Hey guys, first off, this 990 kicks A$$ but I am having a hard time understanding the surround sound options on the 990 mostly in DTS mode. I am not an expert in HT so I hope someone can help me out.

The biggest problem in the DTS mode is:
When playing a DTS movie (U-571, Stealth) I can only get it to play in DTS or DTS NEO:6.
Why am I not able to access the other DTS modes?

I have the 990 default set to PL IIx + movie.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Dan

You are most likely using the DTS button to cycle through surround modes, correct? That limits your options to DTS and DTS+NEO:6 (to get surround back). These are the only DTS modes available with a DTS 5.1 track - DTS-ES is only available with a DTS-ES track (DTS+NEO:6 is the same as what used to be called DTS-ES Matrix, which actually used the NEO:6 processing to generate the surround back channel). If you press the Dolby button on the remote, you will be able to cycle through the options of DTS+Dolby PLIIx-C and DTS+Dolby PLIIx-M.

Gonk, thanks. Doesnt really make sense to me why its like that.
What is the preferred mode for DTS playback?

It's that way because DTS would probably balk at having the button labeled "DTS" activating somebody else's processing - have to keep the folks at DTS and Dolby happy if you want to have their logos on the faceplate.

For straight DTS 5.1, I use DTS+PLIIx-C, but it wouldn't hurt to experiment a bit and find what you like best.

Thanks again Gonk and I will play around with it a bit to see what I like best.