I have asked this question before, but, to be honest, I'm still a little unclear. The bottom line is that I don't always know which surround mode to use in various situation.

I use my 990 for DVDs and for my Comcast cable box - I have it set to Dolby Digital for both situations. Lastly, I use it to listen to CDs (not SACD or DVD-A yet) and it is set to Stereo for this.

I just read the 990 manual again and I see that if my DVD has Dolby EX (is the audio format always listed on the back of the DVD case or in the setup menu?), then I should set it to that to take advantage of the rear audio. I see that I should play around with Bypass or Upsample and compare them to Stereo (which I have done before with no concrete conclusions). My DVD player is a Denon 1920 - I believe Gonk has said previously that he didn't think the 1920 would have a better DAC than the 990 - I think he's right as I liked the Stereo sound more than the Bypass, I think. That is why I'm using Stereo and not Bypass, but I have not played with Upsample extensively...

Any advice regarding playback modes, especially for DVDs and Cable, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

To a significant degree, it comes down to a matter of preference, but I can offer a few suggestions to try.

For DVD and cable, I'd try Pro Logic IIx Movie - it can be used alone with analog or PCM sources and overlayed on top of Dolby Digital sources to give you 7.1 from both two channel (Dolby 2.0 or PCM) and Dolby 5.1. If the disc is flagged for Dolby EX, it'll force EX mode automatically - while the EX discs that aren't flagged (and there are a good number of them around) will work just as well with PLIIx as with EX.

For CD's, I'd definitely spend a little time with upsample.

Clearly as gonk wrote:

it comes down to a matter of preference

I have found that 5 ch stereo or 7 ch stereo (depending on what you have in your room) somtimes sounds better than other modes for sources such as satellite or TV signal feeding 990.

Let your ears judge for you

hi everyone:

now I am a bit confused. how do you use prologic IIx movie over 5.1 dd?

When I am watching a DD movie, I can only set it to Dolby digital or wide Dolby digital.

Regarding stereo. Personally I like upsample. Works great.

Regarding DACs. You cannot compare bypass to stereo, if you want to compare the DACs, you have to take analog stereo out of your dvd player to cd input and compare that to when you send the digital input.

I have another question: whats the difference between pcm and normal? I was under the impression that Pcm down converts everything to 2 channel.

thanks

billy

Do you have surround back speakers, or do you just have the traditional 5.1 setup? You must have surround back speakers (7.1) in order to use Pro Logic IIx with Dolby Digital 5.1.

PCM is just a data format. It's the format that is used to store data on CD's, and it can be used with DVD's in some cases. DVD players typically allow you the option of configuring the digital output to provide either PCM (which, as you say, forces the player to decode and downmix any surround soundtracks) or a bitstream taken straight from the disc (which simply sends whatever audio data is on the disc, whether it is Dolby Digital, DTS, or PCM).

I do not have sourround back speakers because My seat is stuck to the back wall. I can put flat speakers on the back wall or hand the speakers really high up/. What do you think?

Let me know

billy

If you don't have a 7.1 (meaning rear surrounds) then PLIIx is a moot point. PLIIx esentially creates a phantom signal for the rear surrounds.

I've not tried it myself (always been able to keep at least five or six feet between my sitting position and the back wall), but I've heard folks recommend against trying to set up surround back channel(s) when the sitting position is flush to the wall like that. That doesn't mean it's impossible - it's certainly been done, and I've even heard of folks setting bookshelf speakers on the floor behind the couch so that they fire up along the wall. Others who have tried things like this may be able to offer better first-hand suggestions.

Hey does it make a difference to have a 7.1 setup compared to a 5.1. Does the HT experience get that much better. Gonk you have me an Idea that might just work. I would mount my speakers on the cealing and have them fire on the back wall.

Having 7.1 instead of 5.1 can provide a smoother and more enveloping surround field, but the danger associated with having the surround back speakers too close to the sitting position is not being able to balance the surrounds and surround backs - the back speakers can easily end up overloading the side surrounds, which can end up being perceived as a collapsing surround field. If anything, you might be better off with dipoles on the back wall for the surround backs so that the speakers aren't firing straight at you.