I have a problem with Dolby Digital EX soundtracks where the audio cuts off for a few seconds, every 5 or 10 seconds. I'm trying to figure out of this is the Outlaw 1050 or my DVD player. I am connected via opital digital out. DTS works fine, as does normal Dolby Digital DVDs. It's just the EX ones that have this problem.

Anyone have any ideas?

If you are not using a rear-center speaker, you still need to tell the 1050 that there is a speaker there in the speaker config setup.

There is an EX-flag issue with certain DVD's which will continually attempt to trigger the 6.1 decoding of the 1050.....if there is not a speaker configured for it, and the DVD keeps trying to engage this decoding, you will get those drop outs for the entire length of the movie.

Thanks! That did the trick! I can't believe I've been having this problem for over a year and I never thought to inquire about it, instead suffering by listening to these movies in Pro Logic.

Glad to be of service!!

The only other solution is to use a player with internal DD decoding and run it through the 5.1 direct inputs of the 1050.

Just a quick post to thank Cadboy for this old post.

I just bought a new subwoofer for my HT system and found that the audio was "dropping out" quite regularly when watching DVDs like "The Return of the King", etc.

Per the advice on this board, I "activated" my non-existent 6th channel, and, volia!, no more drop-outs!

I enjoy all of your comments, even on other topics; you guys rock! Thanks for the help!

John Boy

Just a quick point to remember. Having a non-existant 6th channel results in the loss of a potentially significant amount of rear channel signal. You might find it well worth your while to explore adding a real 6th speaker even if the placement is not optimal. You could even go to a 7.1 setup by hooking the two rear centers in parallel to get a more diffused image (I haven't done this so I can't say if it results in a superior result).

Very true, although it depends on the disc in question. The original Dolby EX-flagged discs would drop out if the sixth channel was disabled but would work in Dolby 5.1 if the speaker was enabled. Later discs (which includes the Lord of the Rings movies) used a different Dolby flag, and those go one step farther - forcing the EX mode (or the proprietary equivalent, such as the 1050's 6.1 Surround) to be used.

You are welcome, John Boy!
I've wondered about any loss of surround info by having a ghost rear center and considered adding a 6th speaker. The discs that have the annoying flag are a pain, but the "fix" will keep your sound from dropping out.

The one other quirk with the 1050 is to make sure you have the source input set to anything other than the tuner(AM/FM) before selecting the 5.1 direct mode, or you will get sound bleeding thru.

Other than that, enjoy!

Here is a link to an old thread that discusses the signal loss of a DD-EX flagged disk without a real 6th speaker.

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/cgi-local/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000741