New to 5.1, can't get a DVD with DTS Digital Surround to play in 5.1 rather than stereo*

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Geordiepete, May 25, 2021.

  1. Audiowannabee

    Audiowannabee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Don't sweat it...most of us in surround sound land have experienced similar issues. It can be frustrating but once u figure it out n have the proper equipment u will very much enjoy it! Quad n 5.1 is great n will give u much enjoyment...it can be spendy n will empty the wallet

    Ive experienced similar frustrations in the beginning

    Stay Surrounded
     
  2. mtrot

    mtrot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tyler, TX
    Looks like you're going to need an actual DVD-Audio player in order to play those MLP lossless 5.1 tracks. Does the PS4 claim to play DVD-Audio? But it should play the DTS 5.1 surround track. Have you tried setting the PS4 to: Digital Output = PCM?
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
  3. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    Are you actually getting a DVD menu on the screen, has that been asked yet?
     
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  4. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    This has already been asked and answered. It’s not capable of DVD-A playback.
     
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  5. Audiowannabee

    Audiowannabee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Final comment

    Look at ur connection options on back of ps4 n avr... Hook directly from ps4 to avr using either coax or toslink...use dts stream

    Have a great day
     
  6. elvisizer

    elvisizer Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Jose
    OK, it's probably ARC confusing the ps4 then, I'd get ARC out of the situation and see if that changes anything.
     
  7. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    The PS4 is not a DVD A player, so you cannot access the MLP encoded tracks as per previous posts.

    Setting your Sony Playstation 4 to output Bitstream Audio (Dolby Digital / DTS)

    I know this link refers to a Denon amp, but I wonder if following these steps may help; enable the bitstream [DTS] option and see how you get on. While I am sure normal DVD and BD playback is fine, DTS DVDs can be a bit troublesome at times.

    Edit: DTS HD on a Blu Ray will probably play fine over an HDMI connection with minimal configuration, but the older lossy DTS as found on DVD and [fairly obscure now] DTS-CDs is a different beast.
     
  8. Rycherocker634

    Rycherocker634 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minneapolis
    Looking at your manual for the receiver, page 36 lists multi-channel content direct as I believe the way you should get true surround from the DTS option on Lark's Tongue in Aspic. The track Easy Money is one of the best tracks early on to see if the surround speakers are working.

    I don't have a PS4 and my receiver is an older Sony 5400. After playing around with Lark's Tongue on universal Oppo player (has DVD-AUDIO capability) and my Sony 555 (does not have DVD-AUDIO capability) it is confusing whether you are hearing the DTS signal or a "processed surround" made by the receiver.

    One thing I did learn is that a non DVD-AUDIO player will give you only the DTS 5.1 and an LPCM stereo option. If you are seeing the MLP Lossless 5.1, MLP Lossless stereo, and DTS 5.1 Digital Surround option then you have a DVD-AUDIO player.
     
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  9. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    I don't mind not listening to the MLP tracks, at least for a few months. Someone else suggested I set the PS4 to output PCM. I couldn't understand, as PCM is a two-track encoding. Still, I tried, but, as I expected, it output only in stereo, not 5.1.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
  10. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Yes, as I have stated earlier, I get the DVD menu onscreen and I select 5.1 DTS. The MLP option doesn't show up, so I guess the menu is 'smart' and shows the MLP option only if it is being read by a DVD-A player.
     
  11. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    As I stated in an earlier post, one of the first things I did when I got the AVR was to set the PS4 to prioritize Bitstream (DTS).
     
  12. mtrot

    mtrot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tyler, TX
    BTW, I just remembered that, with my Oppo universal disc player, there is a setting, Secondary Audio, that has to be turned to OFF in order to be able to listen to some content. You might check the Audio Output settings in the PS4 and see if there is a Secondary Audio setting, and if there is, set it to OFF.

    Also, pcm is not only for two-channel. I have some Blu-Ray titles that have 5.1 pcm as one of the audio track options, including some of the early Pirates of the Caribbean Blu-rays. My Denon AVR plays them fine in uncompressed 5.1 pcm.
     
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  13. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    I moved the HDMI 2.0 on the TV and, at the other end, on the AVR from the ARC HDMI port , at either end, to a port that was not designated ARC. That didn't get the 5.1 playing but it did cut off the picture on the TV!
     
  14. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Thanks, I had worked out, but not with much confidence, that Multi-channel Direct would be the way to hear 5.1 on this AVR. Just tried 'Easy Money' now on that mode, with the DVD set to DTS. Came through in stereo only, using only the front left and right speakers. Also, yeah, like you saw, I'm seeing only the DTS and the PCM Stereo options on the onscreen menu, so the PS4, as someone already stated, can't read the DVD-A layer.
     
  15. Audiowannabee

    Audiowannabee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Damn near ANY Bluray or DVD player should play that disc! Just as a video w dts sound output in 5.1
     
  16. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    That's correct. It's a mystery why the DTS track is playing only in stereo, with the AVR set to Direct, the PS4 set to prioritize Bitstream (DTS), and an HDMI 2.0 cable connects the PSA4 and AVR and another HDMI 2.0 cable connects the TV and AVR.
     
