and DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound. Would someone explaing the difference in these and which is best, please? I put in Kill Bill I and tried DTS 5.1 and had no sound. Does the 990 support this? Thanks, again.

I go into some detail here about what the different surround formats are, which may be useful.

Which is better is a matter of some debate. Many people feel that DTS is always superior, while many others feel that the fact that DTS is typically mastered about 4dB louder than Dolby Digital (people often equate "louder" to "better sounding"). I've always found the differences to be fairly small - possibly because I always tweak my volume level "to taste" while watching (thus equalizing volume between the different formats).

If you didn't get anything at all with DTS, your DVD player is probably set to output DTS as PCM. This is a common default setting that should probably never have been defined that way, and should certainly have been adjusted many years ago. You must have your player set to output DTS as either "bitstream" or "raw" to get the original signal from the disc.

Thanks Gonk,
Does this mean that I should set my default setting on my Samsung DVD player to DTS and bitstream? That is an option in the menu. I do not know if I want to watch DTS all the time or not, but I would like to have the option. Thanks.

You do need to set the DTS output to bitstream in the Samsung in order to hear the DTS audio. If there's a second setting for making DTS the default audio mode (instead of Dolby Digital), that's a matter of personal preference - I'd probably leave Dolby Digital the default if I had the option, but some folks strongly prefer DTS.

I have a related question. Why using coaxial audio input can I not select dolby digital as the audio format from my DVD playuer - same for optical input??? Yet my Dishnetwork box optical connection can be set to D Digital. I only have PLII movie/music, DTSneo6 movie/music,5 channel stereo only to choose from?? What's up with that?

When you are trying to set it, is there a Dolby Digital source currently active at the digital input assigned to DVD? If there's no DD signal, the 990 will only offer modes that are compatible with a stereo signal. Your dish receiver is probably on and providing at least a Dolby 2.0 signal, which is why Dolby Digital shows up as an option there.

If your 990 was properly assigning the digital inputs to your source selection, it's the output on your DVD that's the culprit. Go into the DVD hardware menu and make sure that the digital output is set to bitstream and not PCM, as the latter will only allow the two channel surround modes you mentioned to be selected.

Your DVD owner's manual will have all of the details on checking this out, let us know...

Thanks. I will try these suggestions. I think there must be a DDig signal coming out of the DVD player since the sound that comes out (when set on DTS neo6 movie) is surround (DDig I thought). My DVD player is the oppo digital and I believe I have the signal set to "RAW" - is this correct? Much thanks.

Another input/output setting question. Why can't I set the channel level outputs for each audio source with the 990? This sure would be nice. I know my DVD players allow me to do this, but my Satillite box does not have a channel trim capability creating problems with getting perfect levels with this source (i.e. sub level setting that works optimally with my DVD player for movie output is to high for the dishnetwork satillite box output producing too much bass with dishnetwork programming). Any ideas fo rwhat I cxan do ?

You've got your Oppo set correctly. If you want to specify the surround mode as Dolby Digital in the input setup screen, you must have a Dolby Digital signal active at the time. I just left it alone and set the mode to what I wanted for each input type the first time I played it (PLIIx-Movie for the rare PCM, DD+PLIIx-Movie for Dolby Digital tracks, DTS+PLIIx-Movie for DTS tracks, and DTS ES for DTS ES tracks).

Then you should be dead on - that's exactly how the Oppo should be set up. Must be one of two things: per gonk, your 990's source isn't set to the correct digital input, or you're looking at the 990's available surround formats before you play a DVD. I have the same thing happen sometimes when I load a DVD and the menu comes up - and my processor only allows PLII/Neo6. A lot of DVDs encode the menu-related audio in 2 ch, so you'd only be able to choose from the matrixed surround modes until you play the movie, which comes through in its encoded DD/DTS.

Hope this helps...

Now I've got it. You both are correct, the digital signal needs to be on AND being output by the source (not just selected) when you enter the menu to change the audio mode. I solved my other issue with variable channel levels (what is ideal bass level for Dishnetwork and my SACD/DVDa player is not ideal for my Oppo that I use for movies) with the following work around. Since my system has two subs, 1) I decoupled the one in the front of the room from the 990 and now send signal directly from LFE/sub output of Oppo to it; 2) I left the other sub at the back of the room hooked to the 990 and this now supports LFE + bass management x-over from the other speakers coming out of the 990. This works great since I don't need to do any volume adjusting when switching between TV/music (where I like normal bass levels) and movies (where I JACK-UP just the LFE with the second sub placed right under the screen). Sweet- thanks for the help getting this done right.

Glad to hear you've got things dialed in!