Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Gadgets, Computers & Software (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/)

-   -   The Home Theater thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/8056-home-theater-thread-131.html)

I bought it from RD.
Delivery was done yesterday and I could meet him only in the night. Thanks to Hyderabad traffic/rain.
The home theatre is brand new, Manufacturing month was September 13.
Initial impressions, on the package.
Awesome. The way they have packed each and every unit is commendable. All the units were wrapped in a cloth like soft material and they are fastened by cello tapes.



The woofer, satellite and center speakers are so shiny, hesitant to keep on my book shelves.
The receiver is kind of transparent at the top and sides. Believe this is to ensure the unit doesn't heat up. Also felt the unit is very fragile.
Took me 3 hours to set it up temporarily. Measuring the cable length, positioning the speakers, unwrapping et al.

Once done, this is how connected my gadgets.

I have ignored the PS3 as of now, since I have only 2 HDMI cables.

So, TV is connected to the HDMI out of AV.
Airtel STB to HDMI1

Turned it on and voila, everything worked fine. But did I get surround, no.

I then inserted a USB with some songs and the AV played it with no fuss. I could even get 5ch. Stereo. Again, I can get the surround and center speakers to work only on this mode, when playing channels from Airtel too. If I select the Surround options, no surround speaker works, even on Movies Now and all HD channels.

Many queries:
Should I make some configurations in the AV or Airtel STB doesn't stream Surround through HDMI?
What is ARC enabled Port?
Luckily I have optical out in my TV and Airtel STB and couple of Optical inputs in my AV. Will I get surround if I connect those cables?
Leaving Airtel apart, If I connect only my TV to AV and play some Dolby/Surround videos through my ext.HDD, will I get surround through only the HDMI?
As of now, I have kept full volume on my sub-woofer, is this OK? The least thump makes my windows shatter lol: So asking.
The satellite speakers have a provision to hand it in the wall and to fasten it to stand. I am planning to connect the surround speakers on the center point of my L shape wall. Or get a stand and rotate it as per my need. Which one is recommended.

Lot of doubts now and I am not getting time to read through the manuals and set it up. As of now not opting for the RD guys to do installation and demo, since I wont be available at home and this weekend I am going hometown.

I would suggest the Yamaha 675 itself. Good allrounder

Where did you insert this USB?

5 channel stereo is a mode on your receiver. If it is not enabled the signal stays stereo. You are not really getting five channels of sound as the main mp3 file or whatever format it is contains only 2 channels.

Like I said above, this is a multi channel mode you can enable on your receiver.

Dolby Digital or DTS needs to be in the HDMI signal feed from your Airtel STB. Most STB's don't give this output via HDMI unless you have the latest box with new firmware.

You can check your Airtel STB Audio Settings. Leave the receiver in Auto mode. Many STB's till now were not supporting mutli channel audio via HDMI. They were being output only via coaxial or optical. This is changing now. I am still unable to get Multi Channel audio via HDMI from my Videocon STB. Some say it is being output.

Stands for Audio Return Channel. One of your TV's HDMI connectors should have ARC written on it. If its not there, you can't use it. Your receivers Monitor/TV Out HDMI connector should also support this. Most new receivers support ARC. This needs to be enabled as well at the TV and Receiver set up.

ARC is a feature of HDMI where it can carry the audio signal to the receiver. So lets say you plug in a USB drive containing music or a movie in to your tv. When you play the track, the sound will travel back to the receiver via the HDMI cable. This eliminates the need to run another audio cable from the TV to the receiver. Dolby Digital and DTS signals can also be carried back over ARC.

Airtel needs to broadcast a surround signal via Optical/Coxial. If they are, it will work. If Airtel is sending out a surround signal via HDMI, then no need to run another cable from the STB or TV to receiver. As the STB is connected via receiver, it should pass the surround format signal to the receiver to decode.

Yes. Enable HDMI ARC (If not already done) in the settings menu of the TV and AV Receiver. Some TV's, once you start playing the movie file, requires you to enable the surround format in the Sound Settings of the TV. I need to do this each time on my Samsung plasma. If I don't, it will just output a PCM stream which will be stereo.

Please do not turn up the volume to maximum on your sub woofer. You will blow the speaker and the amplifier. You won't get warranty coverage for misuse which is what you are doing right now. Turn down the volume to 0 on the subwoofer, play a music track, then slowly turn it up till you can just hear it from your seating position. Once you start to hear the sub from the seated position, you may increase the volume just a little more for added impact during movie watching.

Most modern home theatres come with automatic sound set up where you place a mic at the listening position and run some tests. Check if your system has this.

Wall mount is perfect as long as it is not above ear level from seated position. The speaker should also be directed to the listening position.

Have a USB port in the front.

I knew, but to tell that the surround didnt work, I said the same.

Unfortunately, either my LCD or Airtel STB doesnt support ARC. I have purchased a optical cable and I am able to get True Surround, both from LCD and Airtel HD channels.