  17. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    I just checked to see if my MacBook Pro (2019) with an external blu-ray disc player can play 5.1 DTS via HDMI. It can, so later today I'll try that, taking the PS4 out of the loop, to see if that makes a difference.
     
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  18. Audiowannabee

    Audiowannabee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Dude at this stage id b down to the local goodwill for a $5.00 cheap dvd player. :righton:

    Anyways later
     
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  19. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    As I wrote in this thread yesterday, I'll also connect my DVD player (Pioneer, I think) from upstairs later today, to see if that works where the PS4 doesn't, i.e. in playing the DTS 5.1 track as 5.1, not PCM stereo.
     
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  20. Audiowannabee

    Audiowannabee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Im sure ull get er figured out
    Have Fun
    Stay surrounded :)
     
  21. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    Good luck. That disc does play on an Oppo UDP-203. Another player I have at another location is not connected right now...unfortunately I am there and not by the Oppo. I would be curious to see pictures of what the disc menus look like. Yes, all DVD-Audio discs have a DVD layer (or 99.9999%). So if your player doesn't support DVD-Audio it should play as a regular DVD. That is why you don't see the MLP option. But somewhere in the DISC menu there will also be a selection for 2-channel or 5.1; my guess is you need to find that unless you already did and I missed it.
     
  22. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Cheers. Yes, I already posted a few times about my selecting DTS 5.1 from the onscreen DVD menu. I'm completely baffled! Later today, I'll hook the AVR to a Pioneer DVD player and to my newish MacBook Pro, selecting HDMI 5.1 as the audio output in System Preferences. Trying those will help work out if the problem is in the PS4 or perhaps the disc (or something else, e.g. cables or ports used), but anyway, it should give more information to help solve the problem.

    P.S. The disc menu simply gives the option of DTS 5.1 or PCM stereo (as well as the choice of what songs to play and which of the couple of bonus videos to watch). MLP does not come up as an option, so the DVD-A layer isn't being read by the PS4.
     
  23. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    Agree with that. A DVDA compatible player would show the MLP tracks and be able to decode them to multi channel PCM for transmission over HDMI.

    I’m beginning to wonder if there is a DVD authoring issue here, particularly if you have successfully been able to play other DTS encoded DVD videos. Strange things can happen over HDMI, too.

    As other have suggested, get an optical cable and try that. “Old” DTS, as found on DVD Videos, can be transmitted over an optical connection, like Dolby Digital, and a multi channel receiver should recognise it, decode it, and usually show a DTS logo on the display to indicate this. The quality would be the same as HDMI for this particular version of DTS.

    If the receiver can’t recognise and decode DTS, an optical or coaxial connection will just generate a loud static noise (so when you first try it have the volume low on the receiver so you don’t fry your speakers).
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2021
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  24. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Cheers. Just disconnected the PS4 and added my Pioneer DVD player (DV-220V) in its place, just temporarily, for a test. After a little futzing, with Direct as the AVR setting, The Larks' Tongues in Aspic DVD played in DTS digital surround. So, this confirms that there is an issue regarding the PS4 and/or its settings/connections.

    Not sure what 'authoring issue' means. Is that to do with copyright protection and region encoding? By the way, thanks for reading the thread. Been a number of well-meaning folk who ended up asking the the same questions over and again, so it's a relief to read a post from someone who checked or at least scanned the other posts.

    OK, so, I've just ordered an Amazon Basics optical cable. It isn't gold coated and sheathed in albino chamois leather, and it only cost around 7 bucks, but should that cable be fit for purpose? Are there grades of Toslink, similar to how HDMI has 1.4, 2.0, and 2.1?

    Thanks for the very helpful tip, too, on turning down the speakers when first trying the optical cable, in case of the loud hiss if the DTS is not recognized. A good diagnostic too.

    One more thing I'm confused about: I'll add the optical cable between the AVR and the PS4, but can I keep the HDMI cable there too? I guess I'd need to root around in the PS4 menu and see if I can tell it to send audio through the optical connection. Will keeping the optical cable in place be disadvantageous for playback of my other discs? I mean, I read that HDMI 2.0 was better for audio and video (more bandwidth) than optical cables and that optical can only transfer one or the other (just audio? I'm not retaining all this newly scoured info very well!)
     
  25. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    Amazon Basics should be fine. There aren't any particular gradings for optical cables, and even cheap ones should be able to work up to 96K / 24 bit, which far exceeds what you need for DTS.

    Not region coding or copyright protection, just the way the disc's menus and so on have been written. Occasionally you may find that some DVDs or BDs just don't work entirely correctly on a given player. Whether it's the fault of the player or the disc is never entirely clear. Given that the PS4 is a newish machine and DVD Audios and DTS DVDs are both old technology it may be that the PS4 just doesn't properly handle this disc. I'm willing to bet that Sony won't have extensively tested the PS4 with older, relatively niche, disc formats.

    Fine to leave both connected. I don't have a PS4 myself, but do have a PS3, and there are lots of settings there for configuring the behaviour of the HDMI and optical outputs. You may also have to configure your receiver to use the optical input.

    Agree, and you know the right settings to use on the AVR. This will either boil down to something odd in a PS4 menu, or one of those idiosyncratic disc / player incompatibilities that crop up from time to time.
     
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