help with sony str-dg820

[admin_exported]

i have recently acquired a sony str-dg820, it works fine with my sony blu ray, plays in hd audio and all that good stuff, but i also have sky hd and is connected via a hdmi into the amp, however it will not show dolby digital or any of the other formats, it only outputs in linear pcm,whatever that is. I am new to all this home cinema stuff, so any help would be greatly appreciated in sorting out my issues.

cheers

 

[professorhat]

Hi there - welcome to the forums!

Your problem there is Sky HD has a restriction in place which means it only transfers the stereo soundtrack over HDMI as opposed to Dolby Digital 5.1. In order to get 5.1 sound from your Sky box, you need to also connect it up with either a digital optical (most likely) or a digital coaxial lead - this will depend on the manufacturer of Sky box but should be fairly clear from the connection at the back. Once you've done this and set your Sony amp to input sound from this connection, you should then get Dolby Digital 5.1 from the broadcasts which use it.

 

[Andrew Everard]

As Prof LeChapeau says, but you also need to set the Sky+HD box to output Dolby Digital via optical, in the sound menu, and set the receiver to take the sound from the digital input, not HDMI, on whichever input you have the Sky box connected to.

When you say you 'acquired' the Sony, did you buy it new? If so, you should have new problems, but if you bought it used, not from an authorised Sony retailer or you are spectacularly unlucky, you may find the receiver won't let you set it to override the HDMI audio input and take sound from the digital connection instead.

This is a known foul-up with early 820s, and a call to Sony should point you in the direction of getting it fixed.

If you bought it new recently, it should have been fixed, and I believe there should be an extra sheet of paper in the box amending the manual to explain how to do the override.

 

[Anonymous]

does anyone have a copy of or a link to the extra sheet of paper explaining about the override, as i have now connected it with an optical cable but i still cant get it to show as dolby digital,it still lists pcm, ive looked through my manual and its not clear to me,how to proceed.

 

[Andrew Everard]

The procedure on pp75-76 of the manual should explain how to do it. And bear in mind that not everything on Sky HD is in Dolby Digital - to check all is well you need to find a movie or programme definitely using a DD surround soundtrack

 

[Anonymous]

unfortunately, the manual i have has radio functions on pages 75/76, i am completely at a loss

 

[Andrew Everard]

Then you need the beginning of the Other Operations section, which begins with 'Switching between digital and analog audio (INPUT MODE)'

 

[Anonymous]

I have the Str-DG820 with the updated operating instructions...I can scan and paste to the forum..or as a a thought you should be able to PDF it from Sony WWW

 

[Anonymous]

if you could scan it in,i would be most grateful..cheers

 

[laserman16]

http://support.sony-europe.com/hav/ha/comp/str/str.aspx?site=odw_en_GB&m=STR-DG820

Go here ,open up in Adobe Acrobat and go to page 75 as Andrew says.

 

[laserman16]

BTW you can also download the file for future reference. Just right click on the file that you want and click "save target as".

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

many thanks to everyone, who offered assistance, my issue is now sorted..cheers

 

[laserman16]

Glad your sorted.