I think I encounter a problems. I was listen to some music CD, and I switch the 950 to stereo. Afterward, I watch a movie. I select Dobly Digital from the DVD menu, when the movie start, the 960 display Dobly D in the front, but it only output sound from 2 front speakers (Stereo). I though the 950 may be fail to pick up the audio track, so I use the dvd remote to switch to other audio channel and back to DD. the front display of 950 will change from DD to others and back to DD, but it still stuck on 2 channel (stereo). I have to press the DD button on 950's remote several times in order to get 5.1 DD

anyone have the same problem? is it a bug or its my unit?

This is just a wild guess and may not be the problem at all. Sometimes, when you start a DVD, you get two channel for the preliminary stuff, like previews and such. Then, when the movie actually starts, it goes to 3:2. Try going ahead and starting the movie, if you haven't already. If that fails, check to see if the options in the movie menu are set for the surround mode. If that doesn't work, then check to see if the movie is not really a 2 channel one. Failing that, I'll let someone like Gonk weigh in for a possible 950 problem. Good luck.

grundrc raises a good point. When the 950 displays the "DOLBY D" message while detecting a new input signal, look at the line directly below it. If it says "2/0.0" then the signal is Dolby 2.0 (stereo), and you will only get stereo if you are using DD decoding (Pro Logic II will generate surround in this case). If it says "3/2.1" then the signal is true surround. Most DVD menus are mixed in Dolby 2.0, and of course there are also some movies and TV shows (particularly TV shows) that offer only Dolby 2.0 soundtracks.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Funny that posted this!!! My 950 just stared doing the thing last night. I tried sevral different movies, DTS-ES, DTS, 6.1 and 2.0. It still would trigger in surround mode. What is the fix for this???

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I recheck with several different dvd's, and try to reproduce the problems, it happen about 50% of the time. what I do...

1. listen to music cd, the 950 will switch to PMC (Stereo), display Stereo inthe front.

2. put in a movie dvd, select DTS or DD on the DVD setup manual

3. start movie, and wait until the actual movie start. confirm the DTS or DD 3/2.1 on the front display of 950 .

4. confirm with DVD player that DTS 3/2.1 or DD 3/2.1 are output from the DVD player.

and half of the time it will stuck at Stereo but display DTS or DD on the front.

Also, only way to fix it is either power down the 950 and restart it. Or, use the 950 remote to change the surround mode (DD or DTS button).

BTW, my 950 are 2 weeks old


[This message has been edited by ulpian (edited February 23, 2004).]

I also notice something. Usually when 950 detect a change in surround mode, the sound will pause for a second then switch to the correct surround mode. that's way the audio of DD or DTS reel before the movie start, got cut off in the beginning. However, if the 950 fail to swirch surround mode, it wont have the audio pause.

Also, it seems that using the remote to force surround mode will cause audio delay. for example, I start a movie, and it stuck at Stereo, but I know its DD 3/2.1, so I use the DD button on the remote. The audio are now in DD 3/2.1, but it seems the audio are little slower then the video, lip not sync, door close noise after door are close. Its just a little delay, but if you look for it, you feel it.

BTW, if the 950 can detect and switch the surround mode, it wont have any delay at all.

I love the 950, sound way better then my old Denon 3803. If it doesn't have this bug, it would be perfect.



[This message has been edited by ulpian (edited February 23, 2004).]

I've been checking this issue and believe it is working exactly as designed.

If you set the default Input Mode to Dolby D and then input stereo PCM the 950 will process the stereo input in one of the Dolby (stereo) surround modes (ProLogic types). If you change the processing mode to "Stereo" you are also changing the default Input Mode to stereo and then when playing a Dolby D source the 950 downmixes the 5.1 to stereo. If you have the default Input Mode set to any true surround mode it will auto switch between surround modes.

I don't like it, but I believe this is by design.

