Home Theater Audio setup help
Home Theater Audio setup help
I am in need of assistance. I've had my 5.1 system setup for a while but have never really been satisfied with its performance for watching movies. Playing games out of the 360 its perfect. But watching Blu-rays or DVDs off of the blu-ray player has been lacking.
The big problem is....I don't get enough oomph out of the front center speaker when I watch movies on the Blu-ray player, be it dvd or blu-ray. That's where all the dialogue usually comes from and its hard to hear. I've tried adjusting the individual speakers and get almost no difference. I have the outputs all set to Dolby Digital, when I put the movies in I choose that option in the actual DVD or Blu-ray settings. And still nothing. The rest of the audio is great, but that center speaker just doesn't do what it needs to.
So I need some setup/tweaking help.
Here's my setup:
Stereo - Sony STR-KKOP 5.1 Surround
TV - Vizio 48" LCD HD 1080p
Blu-ray player - Vizio brand
Xbox 360
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The Xbox 360 & Blu-ray player are connected to the TV via HDMI cables. No other cables are used.
The TV runs to the Stereo via optical cable. The stereo only takes optical, stereo or coaxial cables. No video inputs.
Available TV Audio Settings:
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-SRSTSHD (on/off)
-SRS TruVolume (on/off)
-Digital Audio Output (Dolby Digital, PCM, Off)
Available Bluray Player Audio Settings:
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-PCM Downsample (Off, 96 khz, 48 khz)
-Digital Output (PCM, Bitstream HD, Bitstream Legacy, Bitstream Mixed)
-Dynamic Range Control (On, Off, Auto)
Available Stereo Audio Settings:
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-Dolby PL
-PL II Movie
-A.F.D. Auto
I also have the correct distances set for each speaker, and all of their settings adjusted according to the manual.
Games on the 360 sound amazing. But watching movies just isn't where it needs to be.
Help before I go nuts!
I can't seem to find your stereo online. Does it come with a receiver?
A good receiver makes a big difference.
Just remember that your center channel in 5.1 is for voice dialogue only.
I agree, you may need to get a new receiver.
What i'm thinking your doing, and correct me if I'm wrong, is using the TV to do all your switching. So, basically you are sending HDMI from the BluRay and the XBox up to the TV and sending the optical output of the TV back to the reciever to do your processing. If this is the case, then there could be issues with the conversions that your TV is doing to the audio signal. What's going on in your digital audio out "-Digital Audio Output (Dolby Digital, PCM, Off)" is that it's really only transferring a stereo signal. Dolby Digital is not discreet 5.1 and neither is PCM. So what your receiver has to do is guess at what the best mix would be.
Can you go optical or digital coax directly from the bluray and xbox into the receiver bypassing the TV output? I know the xbox and most blurays can output simultaneously.
If you do go the new receiver route, I would get a receiver that does the audio and the video switching/processing. If you want to keep with Sony, there are a few relatively inexpensive receivers out there that will take your HDMI signals in transcode them and spit them out to the individual speakers. then it will upconvert all content whether it's 480/720p/1080i to 1080p. The upscale isn't bad, and if you had more cash to put down, i'd rec a better receiver from yamaha, onkyo or denon. but sony is a pretty good lower/mid line unit and it does it's job
THe solution may be as simple as going into your receiver and boosting the output dB's of your center channel if it's capable of doing such a thing. Also a really good quality center speaker makes a huge difference.
This.
Some recievers have the setting as a distance as well. You can make the distance setting further away. This will boost the power as well. Then of course it could be the speaker is just underpowered and cant compete with the other speakers. if possible you can always move the speaker closer to you. If you want to get crazy You can test the db output simply with a cheap spl analog meter from radioshack.
What speakers are you using btw?
What model TV is that? It might only be outputting stereo on the optical out.
That's what i think as well. there is only stereo going to the receiver.
I said stereo...I meant receiver. I'm just using the speakers that came with that model receiver. It all came in a bundle when I bought them a while back.
Adjusted the db of the center speaker, turned down all the other speakers and it still doesn't out put enough when I'm watching a bluray. I've tweaked the distance on all of them as well. That makes almost no difference.
I tried hooking just the bluray player directly to the receiver via optical, and still the problem remains. So I'm thinking its the bluray players output? Because dialogue and all that from the 360 when I'm playing games and watching movies on that are all okay.
So may need to replace the bluray player. Or figure out some adjustments for it directly.
I would get a new receiver...but I can't afford one right now, so I'm just trying to make this work as best as I can.
