yamaha z7

[jokerpaulonline]

Need some advise on my new yamaha z7

When playing a dvd with 5.1 sound, the display on the yamaha only shows the left and right speakers. although I have sound comeing out of all the speakers.

Have I got it set up wrong? does this mean it is only playing in stero instead of 5.1? or is that what it is suposed to show?

If I have got it set up wrong, then any help with how to set it up correctly would be appericated

 

[Frank Harvey]

Hi Paul

Yamaha amplifiers always show the signal they're receiving, so in this case, it's showing that it's receiving a stereo signal. This indicates that the output of the source component is incorrect - this could either mean that the disc has defaulted to stereo, or the DVD player's output is set incorrectly.

Go to the audio options of the player and select Bitstream digital output

 

[Anonymous]

also , check that you dont have the yamaha set to output two channel stereo , pressing the button marked stereo repeatedly changes the output..

 

[jokerpaulonline]

I have the dvd player connected by coaxial cable, would that make any difference?

have tried it with a few dvd's and all the same

 

[Frank Harvey]

Naah, it doesn't matter which digital cable you use, it's all down to how the players output is set - it can either be set to output digital stereo (PCM) or digital multi-channel (Bitstream).

 

[Anonymous]

I think I may also be experiencing this with my amp.

The display on the amp shows 6 boxes representing the 5 speakers and sub,

The sub, has an S in the box, Centre, C, Front Left L, Front Right R, but the 2 boxes showing the surrounds, dont show any letters in the boxes, have I also not got my blu-ray set up to output the audio correctly?

 

[Frank Harvey]

It depends what you're playing through it. A 7.1 movie will light up all channels, whereas a 5.1 won't light up the rear pair. Some movies that say they're 7.1 may not actually be 7.1 and may only be 5.1, it depends how it's been labelled. If you plug a stereo source into it, only the L and R will light up. That display shows how many channels the incoming signal is.

 

[Anonymous]

I believe the display is controlled by a "Flag" encoded on the disc.

As already stated some discs may state one thing ,but if the flag is wrong the display will be incorrect , this is supported by sound being heard from undisplayed channels

 

[jokerpaulonline]

Right I think I have found out that the probelm is with the dvd player, It dont look like it has got a 5.1 output on it. This is the model I have got, http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=9090 Think it must be to old and time to get myself a new blueray player.

I have got a virgin media hd box, should I be getting a 5.1 sound through that into the yamaha z7?

 

[Frank Harvey]

5.1 can be sent out via the DVD player's digital output, it just needs to be set to Bitstream in the audio settings.

I'm not 100% certain with a Virgin box as I've never used one, but a HDMI from this to the Z7 should give you 5.1 (when it's broadcast of course). Again, there might be some settings to tinker with on the Virgin box.

 

[jokerpaulonline]

in the settings cant find bitstream, but when looking at the spec of the dvd player it says, "5.1 Audio output NO"

 

[Frank Harvey]

From the link you provided about your player, it states:

"Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's coaxial digital-audio output for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver"

so based on that statement above, there should be a section in the audio set up where you can set the audio output to Bitstream.

 

[jokerpaulonline]

FrankHarveyHiFi:

Hi Paul

Yamaha amplifiers always show the signal they're receiving, so in this case, it's showing that it's receiving a stereo signal. This indicates that the output of the source component is incorrect - this could either mean that the disc has defaulted to stereo, or the DVD player's output is set incorrectly.

Go to the audio options of the player and select Bitstream digital output

Is there anything else that I could have done wrong on the av that will stop me from getting a 5.1 sound out of it?

so if you are playing a blue-ray disc with a 7.1 format on a systen with only 5.1 speakers, would it still show 7.1 on the yamaha z7?

 

[Sorreltiger]

I suspect that you haven't told the Yamaha that for the DVD and Cable/Sat inputs sound will be coming in via coax/optical. There is more than one way of doing it, but you need to go to 'Audio Select' and choose 'Coax/Opt' (p 43 of the manual). At the moment, I think you have Auto or HDMI. There is more on this at p 90 (someone needs to streamline the Yamaha manual!!!).

Very importantly (!!) go to p 106 and change Audio select to 'Last', not 'Auto'. If you don't, you will lose your settings every time you switch off. I was caught out annoyingly by this one on my 3800 for a few days when I first bought it.

Hope that helps.

 

[Frank Harvey]

jokerpaulonline:Is there anything else that I could have done wrong on the av that will stop me from getting a 5.1 sound out of it?

The main thing is setting the output from the player correctly. Secondly, as Sorreltiger mentions, press the audio select button just to make sure you're getting the correct audio coming in.

so if you are playing a blue-ray disc with a 7.1 format on a systen with only 5.1 speakers, would it still show 7.1 on the yamaha z7?

Yes, even if you run a 5.1 system, the display will indicate how many channel it is receiving from the player. During a film, if this shows as just front left and right, you know something's wrong! It's actually quite handy, and not all manufacturers do this. It wlaos shows you the real format of the disc - many times I've put in 5.1 Blurays and trhe display shows 7.1!

 

[jokerpaulonline]

just sorted the 5.1 sound on the dvd. The way I done this was to get rid of my old dvd player and replace it with a new blue-ray player lol.

but still cant seem to get a 5.1 sound out of my virgin hd box, any idea's anyone?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Sorry paul, not familiar with Virgin boxes.

 

[jokerpaulonline]

FrankHarveyHiFi:

Sorry paul, not familiar with Virgin boxes.

Hi david, I just got the blue-ray player today, I have found that there is so much more quality in the sound. I was not really happy with the speakers before, as they sounded flat and did not have a crisp/sharp sound. I think the main reason for this was because the dvd player was not running the sound through the coaxal cabe, but through an analouge cable instead.

I have got cheap hdmi cables with it at the mo, do you think it would make much more difference with better quality hdmi cables?

 

[Frank Harvey]

I think it depends on the screen being used and the source component itself. You don't need to go mad, but I'd stay away from cheap ones - just something from the old scart days! Some cheap scarts were ok, but they were notoriously unreliable.