Hi all:

Anyone out there having problems with the new Harry Potter DVD? Specifically, the sound cuts out repeatedly on my 1050 and the DD5.1 signal light blinks. Seems like it is having a tough time locking on to the signal. I have tried 2 players and my HTPC and the same thing. I was gonna bring the dvd back when I saw a thread on dvdtalk.com posted by a fellow Outlaw owner.

VTS

Well.....

Read a few old threads and tried turning the center channel on under speaker configuration (even though i dont have a rear center) and it seems to work fine now. Go figure....but I'm happy :-).

Outlaw Folks may want to try this out and post it to people because I can see alot of worry about this starting to brew up.

VTS

Hello All,

The new Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets DVD uses the same EX flag software as Pearl Harbor, JP III and Atlantis. 1050 owners have a work around for the EX dropout issue simply by activating the 6.1 processing. For those of you with 5.1 speaker systems you will want to turn the center surround speaker "on" in the speaker configuration menu first.

Best,

Scott

[This message has been edited by Scott (edited April 16, 2003).]

I had the same problem. But forgot to turn on my center channel speaker so I could not get the 6.1 to work. I did not figure it out until I read this. Bummer I watched the movie with out the 1050!!!!

[This message has been edited by AlexH (edited April 14, 2003).]

I bought Jurassic Park III. Intro and future release preview worked fine. When It got to the movie soundtrack the sound would go dead for about 2 seconds. This would occur about every minute or so through out the movie. I was using the optic output for digital audio. I hooked up the analog outputs for 5.1 and played the sound thru that. It worked fine .
Is this the same problem you mentioned ?

Hello Keith,

Yes, this is the same issue. The discs that contain the incompatible EX flag software are Pearl Harbor, JP III, Atlantis and HP Chamber of Secrets.

Scott

Scott: Can you be more specific on what settings you should set the 1050 to, to resolve this problem and indicate whether this is a permanent solution for all movies. And if not what we settings we should use for each type. In my case I tried the 3 different methods listed below and all were lacking. In particular I am wondering if there is a lose of a lot of sound informaton when there is no rear center speaker. The closest comparison I can come to is if you were listening to a system without a center channel speaker and did not turn on a phantom center channel. Only a small amount of very specific directional signal is audible.

1) I had my 1050 set to 5.1 using 5 speakers fed by my DVD's optical input (it doesn't have coax). I found the surround sound to be excellent but subject to random dropouts like everyone else's. I gave up after 5 minutes.

2) I rewired my system and actually watched the movie using the DVD player's normal 2 channel analog output and the 1050's Dolby Prologic setting. The rear sound info was about what you would expect.

3) After seeing a post about this problem last night on another board, I restored the original wiring and reconfigured the 1050 to have a non-existant rear center and changed it to use the Optical Digital signal. The 1050 seemed to go to 6.1 mode automatically. I don't recall anything about DTS showing up. While this cured the dropout problem, I thought that with one or two exceptions the rear audio signal was completely lacking. No volume, virtually dead and ultimately less satisfying then the prologic scenario.

For what its worth, I had just gone through the AVIA disk and balanced my rear speakers to the fronts. They are now +9DB and normally very noticable when watching regular 5.1 movies.

[This message has been edited by 73Bruin (edited April 26, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by 73Bruin (edited April 27, 2003).]

73Bruin

You've got the speaker setup configured properly to prevent the bug, although the 6.1 mode seems odd. I don't remember having my 1050's "6.1 Surround" mode come on by itself, but it's been a year or so since I last used it. The previous discussions of this flag problem indicated that it generally did not come on automatically (a good thing, since the people having the problem didn't have a sixth speaker). If it is coming on for you, you might try manually turning 6.1 Surround back off.

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

I am afraid my experience doesn't match what you are saying. I rechecked and retested my configuration twice, wrote this note, tested again and edited it so it exactly matched what I am seeing. If you can tell me what I did wrong I would appreciate it. The chronology of what happens is listed below.

For what its worth, while I would like to fix the problem without getting a rear center speaker, if doing so is utimately the best solution for what might appear to be a whole parade of dvd's the 1050 can't handle properly, then I would like to know that (if nothing else to prepare the better half). Also if there are different releases of 1050 firmware, such that a out of warranty service will solve the problem, I would like to know that. Also for what its worth, I didn't notice this problem using the 1050 and Pearl Harbor or JP III.

0) System configured for the rear center on. Note, the 1050 display shows the Center surround (CS) light as off even though tabbing through the speaker configuration shows it on. Dolby 6.1 shows as off. The only connection (audio or video)from my DVD (a Panasonic RP56)to the 1050 is Optical Digital #1. The 1050 displays Dolby Digital

1) Insert HP CoS and hit play. The 1050 display continues to shows Dolby Digital while the intro plays and the surround sound is great.

The HP CoS menu comes up and the 1050 displays Dolby prologic while the DVD waits for me to hit enter or play.

2) I hit enter and the DVD starts playing the movie. The 1050 returns to Dolby Digital and the surround sound is fine. A few seconds into the movie, there is a single dropout and the 1050 lights up on its own in Dolby Surround 6.1 mode. The 1050's CS light comes on. When this happens the rear surround volume level drops substantially.

3) I attempt to return to Dolby Digital and the hit the 6.1 button on the 1050, the Dolby Surround 6.1 mode display drops and is replaced by a Dolby Digital display on the 1050. When this happens the CS light on the 1050 goes off. The surround sound level seems to rise but a few seconds later, the audio drops and my 1050 again displays Dolby Surround 6.1 and the CS light is on again. Again, the volume level of the surround sound is significantly lower than before.

4) I repeat test 3, using the 6.1 button on the 1050 remote. The same experience happens again.

6) I recalibrate my 1050 surround settings with the 1050 display showing Dolby surround 6.1 on using the Avia (which for what its worth doesn't seem to support 6.1). I now have the right rear set at +10db the left at +9.

7) I replay HP. CoS and this time leaving the 1050 in Dolby Surround Sound 6.1 mode. Again the rear seems low as if a lot of the signal is missing. FWIW, when the scene in HP COS where Harry is rescued from the Dursleys comes on, there is a very brief burst (2-3 seconds ) of strong surround sound as the flying car moves around. Otherwise the rear sound is very minimal.

[This message has been edited by 73Bruin (edited April 26, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by 73Bruin (edited April 26, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by 73Bruin (edited April 27, 2003).]

I agree with 73 Bruin, the exact same thing happens to me too. But to me it seems like the surrounds loose alot of information on EX encoded DVD's too. For example like Star Wars DVD when I switch to 6.1 all the surround info seems to get collapsed to the rear surround and the R + L surround speakers DB drops. So I don't use 6.1 with the outlaw and just listen to movies in 5.1. because it seems to sound better that way.