I haven't had a chance to verify Cliff's conclusion, but I will try to find time tonight to check it out (assuming I can get away from work, which is a bit tricky these days). It's very likely that he's found the problem, though, and the issue of switching surround modes that seems to be at the heart of the problem reminds me a bit of the trick I've been using for a while now for DVD-Audio and CD listening through the DVD player (which some regulars may have seen me mention once too often, so met me apologize for the broken turntable effect...).

If you use your DVD player to listen to CD's in stereo mode or with discs that you want played back in stereo (such as mono tracks that you may prefer to have routed to your mains rather than to the center only), you can do so without ever changing the surround mode setting for the DVD input. Get the DVD input set to provide surround processing to all input formats and leave it that way (I use PL2 for DD 2.0 tracks on the DVD input and CES for surround processing all the time, although I do sometimes switch between CES and DD-EX for Dolby EX movies or CES and DTS-ES for DTS-ES movies). Assign the DVD player's digital audio input (I use optical1 for my DVD player) to one of the AUX inputs (which is audio only, which will be useful shortly) and set it to default to stereo mode. Create a macro on the 950's remote that switches to that auxiliary input (MX-500/MX-700/Pronto users can simply create a button on their DVD player controls - mine is labeled "AUXCD" and is just below the "6CH" button that switches to the six channel analog input). Then, when you select "DVD" on the remote you begin controlling the DVD player and you switch to the DVD input on the 950. Select your macro button, and the 950 will switch to that AUX input without changing the device being controlled by the remote. Since you switched to an audio-only input, the video switching stayed with the DVD input, so you can still see whatever video is coming from the DVD player (on-screen navigation display for CD's, a movie, ...). Because this input is always on stereo mode, there is no need to switch from surround to stereo (or vice versa).

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Cliff: I just checked, the defult input mode is auto.

gonk: I will try that tonite

Thanks guys for all the advice... I hope it's only user error and not the 950 fault. like I said from my last post, I love the 950, it sound way better then the Denon 3803.

[This message has been edited by ulpian (edited February 23, 2004).]

"Cliff: I just checked, the defult input mode is auto."

Actually that is Data Format instead of Input Mode. Input Mode does not have an Auto setting.

By the way, I know where you're coming from cause I also replaced a Denon with the 950. Sure miss that auto format switching without audio delay.

[This message has been edited by Cliff Watson (edited February 23, 2004).]

Welcome Cliff, it's refreshing to see a fellow MyHD'er here.

input mode? you mean the optical 1,2,3,4?

"input mode? you mean the optical 1,2,3,4?"

No that is the input. The Input Mode is the setting for default decoding like Dolby D, Dolby EX, Stereo, etc..

See page 23 para 7 in the Owner's Manual.

[This message has been edited by Cliff Watson (edited February 24, 2004).]

sorry for the very late follow up... the problems is, it will display DD 3/2.1 or DTS on the front display, but output as stereo. and I'm sure the dvd i play are 5.1 surround.

Does the display switch back to Stereo shortly after showing it is DD 3/2.1?

The thing that bugs me is that the 950 defaults to 2-channel stereo when you switch from a DD 3/2.1 source to anything else. It would be nice if it defaulted to whatever surround mode you last selected was: Dolby ProLogic II - Music or - Cinema, for example.

It doesn't do that to me. When changing from a Dolby 5.1 source to a stereo source (PCM or Dolby 2.0) on the same input, the 950 remembers what processing mode that input last used for a stereo source (PLIIC-CR in the case of the DVD player) and uses that. When switching between inputs, each input remembers the modes that were last used for it.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

umm... now you mention it, it does do that...

That's because at some point you have changed the default mode for that digital input to Stereo, most likely when playing a stereo CD.

To get back to Dolby Digital 5.1 press the double "D" button on the remote and select Dolby D. After that it will stay in DD mode until you select some other default mode for that input. Because you have set the default mode to Dolby Digital when you play a stereo CD on that input it will change to Dolby ProLogic II. If you don't change the default to Stereo it will return to DD 5.1 the next time you play a DVD.

The reason it does not change back to DD 5.1 after being set to Stereo is because the processor thinks you want it to downmix the DD 5.1 channels to stereo.