AV receiver and sound card settings help please!

[D3M0N1C]

Hi,

I've recently purchased a Yamaha RV-V377 AV receiver and Tannoy HTS101 5.1 speaker system.

I was just wondering what general settings people are using, for movies and music etc?

(Movie, Music, Surround decode, and Straight are the modes I have to play with)

Does it switch to DTS/DTS HD mode automatically?

Also, could someone explain a little about my sound card settings, I can go into the sound card properties, and change the format from 16-bit 32000Hz - 24-bit 192000Hz.

Now, as soon as I switch to anything above 96000Hz (24-bit 96000Hz is the highest I can set it to without having the modes restricted), it disables the surround decode and movie/music modes on my receiver and locks it into "Straight mode".

Why is this and what should I set it to?

Also, when configuring my speakers in windows, should the satellites be set as full range speakers?

I don't have a sound card in my computer, I'm going straight from my PC to the receiver using HDMI, is there anything I should be doing to set it up correctly, so that my receiver is doing all the work and is getting the cleanest possible sound?

Also, the surround decoder settings are Pro Logic and Neo 6, which is best?

My computer is the only input, so want to get it all setup and tweaked as best I can.

Would the "straight" mode always be better, and if I used that would it automatically switch between the sources original audio format DTS/DTS-HD etc? According to the copy I was using (DVD, BLUE-RAY etc).

Any help appreciated,

Cheers.

 

[lucid]

I was just wondering what general settings people are using, for movies and music etc?

(Movie, Music, Surround decode, and Straight are the modes I have to play with)

Does it switch to DTS/DTS HD mode automatically?

Movies: Blu-rays and DVDs direct from disc should have a high quality 5.1 surround sound audio track in (Blu-ray) DTS-MA or Dolby True HD, and for DVD it's usually Dolby Digital or DTS. The settings on the sound card will determine whether it passes a bitstream/raw data stream to the amp for it to decode, or the PC will do the decoding directly and send a multichannel PCM signal to the amp. You'll know the difference from the amp's front panel. If it's getting a bitstream/raw signal then the front panel will light up with DTS-MA, Dolby D etc. If it's PCM then the amp will display "Multichannel".

PCM is the exact same quality as the bitsream/raw signal, but it's a little more nerdy cool to have the amp display the signal format. This then answers your question about whether the amp switches automatically. If the amp receives a bitstream/raw signal then it will switch automatically. If the decoding is being done within the PC and the amp is simply getting the Multichannel PCM signal then it has no need to switch because all the work has already been done.

Downloaded movie files: You're at the mercy of whoever ripped it and what soundtrack it carries. A lot of times you'll just find just a basic stereo signal. If that's the situation then you'll use the amp and set one of the surround modes that turns stereo into a pseudo surround signal. That could be Pro-Logic II Movie (DPLII Movie) or the DTS equivalent Neo6. They both do a similar job.

Music: Mostly this will be a stereo signal, so you'll use either Straight or Stereo for simple stereo speaker playback, or 7ch Surround if you want all the speakers playing. You can also use DPLII Music or the DTS equivalent if trying to recreate the effect of watching something on stage.

Also, could someone explain a little about my sound card settings, I can go into the sound card properties, and change the format from 16-bit 32000Hz - 24-bit 192000Hz.

Now, as soon as I switch to anything above 96000Hz (24-bit 96000Hz is the highest I can set it to without having the modes restricted), it disables the surround decode and movie/music modes on my receiver and locks it into "Straight mode".

Why is this and what should I set it to?

If you were playing a music file ripped from CD then it would be 16bit 44.1kHz. You could set the PC to resample the sound and present it 24bit 96kHz or 24/192. Whether or not you hear a difference is debatable. Setting the resampling to 24/192 will make the amp default to stereo as you've found. That's because the conventions of audio: 24/192 isn't used for surround.

PCs play existing music files but also generate them too, hence the range of audio options. Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise then I'd set the output to either 16/44.1 or 24/96. The boys in the PC audio forum can advise more indepth on this.

Also, when configuring my speakers in windows, should the satellites be set as full range speakers?

I don't have a sound card in my computer, I'm going straight from my PC to the receiver using HDMI, is there anything I should be doing to set it up correctly, so that my receiver is doing all the work and is getting the cleanest possible sound?

Others can advise in more detail on this.

Also, the surround decoder settings are Pro Logic and Neo 6, which is best?

There's no absolute "best". Have a listen to both and decide which you prefer.

Would the "straight" mode always be better, and if I used that would it automatically switch between the sources original audio format DTS/DTS-HD etc? According to the copy I was using (DVD, BLUE-RAY etc).

"Straight" normally plays the sound 'as is'. For bitstream/raw movie audio that means if it's DD5.1 then it plays through 5 speakers, but if it's mono then it would play through just the centre. TBH, unless you collect old movie transfers then that's not such a common thing. Where Straight will affect things more is with stereo signals. This could be music or video files, or TV if you have a TV tuner card or the optical hooked up from a TV. Straight will play stereo signals through just the left and right speakers, not the surrounds. The amp should disable the sub too if Straight is implemented correctly. Running small satellites and no sub won't sound that great. Stereo mode would be better.

