Videocon d2h giving dolby digital output from HDMI

[htfan17]

Whats a fake 5.1? The Videocon DTH STB that I have pushes out 5.1 audio from the HDMI cable itself which my receiver decodes and lights up the Dolby symbol. Beyond this I dont know whether to call it pure or fake!!!

Lighting up of DD does not mean the signal has all 5 channels active. Fake 5.1 means something like how Zee TV HD and MTunes HD provide DD audio. The signal will display DD 5.1 but only 2 channels will be working.

Secondly, even if 5 channels are working it doesn't mean they are being transmitted without tinkering. Sony HD for e.g. when broadcasts movies, all 5 channels are active but pay attention to dialogue. In all latest movies dialogue shd come only from center channel but for some reason Sony modifies the center signal to come from Front L R as well. This too hence in other words is not True 5.1.

I have tata sky HD and the satisfactory true 5.1 for comes only in Star Gold HD, Star World HD and Star Movies HD. I do not expect true 5.1 from documentary channels (discovery HD world) sports channels or Daily Soaps. But the important thing is when the hindi daily soaps channel broadcasts a movie, it should transmit true 5.1. This happens in Star Plus HD and Colours HD but NOT in Zee TV HD nor Sony HD.

 

[petes]

yes, like htfan17 said I have noticed this kind of variations in Hathway HD also even when the signal is detecting dolby.

confusion!!! so ateast whether all the movie channels have perfect 5.1 in Videocon DTH??

 

[ishaan]

when you get connection , insist on 5.1 output via HDMi BECAUSE the stb may have old software download id, ask for minimum download id -32 to get 5.1 via HDMI itself, dont forget it

 

[ishaan]

MTUNES hd in my samsung soundbar sonds so amazing that i cannot beleive that its a fake 5.1 ...................no way , your info is wrong @htfan

 

[petes]

@ishaan - do you mean without insisting they will not provide 5.1 via HDMI, or how does it happen? what about coax?

could you please give me some insights about this and also regarding minimum download id -32?

Thank you!!

 

[ishaan]

my 2 month old videocon stb came with old software version ,which was download id -27

on that it didnt output 5.1 via hdmi , oonly via spdif , i made a complaint and they deny that they even provide 5.1 via hdmi , on twitter when complained about it then they sent a person to change stb with new software which supports it ,

you wont get it unless you insist , so insist on minimum software download id -32

 

[ishaan]

in menu it can be seen .........................setup>product data>5th line shows download id

 

[petes]

but you are saying it was earlier possible thru spdif, then i believe it should have optical output..As per my understanding spdif is referred to as optical which is one of the digital output apart from coax.

Anyway thanks for the info!!!

 

[ishaan]

no idea about spdif as my soundbar doesnt have it , but i guess spdif may not be optical , just a guess, because my soundbar has optical in and i can see spdif and optical in are different

 

[htfan17]

MTUNES hd in my samsung soundbar sonds so amazing that i cannot beleive that its a fake 5.1 ...................no way , your info is wrong @htfan

First of all u owning a sound bar are in no position to tell whether sound comes from surround speaker or not. How can u even think of calling me wrong??

Secondly, please understand that it is possible to get a very very good sound in sound bar even if the source is 2.1 sound. Before owning a 5.1, I myself was fooled while listening to an active bookshelf stereo speakers. Even I belived M tunes was very good 5.1 sound. It was only after I owned an Onkyo system that I realised the broadcast was in 2.1.

 

[lake1988]

Deciding DD which d2h is giving fake/authentic...play a movie which have a surround channel output and try to listen similar movie in d2h..check you have the similar surround channel output or not.
While watching Masterchef I was getting surround output..all three english movie channel have very good surround channel effect.
It's upto broadcaster to provide DD not service provider and service providers doesn't actually encode DD from stereo and advertise as original DD atleast not d2h.
Most of DTH service providers don't offer that much HD channel which d2h offers with DD.

 

[ishaan]

First of all u owning a sound bar are in no position to tell whether sound comes from surround speaker or not. How can u even think of calling me wrong??

Secondly, please understand that it is possible to get a very very good sound in sound bar even if the source is 2.1 sound. Before owning a 5.1, I myself was fooled while listening to an active bookshelf stereo speakers. Even I belived M tunes was very good 5.1 sound. It was only after I owned an Onkyo system that I realised the broadcast was in 2.1.

bro , you are right about me being in no position to tell much about 5.1 in a soundbar i agree with you.

but you must understand that if broadcaster is giving only stereo sound and its faked by videocon ,or even by broadcaster as 5.1 , the clarity of sound i believe will not change , will it??

i am new in all this stuff , but beleive me i am a lover of sound(i am mostly getting all my movies in dolby digital 5.1 these days , as its certainly better even on soundbar ) , when i listen to mtunes in normal mode(chosen on videocon stb) and listen to it within seconds by changing it to dolby in stb , beleive me the sound clarity and boost is minimum 2 times of stereo , that too on a soundbar , and even on a soundbar its amazing and i am loving it .so either mtunes has actually sstarted 5.1 already or whatever but the difference in stereo and dolby mode is very very double .

its my bedroom and i didnt want any stupid wires and all , neither i had place to putup speakers all over the room , otherwise i would have opted pure 5.1 setup , and i am surely gonna get one for my drawing room few months down the line

 

[htfan17]

bro , you are right about me being in no position to tell much about 5.1 in a soundbar i agree with you.

