W829 5.1 sound setup driving me mad!

[bignev72]

I bought a Sony W829 TV and BDV-E3100 5.1 Home Cinema System recently.

Initially it all seemed to be working ok. I got proper 5.1 sound for Blu-Rays and through Netflix app on TV using ARC. I couldn't get true 5.1 sound from my Sat Box or my HTPC (both connected to TV via HDMI) but I accepted that this was a limitation of ARC. However 2.1 sound would still use the rear speakers but would just output the same sound as the stereo speakers.

Then recently I noticed that the sound just wasn't right and the rear speakers no longer seemed to be used for TV/HTPC so started to play around with the setting to get it working. I then put the home cinema system into Dolby Sound mode which will replicate the stereo sound through the rear speakers as before for TV use.

I then noticed that 5.1 wasn't working on Netflix app any more so changed it back and now I don't seem to be able to get my 5.1 sound working again for Netflix. My choices are just stereo sound or stereo sound but using rear speakers. I can't get proper 5.1 for anything. I haven't tried a BD disk yet to confirm if this works.

I have checked the connection and loaded a 5.1 test through TV youtube app to check the speakers. This confirms that 5.1 sound is not working - although I don't know if this worked for Youtube app before I would imagine it works for Netflix app then it should work for Youtube app as well.

So my question is how does Arc work? Should it be able to do 5.1 sound for all devices plugged into my TV via HDMI?

Does anyone have any idea of settings for the TV or Home Cinema system which could affect this? My gut feeling is that it's something set on the TV not the HCS.

If I used an optical connection instead would this pass 5.1 sound for this TV?

 

[lucid]

Many TVs only do 5.1 via either ARC or Optical for just the TV tuner (and then only for the Freeview HD channels that carry 5.1 audio - and very few do despite what the EPG TV guide or info button suggests), and for apps that carry 5.1 audio. The same caveat applies to apps too, especially Youtube. You have no idea if the Youtube vid actually still carries 5.1 DD audio after it has been ripped and uploaded.

Any external sources connected via HDMI such as your Sky box will most likely be converted to basic stereo. I don't know if the 829 is one of the rare exceptions that does pass DD 5.1 via ARC, but from your descriptions it sounds like it isn't. That doesn't mean you shouldn't check that the Sky box is set to DD output though. Also remember, there are only certain channels that carry DD 5.1 audio.

As for the sound modes on the BDV-E3100, there are I believe three main options: Auto - Movie - Music. The Night mode is just movie but with some dynamic compression and a bit of EQ to boost bass and upper treble for lower volume listening. The other two modes aren't really decoding modes in their own right. Sony manuals are really quite vague about how to access the various sound modes once the Sound Effect function is on. However, it does say in one version of the manual I've glanced through that the Dolby Pro Logic (DPL) is available.

DPL does add rear channel sound to stereo sources. What I have noticed though is that the sound comes and goes in the rear channels rather than being present all the time.