Pioneer AVR: Tata Sky HD = Dolby Digital, but desktop = PCM..why?

[arnprasad]

Hi..I had created a thread on this few years back - received few answers but I could never figure it out completely. Got busy in office and left it the way it was. Now I have some free time due to 4 days holidays this week. Hence want to retry.

Here is the issue:

I have a Pioneer 1020 AVR and I have Tata Sky HD and a Desktop connected to it via HDMI and the output is to a 50inch TV.

I use VLC or Kodi to play video files on my desktop.

When I Play a HD movie from Tata Sky, my Pioneer displays it as DD Digital and I can feel it through my 5.1 speaker setup. Now when I play a 13 GB DTS movie on my desktop, it displays as PCM on my AVR and I dont hear the sound on my 5.1 ( I get stereo or i can get an artificial 5.1 using AVR surround). What settings do I need to tweak on my windows 10 sound settings/VLC/Kodi so that I get DTS or Dolby displayed on my AVR and I can actually feel 5.1 sound??

 

[rajiv_kulkarni]

As per my knowledge, the HDMI sound output from your TATA sky set top box comes as bitstream to your A/V receiver, hence it decodes it based on the format (DD for example). However the digital ouput from the PC audio card may not be in bitstream format, it could be PCM or LPCM. I don't own a HTPC myself, but check if you have a setting similar to this.

Hope this helps.

BR,
Rajiv

 

[arnprasad]

This is an assembled PC and I iam no techie. How do I check pls. Also based on similar comments few years back, i got a Toslink cable...yesterday did some cleaning and removed it..will put it back today...but how do i know its optimally connected?

 

[efernand1]

Hi

If you are able to see PCM on the AVR, this means the PC is optimally connected. As per information shared, it seems you may require to go for a proper 5.1 sound card.....before you do that....first figure out what kind of sound card is present in your PC and its technical aspects...then you will know for sure if you need to change it...

 

[reignofchaos]

This is an assembled PC and I iam no techie. How do I check pls. Also based on similar comments few years back, i got a Toslink cable...yesterday did some cleaning and removed it..will put it back today...but how do i know its optimally connected?

Please connect via HDMI out. Toslink is non optimal. Also download media player classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC) and enable the bitstreaming checkboxes in Options->Internal Filters->Audio Decoder

That should be it to get things to work assuming you have a GPU capable of passing through HD Audio formats.

 

[VRavichandar]

I guess your desktop is connected through HDMI to your Pioneer AVR. If so go to taskbar -> volume control -> right click -> Playback devices -> Your pioneer should be listed there. Select configure and you should see multiple options - select according to your speaker set up 5.1 or 7.1.
In the same AVR menu you will see properties listed -> select supported formats to see if your desired / source format is listed. This demonstrates that your sound card and AVR can support your desired format.

If your PC supports HD audio then check the media player that you are using. MPC-HD/POT player/VLC (with limitations) are capable of supporting multi-channel audio.

 

[arnprasad]

Thank you all for your comments:

(a) playback devices -> Configure and check for 5.1 - I do this all the time to make sure my speaker wires are properly connected - no problems..all the test signals sound properly

(b) I have removed Toslink - so now only HDMI between Desktop and AVR

(c) My desktop is 3yrs and I bought a medium range Intel chipset/motherboard and hence I am assuming its got the right sound card - how do I check sound card?

(d) Properties of Pioneer - (i) Controller - Intel display audio (ii) Jack information - hdmi (iii) supported formats - 8 channels and below under encoded formats - DTS AUdio,DTSHD, Dolby digital plus,dolby true hd, DD (iv) HDCP supported (v) Bit depths - 16,20,24 (vi) samplerates - 32-176khz

(e) Devicemanager - under sound I see (a) Realtek HD Audio (b)Intel Display Audio

(f)I downloaded the media player and ticked off the bitstream boxes

(g) when I play the Amadeus 10 GB DTS video - the display on pioneer changed from PCM to DTS:clapping:

(H) lastly what is best 1-2 minutes 5.1 video/audio to showcase/test the setup? I will google it myself....for example to showcase 3d on my TV,the LG and Samsung demo videos are unparalled. Something similar for 5.1 also?

I am really happy after all of above I see DTS on Pioneer and assuming its streaming5.1 to my speakers.Thanks again to everyone!