but you must understand that if broadcaster is giving only stereo sound and its faked by videocon ,or even by broadcaster as 5.1 , the clarity of sound i believe will not change , will it??

i am new in all this stuff , but beleive me i am a lover of sound(i am mostly getting all my movies in dolby digital 5.1 these days , as its certainly better even on soundbar ) , when i listen to mtunes in normal mode(chosen on videocon stb) and listen to it within seconds by changing it to dolby in stb , beleive me the sound clarity and boost is minimum 2 times of stereo , that too on a soundbar , and even on a soundbar its amazing and i am loving it .so either mtunes has actually sstarted 5.1 already or whatever but the difference in stereo and dolby mode is very very double .

its my bedroom and i didnt want any stupid wires and all , neither i had place to putup speakers all over the room , otherwise i would have opted pure 5.1 setup , and i am surely gonna get one for my drawing room few months down the line

1) The clarity will change. There is a significant difference between stereo sound of SD channels and stereo sound of dolby channels.

2) Lets save the topic for 'few months down the line', when u get your 5.1and we will continue this argument. Perhaps then u will be believe this fact.

 

[petes]

Puzzled here..!!! Hope I can go for a Demo prior installation..not sure whether they are going to provide it??

 

[htfan17]

Puzzled here..!!! Hope I can go for a Demo prior installation..not sure whether they are going to provide it??

Just to be clear, please dont get puzzled by the conversation between me and Ishaan. We are talking bout something else- the broadcast signal from channel itself. It has got nothing to do with service provider or STB download settings.

 

[ishaan]

1) The clarity will change. There is a significant difference between stereo sound of SD channels and stereo sound of dolby channels.

2) Lets save the topic for 'few months down the line', when u get your 5.1and we will continue this argument. Perhaps then u will be believe this fact.

well i am talking about the clarity of mtunes HD only

the stereo mode of mtunes HD and dolby mode of mtunes HD have tremendous improvements (on dolby ofcourse) , how can same channel(HD itself) have different clarity if dolby is fake and same sound is being brodcasted in all channels ?

 

[ishaan]

Puzzled here..!!! Hope I can go for a Demo prior installation..not sure whether they are going to provide it??

remember to keep insisting on minimum download id -32, to get 5.1 via HDMI ,there is nothing to be puzzled bout , if you live in metro city they can get you new software for sure at later stage too, but try and get it from day 1 itself

 

[htfan17]

well i am talking about the clarity of mtunes HD only

the stereo mode of mtunes HD and dolby mode of mtunes HD have tremendous improvements (on dolby ofcourse) , how can same channel(HD itself) have different clarity if dolby is fake and same sound is being brodcasted in all channels ?

OK I give up. That is my limit of trying to explain something to someone. As i said, earlier, lets come back to this point after u have 5.1.

 

[ishaan]

come on man it is healthy discussion , i give up too .lol

 

[tanmayj]

OK, I took some time out and did some research. The results are pasted below:

STB: Videocon D2H with HD (no DVR). Latest white colored STB. Download ID is showing as 8 (Please don't ask me to re-check. I have re-checked. Probably on the newer model (white colored) STB, it's giving audio through HDMI even on Download ID 8)

Connection: STB -> Onkyo 616 (HDMI) -> Sony KDL-42W674A TV.
Audio Info checked through the Onkyo Receiver
No other Co-Ax/ Opt connection between the STB and the Onkyo

Star Plus HD - 102 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Genuine HD (Dialog through center)

Zee TV HD - 104 - PCM 2.0 Channel 48 kHz

Colors HD - 106 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Fake HD (Dialog coming through all 3 fronts)

Life OK HD - 108 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Genuine HD (Dialog through center)

Sony HD - 110 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Fake HD (Dialog coming through all 3 fronts)

Zee Cinema HD - 204 - PCM 2.0 Channel 48 kHz

Star Gold HD - 206 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Genuine HD (Dialog through center)

Star Movies HD - 242 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Genuine HD (Dialog through center)

Zee Studio HD - 248 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Fake HD (Dialog coming through 2 fronts) (But the movie seemed to be a very old movie called 'Shadow Conspiracy'. Dont know if they had 5.1 back then )

Movies Now HD - 256 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Genuine HD (Dialog through center)

CNBC Prime HD - 382 - PCM 2.0 Channel 48 kHz

ESPN HD - 402 - PCM 2.0 Channel 48 kHz

Star Cricket HD - 404 - Dolby Digital Ex 6.1 CH 48 kHz - Fake HD (Commentary coming through all 2 fronts)

Ten HD - 408 - PCM 2.0 Channel 48 kHz

Sony Six HD - 424 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Fake HD (Commentary coming through 2 fronts)

M Tunes HD - 560 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Fake HD (Vocals coming through 2 fronts) (Here I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is acceptable because if the vocals for songs (Music) are pushed through a center channel then it kinda kills the concept of nice big floorstanders for the fronts doesnt it! )

Discovery HD - 602 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Fake HD (Dialog coming through all 3 fronts)

History HD - 604 - PCM 2.0 Channel 48 kHz

NGC HD - 606 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Genuine HD (Dialog through center)

Travel XP HD - 640 - PCM 2.0 Channel 48 kHz

Star World HD - 654 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Ch 48 kHz - Genuine HD (Dialog through center) (But there's something wrong with the audio-quality for this channel. Very low volume and unclear audio)