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Analog / Optical Question


Youthman

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I have the Marantz DVD player connected to the HK 3490 via Analog RCA and Toslink cables. The DVD Player has both Dolby Digital and DTS logos on the front but when I play Nora Jones DVD, I can only get sound from Analog. The HK is a 2ch receiver so there is no Dolby Digital or DTS processing. It was my understanding that if I used Toslink that the DVD Player would do the processing and so the HK could play it through toslinc. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how it works.

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Not sure what the DVD player is set to since I don't have a TV hooked up to it. LOL

I just thought of something, I know with the Eagles DVD, it gives you an option of 2ch or DTS in the menu. I'll check in the HT to see if Nora Jones has something similar.

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doesn't matter what you have in the movie option. if the player is set to bitstream it is wanting the receiver to decode which it won't since its two channel. kind of bad thing about no display is even if it was set to cpm, you would want to pick the 2 channel track on it instead of dolbydigital.

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Here is what the manual says

Method 1 DVD Player + Stereo system

• Method 2 DVD Player + Dolby Digital decoder or DTS decoder
NOTES:
• When using Dolby Digital or DTS decoder, set "DOLBY DIGITAL" or "DTS" to "ON" accordingly for audio output in the setup
mode (Refer to page 24). Set it to "OFF" for the decoder that is not used currently. Playing a DVD using incorrect settings
may generate noise distortion, and may also damage the speakers.
• The audio source on a disc in Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround format cannot be recorded as digital sound by an MD or
DAT deck.
• Set "DOLBY DIGITAL" or "DTS" to "OFF" for audio output in the setup mode for method 1 only. Playing a DVD using incorrect
settings may generate noise distortion, and may also damage the speakers. (Refer to page 24.)
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I downloaded the Owners Manual on PDF and did a search for Bitstream and the manual doesn't mention it but I believe this is the setting I need to change.

DOLBY DIGITAL (Default : ON)
Set to ON when the player is connected to Dolby Digital decoder.
ON: Output by Dolby Digital.
OFF: Convert the Dolby Digital to PCM.

DTS (Default : ON)
ON: Output by DTS sound Set to ON when the unit is connected to DTS decoder.
OFF: No DTS sound will be output.

So should I set Dolby Digital to Off so it converts the DD to PCM?

I'm assuming DTS should be set to On?

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you should just buy a very small monitor to have so you can see…lol. you should also simplify it and unplug all digital cables and turn off all digital outputs and just run rca's. (method 1)

No desire to have monitor or TV in the living room at the present time.

The reason I connected both digital and analog cables is the digital cable actually sounded better on certain disks that I tried when I originally setup the 2ch system. My guess is when it uses the Analog cables, the DAC in the Marantz is being used and when it uses the Toslinc, the DAC in the HK is being used. Is that correct?

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Michael,

I was experimenting today with my Integra DPS-10.5(universal) player and my Integra DTM-40.4 network stereo receiver. I put in the concert DVD of Peter Gabriel's New Blood Live in London and tried it with both analog stereo RCA and digital coax RCA. I would only get sound from the analog RCA connection because the DPS-10.5 must down sample to Dolby Digital Stereo before the onboard stereo DAC's send the converted signal to the DTM-40.4. I do wish the DTM-40.4's DAC's could accept the down sampled Dolby Digital Stereo signal because the receiver's DAC's are better than the DAC's in the player.

Bill

Edited by willland
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you should just buy a very small monitor to have so you can see…lol. you should also simplify it and unplug all digital cables and turn off all digital outputs and just run rca's. (method 1)

No desire to have monitor or TV in the living room at the present time.

The reason I connected both digital and analog cables is the digital cable actually sounded better on certain disks that I tried when I originally setup the 2ch system. My guess is when it uses the Analog cables, the DAC in the Marantz is being used and when it uses the Toslinc, the DAC in the HK is being used. Is that correct?

I have a cheap little TV that I used to setup a DVD player in a two-channel rig I had setup in my basement. I think I paid about $150 for that thing. I had the TV hooked up long enough to get everything setup in the DVD player and after that, unplugged it and put it away in a closet down there. No need to keep it hooked up all the time, but handy to have when it is necessary to make adjustments to the settings. Turned out that little TV came in handy when my new plasma TV arrived with a crack in it. I still wanted to hook everything else up, so that little TV was useful in testing everything out. Once the replacement plasma TV arrived, I was able to just swap out the little TV and put it away.

dinky-TVSmall_zpsb8ef4930.jpg

But yes on the second part. When hooked up via analog, the DVD player's DAC is doing the decoding/conversion, since the output is analog (thus the digital to analog conversion has to be done in the DVD before sending the analog signal out to the receiver). When hooked up via TOSLINK, the DAC in the receiver/pre-amp is doing the decoding/conversion, since the TOSLINK is a digital connection, thus the digital to analog conversion is then has to be done in the receiver. Of course, you can get an outboard DAC if you are interested in two-channel. You would plug the DVD player via TOSLINK to the DAC and then the DAC is plugged into the receiver via analog. May be worth considering as good ones are now available for pretty reasonable prices.

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