As mentioned above, my LCD doesnt have the ARC HDMI port. Once I connected the optical cable, I can find SPDIF setting, but I can only select PCM, Dolby Digital is greyed out. Why?

Suggestion/Advice/Recommendation taken, since I am following the same already.

My HT does have the YPAO, but yet to use it.

Any good stands which you can recommend.

There is no need for the STB to support ARC. Only the TV/Receiver needs this.

This now looks like a case of the signal from Airtel which does not have Dolby Digital or DTS. Not all channels have it. Check with English HD channels. During the start of a show or a movie, you get a little grey logo saying Dolby Digital at the left bottom corner of your screen. This appears briefly.

Play a video file that contains a DD or DTS stream over USB connected to the TV and check if it is still greyed out. If its not, we can rule out a potential problem.


You can check with soundfoundations.in

Thanks madbullram....Finally decuded to go for Yammy 675....Exchanged my vintage yamaha rxv 450 for 10k...Paid 47k for 675.The dealer was Hi-Fi Link, Ernakulam

Didnt have the time to set it up..Will be doing that on Sunday. Can you suggest a good stabilizer for my setup?

Panasonic plasma 42in

Yamaha rx v 675

Lg dvd player (will be upgrading to a Panasonic bluray soon..)

Or is it better to go for a UPS?
Thanks
Dilip Kumar

Congrats on the buy. I too just took the delivery of 299. Have done the basic setup. Waiting for the Yammie guy to come tomorrow for the installation.:Cheering:

My LCD doesn't support ARC. Bought a optical cable and I am now able to get surround from Airtel HD channels.
Was in Chennai, visited Ritchie street and bought some stand for my satellites alone from Jenefas. Each coated 200 bucks. Yet to fit them.
Will download some videos/music with DD and check.
Did you buy from RD? When asked RD guy, he says the installation will be done by their people and not yammie guys. How to call yammie guys?

Unfortunately, the speaker cable came with the package was not sufficient for my room, so patched it with another speaker cable came with my JBL car speakers. Is this OK?

During surround, the volume from surround speakers are very feeble, how to increase it. Only the center speaker is loud enough in my setup. Is this due to the speaker cable patching?

Have a query.

I have a philips home theater system which was purchased in 2009. Now it has become pretty old and outdated . Hence looking for something new. The catch is the 5.1 speakers that came with the system are really good.

Is it possible to get just a BD player which has 6 seperate connections at the back for the speaker and sub-woofer like the current one has. Thing is i want to keep the speakers but upgrade the player. The connector type can be re-soldered to the new ones if required.

Just for my knowledge, do we get all movies in Dolby Digital format on Airtel HD channels? I see the logo only in some movies that too less frequently on Movies now compared to Star Movies HD. Star movies has amazing quality. Does dolby digital mean it is in true 6 channel format or is it under pro logic?

I solved my ARC not working problem by using a HDMI 1.4 cable. But if the TV doesnt have ARC capablity then audio through HDMI is not possible.

For test videos, we can download them from Dolby official website if you guys havent tried them. Its really good. You get channel test videos as well as short video clips. Good for demos also :D

No. I have seen it on Star World HD and Star Movies HD. The receiver indicates Dolby Digital but it is mostly two channel (no even pro logic) which means it is pointless. You much rather listen in Stereo. I don't see how DD can elevate the listening experience in Stereo. To me, it feels like they and sending a stream to indicate Dolby Digital for the heck of it. It is not the real deal.

I have watched quite a few movies on Airtel HD (mostly Movies Now HD channel, sometimes Star Movies HD as well)....all the new movies are definitely transmitted in 5.1 surround sound. The older movies probably are not in HD and 5.1 surround sound.
Also, the NG HD and Discovery HD channels have 5.1 surround sound (eg. the commentators voice is coming from center channel only, you can hear the other sounds of the jungle through the surround channels).

Yes even I have observed this. When I switch to Auto format detect on the HT receiver, SD channels are usually played through center only, while Movies Now usually plays stereo. Only some movies are available in 5.1ch. However in pro logic mode I do get a 5.1ch output but that I believe is just a DSP and not true 5.1.


Movies now boasts about 5.1ch sound but I have rarely watched movie there in 5.1. Only Star movies seem to offer surround sound except for some old movies. NGC HD offers fantastic surround but Discovery varies from programme to programme. Some are surround and the others are plain stereo or mono. Yet I have observed that Prologic or Pro logic2 does work well when there is a stereo signal of decent quality.

Even Mp3s I play are processed quite well, that too excellently if they are of VBR or high bitrates. If we listen to good compositions I really enjoy the surround sound.

Dolby pro logic is multi-channel encoding & decoding using stereo channels. So it is not really taking two channel and splitting into 5.1 using its own logic. Rather it is picking up the encoded 5.1 channel from within the stereo. This is done based on frequency of various tracks. The beauty of Dolby encoding is that the music can pay with any stereo system. Only the ones that can decode Dolby can play 5.1 from it.

Off course this is not loss less, but so is popular MP3 that we listen most often :D
The quality of music depends on the bit rate. Dolby technology is pretty good.