New To HT and Club Rotel, Have some silly questions for you all.

[kudeta]

As I said In my title I am new to HT and have bought myself a Rotel RSX1055 and have bought the B&W602,601,LCR60and ASW600 series3 Speakers. I am very happy with my purchase but have a what I think is a stupid question. When watching DVDs what is the surround setting to use? 5ch stereo, DTSNeo etc. As my room is not well suited to HT at the moment ie Display in corner I cant work out which one I should use. PLII works well for TV but just cant settle on DVDs. Seems like there is too much sound coming out of rears when in 5ch stereo mode and not enough in DTS.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[alkalay]

Hi kudeta,

There are really no stupid questions, only answers.

Anyway, if you're watching a movie with Dolby Digital, use DD, if it's dts use dts on your 1055. You may override those 2 and use 5ch stereo, dts neo, PLII or even 2ch stereo but why would you wanna do that?
Just go dts for dts source and dd for dd source. See how it works for ya.

Itai.

[Sithlord]

Let me be the 2nd to welcome you to the fold. Now unto your questions. The best way to watch your movies is in Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 as long as the dvd is encoded in those formats. If you are watching a mono dvd then Prologic 11 is a good way or even 5 channel whatever sounds good to you. The reason 5 channel sounds more alive is that every speaker is receiving the same information meaning the same sounds are coming out of all 5 speakers. The beauty of discrete 5.1 being either in DD/DTS is that the speakers are each getting different information. I don't own that receiver so I can't help you with it's settings so I suggest you read the manual thoughly. Also if you want to really calibrate your system properly then I suggest getting your hands on an SPL Metre ( sound pressure metre) which will help you set the right volume for each speaker using the receivers test tones, that way the volume for each speaker will be the same and will blend in much better. If your not sure about the spl bit call your dealer and ask if they have one and do they know how to use one. If they do your in business, it's not very hard to do. Once it's done you can just sit back and enjoy. I hope this is of some help to you if you have any further quetions don't hesitate to ask. People on this forum are extremely helpful and informative.

[kudeta]

Thx guys for the replies, but it doesnt really answer my question, my fault for not explaining it properly. When selecting what surround format to listen to there is no choice for DD or DTS5.1 only DPL11 cinema and music, DTS neo 6.1, 2chStereo, 5ch stereo, music 1-5, 7.1. There is no choice for Dolby Digital or DTS. Is it possible my receiver is faulty by not having these selectable functions.
Sithlord - I did use an SPL metre to set up the speakers so all is good there, just questionable on the surround sound formats.

[Sithlord]

Inputs

Ok then so your not a complete newbie. Well the question needs to be asked what connections do you have between your receiver and your dvd player? Are you using a digital input eg. Optical,coax. Is the digital input on your dvd player enabled in the menu? If you have covered these things then it could be a faulty unit. Lets hope it's something simple.

[kudeta]

I am using coax at the moment, after reading these forums have been checking out the Cat Cables otpion. Unfortunately for me at the moment I am sitting in a Motel room passing time whilst away on work. Thats how I found these forums. Gotta say plenty of information and very addictive, spending hours learning new stuff. Anyway Ill have to wait until I get home tomorrow to check on menu setup etc before I get back on here to see what is going on.

[Bam!]

.....I think your 1055 hasn't been told it is using a digital bitstream....and or your DVD player is set to analog....

[Kevin P]

If your receiver is receiving a DD/DTS bitstream from your DVD player, it should auto-select DD or DTS when playing the DVD. You should normally have it in one of the DPL II modes, and the receiver will switch to DD or DTS when it receives the signal.

If it stays in DPL II when watching a DVD that has a 5.1 soundtrack, make sure you're using the digital coax or optical, and that it's selected in the receiver, and that you have the DVD player set to pass the bitstream without converting it to PCM.

[aud19]

Yup, doesn't sound like you've set up the digital connection properly for your DVD input or the 1055 would automatically switch to DD or DTS. You should have DPLII Cinema as your default for any non DD/DTS DVD's.

Jason

[Andy_Steb]

Yes it sounds like your DVD player isn't setup correctly. Check the setup menu on the dvd player. I don't know what model you have , but somewhere in audio section you need to select, digital out = normal, dolby digital or bitstream do not select PCM.

[Elmac]

I second Andy on this,
Check DVD player settings first, than make sure your input on your 1055 is set correctly for the proper Coax input.

[hamlyn]

yup, what they done said

[Sithlord]

At least we all agree on one one thing IT'S THE DVD PLAYER :T

[kudeta]

Thanks guys for all the help. Have checked the DVD output and am using RCA plugs at the moment, the ones that come with the dvd player into video 1 DVD on the amp. I Have the setting on dvd player to DTS, DD not PCM. Have the input setting on the Receiver as Analog. It sounds the same whether I scroll to Coaxial1-3 or Optical 1-2.
When listening in DPLII mode there is no indication on the LCD for DTS or DD. I feel like I am a fool.
I am guessing that as I am running RCAs the DVD should be set to analog on the output until I get some quality cables. My DVD playeronly has the opton of Dd or DD PCM, what should it be on. please help? If anyone can giveme some ideas on some qulaiycables it would also be appreciated. CatCables are ooking good at the moment.

[Mark_C.]

You went into the DVD player's setup menu and physically set the audio out to bitstream and turned on DTS? The player's setup menu is usually displayed on the TV screen when you press a button on the remote marked setup or main menu.
You don't need RCA cables running from your DVD player to your receiver for watching DVDs. Just a coaxial or optial cable running from the player to the receiver will supply the audio for DVDs.

[aud19]

If you don't have a digital optical or digital coaxial cable running to your 1055 and have the appropriate setup done in both the player and receiver, you will not be able to listen to DD or DTS over 2-channel RCA connections. I suggest oredering a digital coaxial cable from Cat Cables ASAP so you can enjoy discrete surround sound. All you can listen to while connected with analog 2-chanel RCA connections is either stereo or DPLII (or one of the other matrixed surround formats). Neither of the digital formats will be available over a analog connection. Once you have a digital cable you will need to properly set the output in the player as metioned above and also set, for example, coaxial 1 as your DVD input in the 1055 also setting up the proper surround formats etc for that input. A thorough read of your both your players and the 1055's manuals would also be a very good idea to give you a better understanding of how they both function.

Jason

[kudeta]

Thanks Guys for the information, I have sent doug an email at Cat Cables and will be ordering a couple of his Silver Coaxes for both my DVD player and soon to be purchased RCD 1072.. As i said in my title I have some silly questions for you and being a newbie am still learning how to do things. The retailer I bought my HT gear from didnt help me so much in relation to cables and setup. Probably because I screwed them down so much on price. Thanks again, will keep you updated on the progress when new cables come.

[aud19]

Good choice on the Silver Coax's :T Can't wait to hear your results

Jason