I've been messing with my new Toshiba HD-XA2 DVD player all day and it's awesome with the exception of using the Analog audio outputs. I can get audio using the Optical input on the 990 but when I try using the analog inputs I don't get any audio. I've messed around with all the settings on the 990 and the audio setup on the XA2 but I got nothing.

I've read through all the posts here related to the HD-DVD players and tried everything I've seen.

Anybody have any thoughts or other ways to test it? I can't imagine it's broken. it has to be a setting issue on the 990 side or the XA2 side.

For now I'll keep using optical.

Regards,

billmac

Just to cover all the bases, the first step would be to go to the 990 and set the 7.1 Direct input to use the XA2's video connection (assuming you are using the 990's video switching for the XA2) and to then select the 7.1 Direct input ("7.1 D") button on the 990's remote. Check those out and let us know if there's still a problem - there may be something funny in the XA2.

OK that worked! Gonk, you are the man,.. the late night man.

Maybe I wasn't exactly clear on how the 990 needed to be configured even though I've been using it for a few months. After I saw your reply I entered the OSD menu and traversed to the "7.1 Direct" input and enabled the DVI input the XA2 is connected to (DVI_2), and WA-LA... it worked.

here's the way I have my system setup:

I have the DVD input configured to my Oppo DVD using DVI_1 and optical.

I have the Video_1 input configured to my HD cable box using component and optical.

I have the Video_2 input configured to my Xbox360 using component and optical.

What I had been doing is configuring the next available slot, Video_3 to Video = DVI_2 and Audio = analog. I had assumed that analog meant 7.1 direct analog. I guess not. is that 2 channel?

When it's working in 7.1 mode there seems to be no control of surround sound processing. I thought I read you could still control what DTS mode is being applied. So in 7.1 mode what processing will take place?

Thanks again,

billmac

Analog for Video3 is Video3's stereo analog input. You can use Video3 with DVI2 and a digital input for watching SD DVD's, but you'll need to select 7.1 Direct for the multichannel analog. Video3 with a digital audio source would also work with the XA2's ability to create a high-bitrate DTS digital signal from HD-DVD's Dolby Digital Plus (and I think from Dolby TrueHD).

The 7.1 Direct input does not support additional surround processing because in theory you have a 7.1 source - there's no processing to do, since all the speakers are already in the mix. In many cases, of course, there's only 5.1, but there's no way to tell that since the signals are analog.

so are you saying I should/can continue to use my customized video3 input from DVI_2 and Optical 4 and play with DTS processing?

I guess I'll find a few HD-DVDs that are utilizing Dolby Digital Plus or TrueHD and compare the results between the two.

thanks again.

billmac

I think you'll get better results with the multichannel analog when watching HD-DVD's - I was just saying that it would work to use Video3 and the optical input.

When reading through some of the other HD-DVD threads here I've seen a few folks taking the 5.1 analog out from their A2s and splitting the surround channels to create the remaining two rear surrounds, filling out the 7.1 analog inputs on the 990.

Can anyone comment on how that sounds? Is that essentially what dolby PLII does anyway ??

Lots to learn.

billmac

That is not what Pro Logic IIx does, but I've also heard of folks doing it with apparently fairly decent results. I thought about trying it when I was re-wiring to hook up my Oppo 981HD, but never got around to it.

Would't you get comb filtering doing that with the surrounds or would it not really matter in that application?

Bill, did you ever give this a try? I've also got the HD-XA2 and I would really rather use the 7.1 direct analog inputs instead of a toslink connection.

(Of course, what I would REALLY rather have is an HD-DVD player with 7.1 analog outputs like my new Panasonic DMP-BD10, but until such a device appears, this seems to be the only way to get 5.1 of the channels of high-rez audio out of my HD-DVD discs. Either that, or chuck my beloved Outlaw 990 for an HDMI-equipped preamp.)

no I didn't try that yet. I will probably give it a try in a few weeks.

I've tried it and it works well enough that I'm not going to worry about it more for now, although splitting the signal does lower the sound level on the four surround speakers a bit.

I have noticed something else that is much more worrisome, though--so far I have been unable to find a analog surround sound switching solution that works.

I wouldn't have thought so, since I it is essentially the same as Stereo7 mode and I don't experience any problems in my system. I just split the rear analog outputs from my Oppo 971HD this weekend and listened to a few SACDs. They sounded pretty good to me, with no degradation whatsoever.

However, based on this quote from Scott Gammans
it sounds like your mileage may vary. I have read in this forum somewhere that the 990 applies bass management to the analog inputs. Does anyone know if it applies the distance settings as well?
If it does, then I don't see how splitting the surround channels from your source would result in any degradation unless we are dealing with another variable (i.e. the amp, a setup issue, or some room acoustics problem).

If the 990 does not apply the distance settings to its 7.1 analog input, most devices that have 5.1 analog outputs have menu options that let you set those. Which brings me to a follow-up (perhaps rhetorical) question: if distance settings are applied by the 990, should we "zero out" the channel delay or distance settings on our DVD players?

BTW, in my Oppo 971, I have all my speakers set to large and delays to zero. I am happy with the results but it could be an illusion...

Splitting the signal weakens the signal, so you'd probably want to bust out an SPL meter and run some test tones through the player - and if necessary, up the channel trim on the surrounds to compensate for the split.

My recommendation for using the 990's 7.1 Direct input is to zero out both distance and trim settings at the player and only adjust the trim settings if necessary (such as the case of splitting the surrounds).