 

[ginjaninja]

the different modes on the av receiver, are pretty lights to gawp at and can be ignored...the exception being those modes which change the channel mappings (but this can be done at media player end)

Connect your gpu to the av receiver by hdmi and just output in PCM...and be done with it. I dont think there is any advantage (and some disadvantages) in having the AV receiver switch into eg DTS mode by bitstreaming to it.

 

[anything I don't mind]

I have a yamaha 467 and use hdmi and also optical audio to the receiver, both work the same.

For films you need to enable bitstreaming and the film you are playing has to have a DTS or DD track with 6 channels before it will work with DTS and DD on your receiver. Set the receiver to straight. Then download mpc-be and enable bitstreaming on the audio properties when you play film. That will then switch to DD or DTS.

I pretty much always leave it on straight. The only time i use the surround sound features on there is if i want to play a 2 channel film on all 5 speakers then ill apply the Dolby film effect and for music if i want to use all speakers il enable the dd or dts music from the surround menu. This is not true DD or DTS, it is just upscaling the 2 channels to 6 channels with a surround effect.

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/201...mpc-hc-for-all-your-splitter-and-audio-needs/

Using lav filters is recommended.

 

[ginjaninja]

For films you need to enable bitstreaming and the film you are playing has to have a DTS or DD track with 6 channels before it will work with DTS and DD on your receiver. Set the receiver to straight. Then download mpc-be and enable bitstreaming on the audio properties when you play film. That will then switch to DD or DTS.

I dont believe this is the case.
If the media player codecs eg LAV decode DTS source at PC end and send accross HDMI in PCM format to a receiver i....then its just as much DTS as bitstreaming (except with pcm your sound from other apps is also working concurrently)...i dont believe the av receiver lighting up saying "arn't i wonderful ive detected dts"..makes any odds.

 

[metalmackey]

I have mine set to 24bit/96 in windows and works fine on my Onkyo. Stays in PCM mode whatever I'm doing. I can up output to 192khz and still have 5.1 if I wanted LOL.

I did disable all enhancements in windows sound panel so anp gets a "clean" sound.

 

[anything I don't mind]

I dont believe this is the case.
If the media player codecs eg LAV decode DTS source at PC end and send accross HDMI in PCM format to a receiver i....then its just as much DTS as bitstreaming (except with pcm your sound from other apps is also working concurrently)...i dont believe the av receiver lighting up saying "arn't i wonderful ive detected dts"..makes any odds.

I have never tried sending 6 channel pcm to my av receiver, i have always just used bitstreaming. The differnce is that bitstreaming is sending the raw sound to the av receiver that is processing, the pcm is being processed on the PC or source and then the av receiver is just playing. I would have thought that the DD came with additional technology that enabled a better sound over plain old 6 channel pcm, but you are saying it is just a gimmick? first time i have heard that.

I am sure when you get to playing HD codecs like true hd and DTS hd that it is an improvement over PCM as its higher bit rate and all that?

What i do is use my optical audio for regular audio day to day listening to films on my pc monitor and listening to music through speakers or headphones. If i turn on my projector then i switch to the hdmi to the pc and through the hdmi i get the hd bitstreaming codecs for blurays.

In sound card options where it says, what bitrates are supported by your card, i enable all the bitrates.


The bitrate limit for LPCM audio on DVD-Video is also 6.144 Mbit/s, allowing 8 channels (7.1 surround) × 48 kHz × 16-bit per sample = 6,144 kbit/s. There is a L32 bit PCM, and there are many sound cards that support it.

In the Blu-ray Disc specification, Dolby TrueHD is an optional codec. Dolby TrueHD audiotracks may carry up to 8 discrete audio channels (7.1 surround) of 24-bit audio at 96 kHz or up to 6 channels (5.1 surround) at 192 kHz. The maximum encoded bitrate is 18 Mbit/s.


Just been reading up on it and basically people claim that PCM is better because its uncompressed.

Well when i play films and tv that i have downloaded they have a AC3 6 channel audio track, Whether i send that as pcm or bitstream i am not sure there would be any difference? If you have original retail bluray that come with pcm track as well as separate dd track, then i can see how that could be better because its uncompressed PCM. But if you just have one audio track with same bitrate of 640 or 1500kbit then whether its pcm or bitstreaming may not make any difference.

The added benefit to using pcm is that you can use other sound on your source like you said. Which is not something that usually bothers me with playing films from my pc.

 

[ginjaninja]

from wikipedia

with HDMI allowing up to 8 channels of uncompressed audio at sample sizes of 16-bit, 20-bit and 24-bit, with sample rates of 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz

this would suggest that hdmi exceeds the bluray/dolby true hd spec. DVD having a lower spec implementation doesnt inform the max capability of pcm transmission over hdmi...it just defines dvds audio spec.

So [i believe] the bandwidth is at least as good as the dolby true hd spec. My 4yr old ati gpu/ driver supports 24bit/192Khz audio.
So its down to whether the decoding of the DTS source is better or worse on the PC or the AV receiver....

I dont know this for sure the answer to this, but im highly suspicious on the av industry because they have a track record of misleading and over inflating their importance with such greats as gold speaker wire and £50 cable for transmitting a digital signal.

In the absence of evidence to contrary im inclined to believe DTS decoding is by a fixed specification and hence the two methods identical...there no room for some "[insert favourite overpriced brand] secret sauce" to "decode DTS better" and "position the sounds more perfectly in the listening environment".

this post seems to support the two methods are the same
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=32961