuff at so he hooks me up with a little discount. But YES Bowers and Wilkins is some of the best stuff of all time. I have 703's for my mains, and am looking at upgrading to the 804S as my mains.

Using the computer should work just fine for you but getting a good receiver would be the way to go.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

Why do you think my receiver has a dolby option for all inputs then?

If its on the analog 5.1 input, you can't turn dolby on or off, or adjust modes or anything, but on all the other inputs, like CD, or tv, or video, you can turn surround sound on and off, and switch dolby modes... whats up with that? is it faking it or something, becasue all of those only have 2 channel analog audio inputs.

In the manual, it just says, if you want surround sound from dolby enncoded sources just hit the dolby button and select the mode you want.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

well after watching a DVD on a DVD player hooked up to "Video" with the dolby option on, its seems to me that i have surround sound. I cant be sure, because i dont have any test DVD or anything like that, but on forest gump i can tell that voices tend to come from the center channel while the music and stuff tends to come from the surround speakers.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

If you only use the Left and Right that is only what you will get.

Well, ive spent some time trying to un-newb myself on this whole dolby/surround sound thing, and i think i am pretty sure that surround sound can be acheived from a 2 channel type of input, like from a dolby DVD player. The DVD player can encode the dolby in the 2 channel signal by adding 2 more channels on top of the original two, but out of phase.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/surround-sound5.htm

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=surround-sound.htm&url=%20http://www.dolby.com/assets/pdf/tech_library/208_Dolby_Surround_Pro_Logic_Decoder.pdf

Then once it gets to the dolby-enabled receiver it will remove those two extra channels for the rear and center:

If im still not getting it, please someone correct me...

Xboxes dont have digital audio output but dont they have surround sound capabilities?

Digital cable boxes dont have digital out, but they are dolby capable.

............

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I am pretty sure that it is just a "simulated" surround. Meaning it uses the Dolby decoder to "guess" which speaker the sound should be coming from by the way it's mixed on the stereo. For example, a voice is mixed in both the left and right channels equally, so it knows it's supposed to be in the center. This may work just fine for you, but I would still upgrade into something that can process the digital stream.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

I am pretty sure that it is just a "simulated" surround. Meaning it uses the Dolby decoder to "guess" which speaker the sound should be coming from by the way it's mixed on the stereo. For example, a voice is mixed in both the left and right channels equally, so it knows it's supposed to be in the center. This may work just fine for you, but I would still upgrade into something that can process the digital stream.

well, im pretty sure it is true dolby, it was just before digital. Dolby digital, DTS, is the next evolution of dolby and surround sound. But agreed, i will still go digital when i can.