stevoz Posted August 9, 2021 Posted August 9, 2021 (edited) I recently purchased a Panasonic DP-UB 820 4k ultra hd blu-ray player and have been blown away by it's audio and visual performance.....with movies. However, it has me scratching my head a bit when it comes to 5.1 channel music concert discs. I played a concert DVD (AC/DC Live At River Plate) recently and it would only produce 2 channel sound. Ok it's a DVD, I'll try a concert bluray (Kansas-There's Know Place Like Home) and again, only 2 channels, no matter what surround audio format I set the player's audio on. I have previously played concerts on the new player which were outputted correctly in 5.1 channels, those being Midnight Oil-Armistice Day and Yes-Yesymphony and they sounded great, so I am wondering why the 2 aforementioned discs are not being processed properly into surround sound? My old Cambridge Audio bluray player had no problems working it out with all of those discs.....why does this latest tech 4K player have trouble sorting it? It's really frustrating. Any thoughts? Edited August 9, 2021 by stevoz
Guest Posted August 9, 2021 Posted August 9, 2021 Check your sound settings/digital audio output and make sure Dolby Audio and DTS settings are set to bitstream.
Quark Posted August 9, 2021 Posted August 9, 2021 Do the 2 discs you mentioned default to 2 channel audio? Many discs have a menu to select the audio track. 1
cwt Posted August 9, 2021 Posted August 9, 2021 Yes bitstream not decoding to pcm and maybe downmixing . Which leads to a long shot of bonus view being on which downmixes to 2ch . oh and check the high clarity sound dsp is disabled - forget if theres a default setting for that ?
stevoz Posted August 10, 2021 Author Posted August 10, 2021 (edited) 23 hours ago, Snoopy8 said: Check your sound settings/digital audio output and make sure Dolby Audio and DTS settings are set to bitstream. I checked that and they were already set to bitstream. Nothing I tried last night lead to surround sound. Edited August 10, 2021 by stevoz
stevoz Posted August 10, 2021 Author Posted August 10, 2021 23 hours ago, Quark said: Do the 2 discs you mentioned default to 2 channel audio? Many discs have a menu to select the audio track. Tried that as well. Setting the audio on the disc menu, to either Dolby 5.1 or DTS 5.1 formats changes nothing....still getting 2 channel.
stevoz Posted August 10, 2021 Author Posted August 10, 2021 23 hours ago, cwt said: Yes bitstream not decoding to pcm and maybe downmixing . Which leads to a long shot of bonus view being on which downmixes to 2ch . oh and check the high clarity sound dsp is disabled - forget if theres a default setting for that ? I'll check that next time I'm in the mood.....just feeling a bit bummed atm. 1
Guest Posted August 10, 2021 Posted August 10, 2021 I assume you are using HDMI. Check HDMI outputs, set to auto or video+ audio. In Advanced settings, audio output on. Also, Analogue off. When playing BD, on remote press Option button. What does Soundtrack say? Also, please recheck your AVR HDMI settings. What does your AVR say when you are playing movies?
stevoz Posted August 10, 2021 Author Posted August 10, 2021 1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said: I assume you are using HDMI. Check HDMI outputs, set to auto or video+ audio. In Advanced settings, audio output on. Also, Analogue off. When playing BD, on remote press Option button. What does Soundtrack say? Also, please recheck your AVR HDMI settings. What does your AVR say when you are playing movies? Yes, I'm getting into settings via the option button while disc is playing and via the TV screen display when disc tray is open. Can't remember seeing 'soundtrack' but after all the shenanigans last night, my head is a bit scrambled (and I was slightly inebriated).....not saying it's not there of course, as I see you have a Panasonic player but I'll check all that next time I'm using the player.....which will be my next days off. Thanks for the advice Snoop.
Guest Posted August 10, 2021 Posted August 10, 2021 39 minutes ago, stevoz said: ... I see you have a Panasonic player Have the next model up, UB9000, with sightly more options, but settings are mostly the same. I suspect that there is something simple we have overlooked, so pardon some more questions. Please also provide more details of setup, e.g. what AVR, using 1 or 2 HDMI cables, or using something else. When you use the Options button, can you change the soundtrack there to Dolby etc,? You can also use the Audio button to do the same.
