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ATV3 Dolby Digital Auto?

G

GarrettL1979

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 15, 2012
330
0
Does setting dolby digital to "auto" within your ATV3 settings work for most of you? If I set mine to auto, it always defaults to stereo. I have to set it to "on" within settings in order to get surround for movies. Maybe it's just that my sony receiver is about ten years old??

It would be nice if auto worked though, as some of the TV shows I have are only in stereo. It's kind of a pain to have to switch it back and forth in settings depending upon what we're planning to watch.
 
works fine for me.
my amp switches between audio formats fine depending on what content i am playing
 
GarrettL1979 said:
Does setting dolby digital to "auto" within your ATV3 settings work for most of you? If I set mine to auto, it always defaults to stereo. I have to set it to "on" within settings in order to get surround for movies. Maybe it's just that my sony receiver is about ten years old??

It would be nice if auto worked though, as some of the TV shows I have are only in stereo. It's kind of a pain to have to switch it back and forth in settings depending upon what we're planning to watch.
Click to expand...
My understanding is that it has to be set to on to play the second 5.1 AC3 track in an mp4. Setting it to auto, it just selects the first stereo track.
 
GarrettL1979 said:
Does setting dolby digital to "auto" within your ATV3 settings work for most of you? If I set mine to auto, it always defaults to stereo. I have to set it to "on" within settings in order to get surround for movies. Maybe it's just that my sony receiver is about ten years old??

It would be nice if auto worked though, as some of the TV shows I have are only in stereo. It's kind of a pain to have to switch it back and forth in settings depending upon what we're planning to watch.
Click to expand...
I have the same problem. Auto appears to just turn Dolby Digital off and, to make it worse, it doesn't allow you to select the Dolby Digital track by holding down the center button while the movie is playing.

You don't need to change the settings, though. If you leave it set to Dolby Digital On, it will be silent when you try to play it through the TV (if your TV doesn't handle DD, which mine doesn't), because the stereo track is disabled. However, holding the center button down in this setting will allow you to select the stereo track.
 
mic j said:
My understanding is that it has to be set to on to play the second 5.1 AC3 track in an mp4. Setting it to auto, it just selects the first stereo track.
Click to expand...

not correct.
i have mine set to "auto" and it switches to 5.1 as appropriate.
 
chenks said:
not correct.
i have mine set to "auto" and it switches to 5.1 as appropriate.
Click to expand...
Same here (also using Onkyo) with a mix of 2.0 and 5.1 (iTunes movies and TV, Netflix and Apple Lossless audio). The receiver switches output modes automatically depending on whether it's getting 2 channel audio or 5.1 from ATV, and that's also automatic on ATV based on what the content is. So Auto works flawlessly for me.

My understanding of Auto was that in the initial handshake/negotiation over HDMI, ATV would ask whatever device it is connected to whether or not it can cope with 5.1, and if it says yes, that's what it sends when it has it. Otherwise it sends the stereo PCM.
 
I do use optical not HDMI. That could be the source of the difference in our experience?
 
mic j said:
I do use optical not HDMI. That could be the source of the difference in our experience?
Click to expand...
It may be significant because since the OP said their receiver was 10 years old, I'm guessing they are also using optical. Maybe it's time to get a sparkly new AVR with HDMI switching :)
 
steve-p said:
It may be significant because since the OP said their receiver was 10 years old, I'm guessing they are also using optical. Maybe it's time to get a sparkly new AVR with HDMI switching :)
Click to expand...

here is my setup:

ATV3 --> HDMI --> TV -->> Optical Cable --> sony receiver
 
steve-p said:
It may be significant because since the OP said their receiver was 10 years old, I'm guessing they are also using optical. Maybe it's time to get a sparkly new AVR with HDMI switching :)
Click to expand...

Maybe I should put you in contact with my wife, so you can make that argument directly.:D
 
ohio.emt said:
More then likely your tv only output stero over the optical.
Click to expand...
I agree with your statement. Mine only put's out stereo. But I think the double arrow indicates that the optical comes from the aTV and not the tv.
 
mic j said:
I agree with your statement. Mine only put's out stereo. But I think the double arrow indicates that the optical comes from the aTV and not the tv.
Click to expand...

Oops... the double arrow was a typo. The optical is going from the TV's audio out to the receiver. Is that a bad idea? Surround works for me if I have DD set to "on" within the ATV3.

I left out our blu ray player earlier. Corrected setup:

ATV3 and Blu Ray Player --> HDMI switch --> HDMI cable --> TV (audio out) --> Optical Cable --> sony receiver

Surround does not work for me at all with our blu ray player, but I assumed this was because our receiver was old and does not support HD audio.
 
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GarrettL1979 said:
Oops... the double arrow was a typo. The optical is going from the TV's audio out to the receiver. Is that a bad idea? Surround works for me if I have DD set to "on" within the ATV3.

I left out our blu ray player earlier. Corrected setup:

ATV3 and Blu Ray Player --> HDMI switch --> HDMI cable --> TV (audio out) --> Optical Cable --> sony receiver

Surround does not work for me at all with our blu ray player, but I assumed this was because our receiver was old and does not support HD audio.
Click to expand...
So to make sure I understand, both sources go through the tv and then to the receiver. You get surround from the aTV but not from the BR player. Is that correct?
 
GarrettL1979 said:
Yup
Click to expand...

So, it must not be a receiver age/decoding problem if you are able to get surround from the aTV. But basically, with the aTV Dolby setting set to "On" the output over optical should be stereo for stereo source or surround for surround sources if you are are using optical cable. From the comments above, it would appear is really only functional with HDMI. What I just said applies if you have encoded your files with stereo AAC in the first track and (if you have a source with surround) Dolby Digital Pass through (or 6 channel discrete for DTS) in the second track.

I have all of my files structured this way, aTV Dolby set to "On" and use optical to very old Sony AVR and never have to select any audio source. My setup does differ in that I run optical directly to the AVR.

Edit: I see you are posting a similar issue in another thread. Since it seems there is linkage, you may want to consider combining them.
 
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