Problem playing 5.1 with AT2 on Rotel RSX1067

[BW4me]

I'm using the optical output from my Apple TV 2 for the audio connection to my RSX1067. I have never been able to get sub audio with 5.1 movies played from netflix or iTunes rentals. The same audio input on my rotel will play 5.1 from DVD or BD player. I can also play 5 channel audio from iTunes library (with sub).

Apple tell me my AT2 is working fine so must be my receivers setting. Am I missing something? Didn't think this should be so complicated. It sounds like a software problem with AT2 but I don't know.

Anyone have suggestions for what my audio setting should be on the rotel?

Steve

[JeremyG]

Have you figure this out yet?

If not, check the rented content. I've been duped a couple of times renting from iTunes. Not all of their content is 5.1. Or used to be. Is you've verified the content then make sure your Rotel isn't automatically switching to a different setting when you play the rented shows. My first gen AppleTV does a quick switch back and forth between two channel and 5.1 when I push play. I don't know if that is my unit or an issue with all AppleTV's. When my Marantz is set to Auto detect every once and a while it won't negotiate well and I'll have to manually set it to surround.

[BW4me]

Still having same issue Jeremy. Although I think I've narrowed it down to the source if I understand correctly.

My Rotel manual say that avr is designed to automatically detect Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 from any digital input and then activate the correct processing. There apparently is no manual switch for this. And this is the way it works with other digital sources.

With my ATV2 the screen on Rotel just displays Dobly Pro Logic. So I'm assuming there is something about how iTunes and Netflix is sending the digital audio signal that my avr is not detecting it as DD 5.1 and so it doesn't activate that processing.

There appears to be other ATV2 owners that have had similar issue on their avr's.

[JeremyG]

Yep, I had the same issue with my Marantz. If you can play recorded content on your AppleTV in Dolby Digital, then your setup should be good as long as you don't alter the settings. I can't remember how many movies we ended up renting that were two channel only, but there were a few. But that was a couple of years ago. We don't rent movies off of iTunes anymore, mostly because of the Redbox. IIRC, the iTunes movie description shows what the audio format is. Good luck.