jrockbridge
Stealing Your Riffs
A while back, I started a thread about a home theater, surround receiver failure. Decades ago, I used to sell home theater systems, so I own multiple systems from prizes won and deep discounted purchases. Each are various degrees of outdated.
I replaced the broken theater receiver with an older one, and something in the speaker system tried to bring that receiver to its knees. Luckily, the protection circuit saved it. I did a few simple checks with a multimeter, but could find nothing wrong. I had a hunch that the problem was within my wireless transmitter for the rear, surround speakers. But, the issue was, somewhat, intermittent. Yet, the problem did seem to go away with the wireless transmitter unhooked. Just to make sure, I did a long term process of elimination, to verify my hunch.
I hooked up just the left and right speakers for a few weeks. Then, I added the center speaker for a few weeks. Next, I added the subwoofer. The system worked fine at each stage, until the wireless transmitter was reintroduced, so I replaced it with a new transmitter (wireless rear channel amp kit).
I was determined not to buy a new surround receiver because the old one, while decades outdated, was built like a tank. It's 5.1 Dolby Digital, DTS & Pro Logic. It even has L+R Front Effects, speaker outputs, a precursor to discrete 7.1. But, it's not able to decode the Dolby Atmos from modern streaming devices. It does not even have an early version of HDMI video inputs/outputs. It has optical and coaxial 5.1 digital inputs.
Fortunately, my Sony 4K TV is relatively modern, has a bunch of HDMI inputs and a 5.1 optical digital-output. So, I routed the HDMI's from the Blu-Ray, Roku and M1 Mac Mini through the Sony, and the optical output from the TV to the old Yamaha receiver.
I figured out how to set the Sony TV optical output to standard Dolby Digital and DTS. I even got an Amazon smart speaker setup to turn the TV + Receiver on/off, turn volume up or down on the Yamaha receiver, and change inputs on the TV, all by voice commands. The setup process for the smart speaker to do that was tedious.
It sounded pretty good. However, the only thing that came through as 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS was antenna TV and Blu-Ray. Everything else came out as Pro Logic.
I scoured the internet for solutions but was unable to solve 5.1 discrete for my 4K Roku stick. Luckily, some of the TV Apps within the Sony TV output 5.1 discrete. Apparently, the Sling App does not do 5.1.
I found out that Apple finally updated the Mac Mini OS to output 5.1 discrete with Sonoma, which was a while back. All I had to do was change the setting on VLC media player on the Mac to "Sony TV Encoded Output."
I'm still way behind Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTSX Virtual, Auro 3D, Audyssey DSX, DSX 2, MPEGH, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 9.2, 11.2, etc, etc, and whatever else these folking engineers are cooking up. But, I'm happy as a pig in shite!
I replaced the broken theater receiver with an older one, and something in the speaker system tried to bring that receiver to its knees. Luckily, the protection circuit saved it. I did a few simple checks with a multimeter, but could find nothing wrong. I had a hunch that the problem was within my wireless transmitter for the rear, surround speakers. But, the issue was, somewhat, intermittent. Yet, the problem did seem to go away with the wireless transmitter unhooked. Just to make sure, I did a long term process of elimination, to verify my hunch.
I hooked up just the left and right speakers for a few weeks. Then, I added the center speaker for a few weeks. Next, I added the subwoofer. The system worked fine at each stage, until the wireless transmitter was reintroduced, so I replaced it with a new transmitter (wireless rear channel amp kit).
I was determined not to buy a new surround receiver because the old one, while decades outdated, was built like a tank. It's 5.1 Dolby Digital, DTS & Pro Logic. It even has L+R Front Effects, speaker outputs, a precursor to discrete 7.1. But, it's not able to decode the Dolby Atmos from modern streaming devices. It does not even have an early version of HDMI video inputs/outputs. It has optical and coaxial 5.1 digital inputs.
Fortunately, my Sony 4K TV is relatively modern, has a bunch of HDMI inputs and a 5.1 optical digital-output. So, I routed the HDMI's from the Blu-Ray, Roku and M1 Mac Mini through the Sony, and the optical output from the TV to the old Yamaha receiver.
I figured out how to set the Sony TV optical output to standard Dolby Digital and DTS. I even got an Amazon smart speaker setup to turn the TV + Receiver on/off, turn volume up or down on the Yamaha receiver, and change inputs on the TV, all by voice commands. The setup process for the smart speaker to do that was tedious.
It sounded pretty good. However, the only thing that came through as 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS was antenna TV and Blu-Ray. Everything else came out as Pro Logic.
I scoured the internet for solutions but was unable to solve 5.1 discrete for my 4K Roku stick. Luckily, some of the TV Apps within the Sony TV output 5.1 discrete. Apparently, the Sling App does not do 5.1.
I found out that Apple finally updated the Mac Mini OS to output 5.1 discrete with Sonoma, which was a while back. All I had to do was change the setting on VLC media player on the Mac to "Sony TV Encoded Output."
I'm still way behind Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTSX Virtual, Auro 3D, Audyssey DSX, DSX 2, MPEGH, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 9.2, 11.2, etc, etc, and whatever else these folking engineers are cooking up. But, I'm happy as a pig in shite!
