Center channel dissapears during some TV ads?

976 center chanel audio dissapears on certain TV Ads. It just started doing this. Tried different surround settings, but no change. It only does it on certain ads. Tried called outlaw but not it seems we have to submit an email ticket. Dont like, will we need a secret hankshake in the future too

It is possible that the commercials are either in stereo or mono which depending on how the 976 is set up could cause the center to go off.

If the channel you are watching is broadcast in 5.1 but the ad they're airing was produced in 2.0 (ie good old stereo), then you will get audio only in L and R. When a channel is broadcasting in actual 2.0, then your 976 is applying Dolby Surround Pro-Logic on the signal and you gets audio on all speakers, depending on actual audio content.

I think this relevant. What to set the Samsung J5900 BDP output to trigger my 976 to decode the best surround? Set incorrectly I get just LR WITH blu-rays

Thnx, tony

When the 976 is set to the direct surround mode, it will be processing whatever the incoming signal is.
For TV watching, I set my converter box to output PCM and set my 976 to all channel stereo. This is fine for me as I don't watch any movies through my converter box, usually only local news.

Try using one of the upmixing choices, like Pro Logic IIx Movie. That might do the trick.

Here is a pretty good description of how PCM and Bitstream work. The choice of which to use should be based on the capabilities of your BDP and your processor. Myself I use bitstream from the OPPO to my Onkyo so I can get the newer codecs into my system. You can try both but the 976 will be the decoder only if you choose bitstream.

https://www.lifewire.com/blu-ray-audio-bitstream-vs-pcm-1846396

thnx for the link. Lost of great info. Will read the “The Best UH Def players for 2019” article after this post.

Digital output choices:
1. PCM
2. Bitstream (unprocessed)*
3. Bitstream (re-encoded DTS)
4. Bitstream (re-encoded Dolby D)

PCM downsampling On or Off*

Downmixing Mode: Normal Stereo or Surround compatible*
* my selections.

What would you choose?

Bitstream unprocessed. You are paying good money for a nice preamp-processor, you want *it* to do the decoding, not the player!