Model TV is: SV420M
Model Bluray: VBR100
I'll try going from the bluray to the receiver via a coaxial cable and see if that makes any difference. Gonna have to get a coaxial cable online or something. Don't have one laying around sadly.
Alright. I may have something figured out for now. Everything is still hooked up as it was before.
The Xbox and Bluray are hooked to the TV via HDMI. Tv to Receiver via optical SPDIF cable.
The TV is set to Dolby Digital Out. The Bluray is set to Legacy Mixed, PCM downsample 48khz, Dynamic Range Auto.
Receiver is set to PL (Pro Logic) II Movie.
The volume has to be adjusted a little per movie, but its working a lot better this way than it was before. The volume range of the receiver goes from 0 to 70. For the xbox 360 I keep it around 35 and thats almost too much. For the blu-ray movies I have to keep it between 45 and 60, depending on the movie. Also tweaking the subwoofer a little bit depending.
So i guess this'll have to do for now.
But let me ask something else. Later on down the road when I do get a better receiver and speakers..its better to get one that has both the audio AND video inputs and outputs correct? Because then the TV isn't handing anything really but the video and basic audio for its speakers, not the surround sound. Is that right?
Correct. The receiver should be the one to do all the processing. I only have a single hdmi cable going to my tv, and all the audio is being distributed to the speakers from the receiver/amp. Tv only gets video.
Fyi, I do av for a living, mostly in the commercial market, so if you need anything, hit me up.
Thanks BigFish.
As far as a new receiver goes, what would you suggest? You mentioned a couple of receiver brands in a previous post. But lets say I needed a good "budget" receiver around $300 or so....what would you suggest? I'm not married to Sony either. That particular receiver just happened to be on sale and within my price range.
So, I took a look at a few systems on Amazon, and found a couple of really good deals, for good receivers. They may not be the best in class stuff, but they will do what you want them to. I know you were running HDMI from your BluRay and the Xbox, and even if you had a Cable/Sat receiver, you could run HDMI into that as well.
Denon AVR-1312 -
http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-1312-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/tech-data/B004U403S6/ref=de_a_smtd
Onkyo TX-NR414 -
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR414-5-1-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B00...
Yamaha RX-V471BL -
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V471BL-5-1-Channel-Receiver-VERSION/dp/B...
Sony STR-DN1010 -
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DN1010-7-1-Channel-V-Receiver/dp/B003JC3Z...
All four receivers are under $300 and all 4 should be no tax and free shipping if purchased from Amazon, not sure if you like to do that, but for now it's a good research tool. The Sony is the only one that will upconvert from whatever signal to HDMI 1080p. While the processing won't be as good as a Lexicon or even a Yamaha, the single cable to the monitor is a nice feature. Let me know if you have any more questions!
Sounds like the problem is just sound field processing . Your reciever may not hav eall those new fancy audio codecs that bluray uses so when your receiver tries to figure out what to do with them, it's lost.
I'd recommend you look at some Onkyo 5.1 systems.... they're about the best bang for the buck and I know quite a few 2o2p people have Onkyos including myself.
True, I prefer Onkyo for the price. My father recently bought an expensive Pioneer receiver and he regrets it. Apparently the screen goes black when he switches video inputs, so he has to double select an application for the screen to appear.
here gats..... you prob want something like this, Onkyo TX-SR313 $299 @ best buy
www.bestbuy.com/site/Onkyo+-+325W+5.1-Ch.+3D+Pass-Through+A/V+Home+Theat... 5.1&cp=1&lp=3
Quickly scanning the specs, it's got TrueHD and DTS HDMA which is what bluray is putting out, it's 5.1 channel, got 4 HDMI ports so you'll run all your HDMI devices into this, and this outputs to your TV.
Should get the job done. You might want to look a the specs in more detail though, i've just glanced at them.
The problem is more with how movies are mixed than with your setup. Today's movies are made with a huge dynamic range. That being said, a lower end setup is going to experience more problems than a higher end, which may feature a receiver with special processing modes such as THX Loudness Plus, dialog enhancers, or with dynamic range adjustments available. I doubt your receiver can do much other than boost the volume level of the center channel, which is a start.
Changing the distance setting of the speaker only changes the delay, and not the volume, so you should keep that set where it should be.
After updrading your receiver you should look to getting better speakers. I would start with the front pair and run with no center, if price is a concern. Of course the problem with that is the experience for people not sitting in the prime seat might not be that great, but fuck them.