Another Sky HD / Optical Out / Dolby question???

[admin_exported]

I have just set up my new sky hd box. I run the optical out from sky box into my beresford dac and then into my amp, to run through my stereo speakers (2.0). Question is: in the sky set up, in services, and under sound settings, when i have the optical setting as normal, i get excellent stereo sound through the amp and speakers, however, when i cange this to Dolby D i get severe interference when watching anything HD, and have to change the setting back to normal. Is this normal with a stereo set up? is dolby d in HD used just for AV receivers/surround sound with multiple channels, or should i expect an even better presentation and my sky hd box may be faulty....??? Any comments welcome.

 

[Anonymous]

Can anyone comment on the above???

 

[professorhat]

Well, I don't have a box, but seeing as you only have 2 speakers, why do you want to use the Dolby Digital mode? Seems to me it should be set to normal all the time...

I should say, I realise Dolby Digital 2.0 exists, but I wouldn't have thought it is used in broadcasting? Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="professorhat"]
Well, I don't have a box, but seeing as you only have 2 speakers, why do you want to use the Dolby Digital mode? Seems to me it should be set to normal all the time...

I should say, I realise Dolby Digital 2.0 exists, but I wouldn't have thought it is used in broadcasting? Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong!
[/quote]

1. I would like to make sure my sky box hasnt arrived with a blown DD transmitter firstly
2. I believe DD gets mixed down from 5.1 to DD 2.0 in this type of setup, i would imagine it gives enhanced imaging
so not having had DD before or sky hd, i am unsure what to expect......

Anymore thoughts anyone?

 

[Anonymous]

My understanding is your sky box should be set to Dolby D.

Got my optical cable through this morning and hooked it up to the Sky+ & Home Cinema, same stereo sound on both settings ("normal" & "dolby d") I take it the Dolby D aspect will come into it's own when a program is transmitted carrying a DD5.1 signal.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, its set to DD and when in the HD channels i get the bitstream feedback, when activating the help button and changing audio description to ON then the bitstream goes, but i am sure this is back to normal stereo instead of a mixed down DD? i dont know if you have to have an AV receiver to decode the DD signal.....
more puddled than before....

 

[Anonymous]

Yes from my own experience thats what happens when i'm watching football through the sky sports hd channels i automatically get DD 5.1, yet when the adverts come on it down mixes it to DD 2.0 according to my amps display.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="stu31"]Yes from my own experience thats what happens when i'm watching football through the sky sports hd channels i automatically get DD 5.1, yet when the adverts come on it down mixes it to DD 2.0 according to my amps display.[/quote]

Sorry, was that a yes that i will need an av receiver? even for dolby 2.0?? does that mean that the bitstream i am hearing is the DD5.1 coding or DD 2.0??

 

[Andrew Everard]

You're trying to feed a Dolby Digital datastream into a system with no Dolby Digital decoder fitted, hence the horrible noises.

There's no such thing as a Dolby Digital transmitter, so yours isn't broken - just you have no way of decoding what your box is currently outputting. And the reason why people see 5.1 turn into 2.0 on their AV receivers' displays when the ads happen during a surround football match is that the ads are in stereo. Doilby Digital two-channel stereo.

Turn your Sky HD box digital output back to stereo/bitstream, and the Beresford will handle it fine.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
You're trying to feed a Dolby Digital datastream into a system with no Dolby Digital decoder fitted, hence the horrible noises.

There's no such thing as a Dolby Digital transmitter, so yours isn't broken - just you have no way of decoding what your box is currently outputting. And the reason why people see 5.1 turn into 2.0 on their AV receivers' displays when the ads happen during a surround football match is that the ads are in stereo. Doilby Digital two-channel stereo.

Turn your Sky HD box digital output back to stereo/bitstream, and the Beresford will handle it fine.

[/quote]

Thanks for that, it was really dawning on me that i didnt have a decoder, but the fact i was getting some rich stereo imaging with DD on, on some of the HD channels but not others, through me a bit, and then reading that 5.1 can be mixed down to 2.0, led me to believe i was listening to mixed down DD2.0...I do seem to get a much richer presentation on the hd channels versus sd, why is that, any ideas?? and why do some hd channels play through the dac and amp and other hd's dont??