Please help a novice - Am I listening to HD Sound (No HD Display on Receiver)?

[admin_exported]

Professor,

I have a Panasonic BD35 Blu-Ray connected to an Onkyo TS-XR605 Receiver via a Van Den Hul Flat 1.3. The receiver is connected to my Plasma TV via Chord Silver Plus 1.3. Speakers are JAMO A102.

I do not seem to get a HD display on my receiver except for a 'DVD HDMIThrough' sign. I've tried everything (I think, from reading the other threads) but to no avail. I would appreciate any help.

My Panasonic settings:

Sound: Dynamic Range Compression : Auto

Digital Audio Output : Dolby D/Dolby D +/Dolby TrueHD : Bitstream

DTS/DTS-HD : Bitstream

MPEG Audio : Bitstream

BD-Video Secondary Audio : Off

Primary Video : Soundtrack -----> 1ENG DTS-HD MSTR Multi (Rush Hour 3)

PCM Down Conversion : Off

Downmix : Surround encoded

I tried between Bitstream and PCM and I find Bitstream to sound a whole lot better. I remember Gerardsnails saying somewhere that if it is set to Bitstream, the receiver does the decoding and if it is PCM, then it's the player - am I right in assuming that the receiver is doing a better job at this?

Only the DTS signal lights up on the display with Neo:6. I just played Rush Hour 3 which comes with DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 but I don't see this in the display.

 

[professorhat]

Okay...

In all honesty I can't see anything immediately wrong with the setup you've said apart from the Onkyo's display. I don't know at all what 'DVD HDMIThrough' could indicate - I have an Onkyo 905 and have found from other posts that they should be fairly similar despite the differences in model - I've never seen this displayed when playing a soundtrack. This indicates the Onkyo is possibly the one at fault. I would go into the Setup and, in the Listening Mode Preset menu, make sure you have everything set correctly in there (personally, I have Dolby Digital and DTS set to their respective formats and everything else set to Last Valid).

 

[Anonymous]

I cannot see anything wrong with the settings you have selected.

On a side point, I would recommend to switch from "Auto" to "Off" the Dynamic Range Compression setting. On some Dolby TrueHD soundtracks (Transformers and Iron Man, to name two), for some reason, they trigger this to turn on, and what this does is it behaves as though you have selected night mode, and the frequency extremes are axed, and the soundtrack lacks dynamism, etc.

 

[VoodooDoctor]

I think you may need to go into the Onkyo "Hardware setup" menu and change the HDMI audio out option to Off. This should route the sound to the speakers rather than out through the HDMI cable. Worth a shot.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone. Each of you have provided a good suggestion. I will try all of these and write back soon.

I'm grateful for your help.

 

[True Blue]

I had exactly the sameproblem except with my Denon 1909.

I know this is going to sound daft but make sure your player is outputting in 1080P. If you use the auto setting it can "see" the reciever as a non hd device and defaults to 480 and does not transmit HD audio either. Go into the video settings and manually force the output to 1080P. It worked for me.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tru Blu,

I tried that but all I got was a blank screen. My TV is HD Ready and not Full HD, so it probably couldn't handle it. I have now set it to 'auto configuration'.

Thx for your input!

 

[The_Lhc]

EvilWolf:

I tried that but all I got was a blank screen. My TV is HD Ready and not Full HD, so it probably couldn't handle it. I have now set it to 'auto configuration'.

Presumably you have the option for 720p or 1080i though?

 

[True Blue]

Check what the reciever is recieving as an input from the Blu Ray. If it is 480 it will not transmit HD audio. Should be ok if you force it to output 720p

 

[True Blue]

Also make sure you have a version 1.3a (minimum) HDMI cable connecting the Blu ray to your reciever. Older versions dont support the transmission of HD audio.

 

[True Blue]

Sorry did not read the first line of your post. The cable is fine.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have 720p and 1080i. Should I change this manually to one of these?

 

[Anonymous]

I have done ALL of your suggestions and presto, I now have DVD DTS-HD MSTR showing on the screen!!!

My brother and I have been scratching our heads all night trying to figure this out. Thank you all for your most helpful contribution.

 

[True Blue]

Excellent, now enjoy!!

 

[Anonymous]

Hello:

I have had the same problem as you. I have a 60" Sony 720P/1080i, Onkyo TX SR806, and the Panasonic BD35 blu-ray player. The Onkyo will not display TrueHd or DTS Master Audio when discs that have these formats are played. I originally had an Onkyo TX SR705, and thinking that it was the problem, I bought the 806. Same problem! My HDMI cables are 1.3a, all the settings on the Onkyo and the Panasonic are correct. I have tried 720P output, and 1080i output, but nothing changes. From all I have read about this issue, I was convinced that in order to get the BD35 to output TrueHD, etc., you must have a 1080P display, and make sure that it is set to that resolution. But it appears that you got yours to work on your 720P/1080i display. Could you please review again what you did to make it work.

Thanks

Brian

 

[nads]

i have just changed my 35 output to 720p and as i expected it has made no difference i still get DTS-HD Mstr on the 805.

Now to go back to 1080p/24 on my HD ready TV as it looks so much better.

you are chosing the correct sound track?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I am selecting the correct sound track. I have tried everything that has been suggested on this site, but still no luck.

Brian

 

[nads]

it does sound like incorrect settings somewhere.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello:

I see that you had the same problem as me in getting the Panasonic BD35 to display TrueHD, etc. on your receiver. Please check my post on this thread from February 20, my post name is Trac.

Any advise you can give me on how you fixed your problem would be very much appreciated. I have tried virtually everthing.

Thanks

Brian

 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you've got the HDMI audio out switched on. As voodoo doctor said earlier, if you can switch it off the amp will process the audio instead of sending it through to your telly. Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

It's happened to me and took me two weeks to sort out with the Denon 2309.

It seems that for whatever reason the pana 35 doesn't always recognise the hi def format of the content on all blu rays. My problem was with Dark Knight. But if you believe other threads then Wal E will automatically give you the blue light ( in the case of my denon ) which confirms you are listening in hi def.

You've done everything right. Now do this. When the blu ray is playing go to the audio button on the pana remote ( not the one on the bottom row , the one half way down) and press through the options offered - you should see True HD as the second option press it and enjoy ! There'll be an equivalent to my blue light on your onkyo and also a text box telling you on the amp fascia that you are in business .

There is a small but significant difference in the rear and bass sound from the speakers between what pana comes up with first and then what happens when you press the option tru hd soundtrack.

Peter

 

[nads]

peebs the default sound setting on the Dark Knight sound track is the plain DD and all players will play that from the start.

settings and language and select the HD track. this is needed on a lot of discs.

I am suprised it took you 2 weeks to sort it.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Peter:

Thank you for your post. I am from Canada, and maybe our blu-ray discs are different here. I was playing the Ironman blu-ray disc, and did as you suggest, hit the audio button. Mine only shows 1 English mode, and to the right of this, it shows TrueHD. The other selections available are Dolby Digital French, and Spanish. My Onkyo receiver still shows Dolby Digital. There could be something wrong with my BD35, but I want to try everything possible before I have to leave it in a repair shop for 2 - 4 weeks.

Any other thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Brian