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

Have a new Sony STR-DH590 AV receiver. It's connected by two HDMI 2.o cables to my PS4 Pro and to my 4K TV. Films from blu-ray and streaming play fine in 5.1, but I can't get my DVD-A of Larks' Tongues in Aspic to play in 5.1. Probably some beginner's error.

When I first tried, I set the DVD to DTS on the menu screen. The PS4 is set to DTS in the settings, so I don't think that's the cause. When I played, it came through the two front channels only, with my young son also verifying that nothing is coming from the other speakers. I changed the AVR settings by pressing through the options on the the '2 Ch/Multi' button. All came through the two front speakers only, except for 'Multi St.' I assumed 'Multi St.' means multi stereo, i.e. using all speakers to output in stereo, or two channels. Is this incorrect?

This page should help me find the correct setting:

STR-DH590 | Help Guide | Relations between sound fields and speaker outputs

To play 5.1 (DTS) from a DVD-A or blu-ray, should I use Multi St., Direct, PL II MS, or something else? I would have guessed Direct would be the one, but that only outputted from the two front speakers, despite the DVD menu being set to DTS.

 

Does PS4 Pro play DVD-A? It's not listed in the manual:

Supported disc formats | PlayStation®4 User's Guide

 

I’m confused with the mention of DTS when talking about DVD-A.

 

Wouldn't you play the DVD through your Blu ray player?

 

Larks' Tongues in Aspic, 40th anniv. edition, has two discs. Disc 1 is the CD. Disc 2 is described on the back cover as DVD. Maybe it's not a DVD-A.

 

Yes. I play the DVD through my blu-ray player. My blu-ray player is a PS4 Pro.

 

I'm a complete noob to 5.1. Probably the King Crimson disc I'm playing is a DVD not a DVD-A. I don't know what a DVD-A is. I mean, I presume it looks identical to a DVD and it is intended to play audio and not primarily video content. Anyway, this album on DVD is in DTS 5.1 digital surround, as the back cover says. Not sure what to press on my AVR to hear it in proper 5.1 rather than in stereo pushed through the 5.1 channels.

I'm now thinking either '2 Channel/Multi' > 'Direct' or 'Music' > 'PLII MS'. No ideas what PLII MS stands for. Anyone know whether one of these options will output the 5.1 data as 5.1? I repeat, I'm a newbie with 5.1, so pardon my ignorance. I have tried Googling!

 

DVDA is different than DVD video as its audio stream is higher resolution and depending on hardware its played on will vary.

I know nothing of ps 4 however u may have to switch ur settings to play the disc as a Video...set settings to play as DVD video cuz somewhere ur equipment may not handle DVDA in ur chain...could be ps4, or hdmi handshake or ur amp/avr

Try read ing manuals

 

So, I'm playing Larks' Tongues in Aspic, 40th anniv. edition, disc 2, the DVD. On the on-screen menu, I select DTS 5.1. The only other option is LPCM stereo. On the AVR, I press the 2CH/MULTI button till it selects Direct. This 'Plays back all audio signals without adding any surround effect', according to the user's manual. I hoped that would directly plat the DTS 5.1. However, I can hear music only through the two front speakers and the subwoofer. Also, the AVR display says PCM. Stumped as to how to get 5.1 playing as 5.1 with this disc.

 

Actually, saying it is DVD-A is my mistake. The back cover of the album just calls it a DVD.

 

If you are referring to the Steven Wilson Crimson sets, I think they have both a DVD-A (lossless) and a DTS (lossy) 5.1 version. I'm not sure that your setup can handle either.

 

Ur ps4 looks like no DVDA so ull need to go for Dts

Again i know nothing about ps4...i do have a couple of universal players

Good luck playing w settings...also im non hdmi use coax n analogs

 

Yeah, this is the 2012 version mixed and produced by Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp. The disc apparently has something called MLP Lossless 5.1 as well as DTS 5.1. Only DTS comes up as a 5.1 option, so maybe that option does not display on my system if it can't play it. I select DTS, however. DTS plays fine on this AVR with The Beatles' White Album blu-ray and with other movies and concert blu-rays I have, using DTS. Not getting the Larks' Tongues DVD, however, to play proper 51 so far (as opposed to stereo played through the 5.1 speakers, i.e. Multi St.)

 

OK, thanks. However, I am selecting DTS, but it only plays through the 2 front speakers.

 

If this is your back cover, there is a DVD-Video DTS 5.1 surround mix on there:



You may need to change the audio format on the PS4 to "Bitstream" or "PCM".

 

Thanks, that is the copy I have. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't PCM for lossless stereo? I definitely want to hear this in 5.1 through my AVR. One of the first things I did, a few days ago when I bought this AVR, is to go to the PS4 menu > Sound and Screen, then select Bitstream (DTS). Just checked now and it is still on that setting.

Totally stumped as to what I have to do next to hear this in 5.1.

 

Could be a HDMI handshake issue too...try a new hdmi cable...

Could b avr

Could b faulty disc got another player?

Anyways wish u best in figuring it out

 

Cheers. I just bought two new HDMI 2.0 cables for this. Maybe the disc, for all I know. Also, I could bring down my DVD player one of these days and try that.

 

AVR is set to "Direct", right? Try the "PCM" setting on PS4.

 

OK, will do that now...

... Just done that: changed from Bitstream (DTS) on the PS4 to Linear PCM.

Then, played the King Crimson Larks' Tongues DVD. As I expected, with the AVR, it plays in stereo and only through the 2 front speakers and the AVR display says PCM.

 

I believe the MC direct button means you need to use the RCA multichannel input on the AVR and the MC RCA multichannel outputs on your player. Problem is I am 99% sure the PS4 does not have RCA MC outputs.

It is possible the HDMI on the PS4 will not pass the proper signal to the AVR.

Just checked, the PS4 has HDMI ver 1.4. Rich includes the dvd-a signal.

 

Thanks. I don't understand what MC means (or stands for). Same with RCA, sorry. I know RCA refers to those little plastic and metal plugs, usually red and white, sometimes with a yellow.

What I get from your message is that possibly the PS$ cannot play this disc. However, the audio I want to play on the disc is DTS 5.1. My others discs (concert DVDs and blu-rays of both movies and of audio, e.g. the White Album, 2018 remix) play fine as DTS from PS4 via HDMI 2.0 to my AVR and its 5.1 speaker system. Might there be something about this King Crimson DVD that makes it different in kind from my other DVDs, making its 5.1 content impossible, maybe, to play from a PS4?

 

Direct bypasses all the receiver’s processing, not what you want. PLll MS is for music, PLll MV is for movies. But a DTS source should be recognized by the receiver automatically. The HD-DCS setting should do multichannel from BD and DVD. Just a thought, some of my music DVD/BD’s have an Audio Select on the pop up screen menu, I can select the playback format from there ie, stereo, dts, Dolby surround.

 

Yes, usually DTS is being recognized automatically, so this is odd. I'm now thinking (a) my set-up has some limitation, e.g. this disc is a DVD-A and PS4s, for all I know, maybe can't play those, or (b) there is a fault with the disc. That would be very odd though, for if there were a fault, surely my disc would not be the only copy where the DTS was in fact stereo, and we would have heard about it on this forum.

 

Poor guy - he's drowning in anagram soup. Multichannel listening should never have been this difficult, learning to understand all the different formats, even before determining your equipment doesn't do what you thought it might.

By the way, in case you hadn't found out yet..."MC" stands for "multichannel".