stevoz Posted August 13, 2021 Author Posted August 13, 2021 (edited) On 10/08/2021 at 7:01 PM, Snoopy8 said: Have the next model up, UB9000, with sightly more options, but settings are mostly the same. I suspect that there is something simple we have overlooked, so pardon some more questions. Please also provide more details of setup, e.g. what AVR, using 1 or 2 HDMI cables, or using something else. When you use the Options button, can you change the soundtrack there to Dolby etc,? You can also use the Audio button to do the same. I am using a Cambridge Audio 640R 5.1 channel receiver, it's about ten years old. It has never had any problems coupled with my former bluray player, a Cambridge Audio 650BD, which always played these same concert videos in 5.1 channel surround sound. I am using 2 x HDMI leads (both hi-speed), one from the player to TV and the other, for audio, to the receiver. I have been using the 'audio' button to check sound format options during playback and that is displaying 2 channel and surround options.....but when any surround options are selected, only 2 channel output is produced.....when clearly there are surround options available from those discs. When I use the 'options' button, the same occurs. It's complete BS as it only occurs on some concert blurays (well, most I've tried) and never happens with movies.....they are always in multi channel sound output. Edited August 13, 2021 by stevoz
cwt Posted August 13, 2021 Posted August 13, 2021 18 minutes ago, stevoz said: I am using a Cambridge Audio 640R 5.1 channel receiver, it's about ten years old. It has never had any problems coupled with my former bluray player, a Cambridge Audio 650BD, which always played these same concert videos in 5.1 channel surround sound. I am using 2 x HDMI leads (both hi-speed), one from the player to TV and the other, for audio, to the receiver. Steve ; snoopy has zeroed in ; theres your problem ; the 640r is too old ; it doesnt have lossless decoders in it - only lossy dd dts and associated ones like dts-es unfortunately Its doing the correct thing and downmixing to 2ch lossy .. You can see if the pana will decode the lossless to lpcm pass it through its dacs and feed the converted analogue to the CA's multi analogue 7.1 inputs . This is the only way to hear the lossless codecs with the 640r
Guest Posted August 13, 2021 Posted August 13, 2021 (edited) There could be a way to down sample the lossless to lossy formats. Try changing Settings/Sound/Digital Audio Output. ** Set BD Video Secondary Audio to On. Edited August 13, 2021 by Snoopy8 Added **
stevoz Posted August 18, 2021 Author Posted August 18, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, Snoopy8 said: @stevoz would appreciate a reply please... Sorry Snoop, I have been meaning to get on to it but I've just been slack. I haven't actually tried those things yet but I definitely remember something about down sampling in the manual so I reckon you and @cwt are onto something. I mis-spoke re: HDMI cables in my earlier post.....I actually have the audio from player to receiver via RCA cables to the 5.1 inputs, so should be fine for the lossless codec's if I successfully down sample. I'll probably try all this on my next days off, which this week is the weekend. Will report back then and thanks again for the advice. One query though.....would not this problem be the same for movies? I have played many movies on the new player and have never had problems getting excellent surround sound off the bat. Why am I experiencing this only on concert films whose codecs are the same? Edited August 18, 2021 by stevoz
Guest Posted August 18, 2021 Posted August 18, 2021 1 minute ago, stevoz said: One query though.....would not this problem be the same for movies? I have played many movies on the new player and have never had problems getting excellent surround sound off the bat. Why am I experiencing this only on concert films whose codecs are the same? Many movies still have the lossy codecs but music discs often only offer lossless multi channel. Before playing, check the audio setup and you can verify for yourself ...
stevoz Posted August 25, 2021 Author Posted August 25, 2021 Well, on the weekend I tried everything suggested above.......and unfortunately still got stereo only from the concert bluray I tried, Kansas "There's Know Place Like Home". It's very baffling..... Movies on the other hand are amazing visually and sonically on this new player so I love it for general HT movie performance, it's outstanding but this concert movie sound issue is frustrating to say the least. I might give Selby's a call.
Guest Posted August 25, 2021 Posted August 25, 2021 (edited) 18 minutes ago, stevoz said: Well, on the weekend I tried everything suggested above.......and unfortunately still got stereo only from the concert bluray I tried, Kansas "There's Know Place Like Home". It's very baffling..... Movies on the other hand are amazing visually and sonically on this new player so I love it for general HT movie performance, it's outstanding but this concert movie sound issue is frustrating to say the least. I might give Selby's a call. Have you tried other Bluray concerts? It could be a problem with that particular BD? What music formats does that BD have? Edited August 25, 2021 by Snoopy8
stevoz Posted August 25, 2021 Author Posted August 25, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said: Have you tried other Bluray concerts? It could be a problem with that particular BD? What music formats does that BD have? I've also tried AC/DC's "Live At River Plate" DVD which has Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 and LPCM Stereo and comes through as stereo only. The Kansas bluray comes with LPCM 5.1 and Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 and Stereo and comes through in stereo only. The only 2 concert discs I have watched successfully in 5.1 channel surround on this new player are Midnight Oil's "Armistice Day", which has DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 and "Yesymphony" which also has DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital Audio 5.1. With Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 common to all these discs, it is perplexing indeed.....but then again, maybe it's the lack of DTS HD MA on the first two discs that is the problem? Another thing....the player is now doing a weird thing on start up.....I turn it on and this triggers the TV to also turn on....nothing wrong there but then the disc loads and no picture appears, only sound. So I turn the player off....then on again. The disc starts to load and the player then turns itself off. I start it again and finally we get picture and sound and everything is fine. This happens now every time I use the player. I think I'll definitely ring Selby's..... Edited August 25, 2021 by stevoz
Guest Posted August 25, 2021 Posted August 25, 2021 30 minutes ago, stevoz said: I've also tried AC/DC's "Live At River Plate" DVD which has Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 and LPCM Stereo and comes through as stereo only. The Kansas bluray comes with LPCM 5.1 and Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 and Stereo and comes through in stereo only. The only 2 concert discs I have watched successfully in 5.1 channel surround on this new player are Midnight Oil's "Armistice Day", which has DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 and "Yesymphony" which also has DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital Audio 5.1. With Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 common to all these discs, it is perplexing indeed.....but then again, maybe it's the lack of DTS HD MA on the first two discs that is the problem? It is certainly strange! After lockdown is lifted, are you able to borrow a more modern AVR to test? 33 minutes ago, stevoz said: Another thing....the player is now doing a weird thing on start up.....I turn it on and this triggers the TV to also turn on....nothing wrong there but then the disc loads and no picture appears, only sound. So I turn the player off....then on again. The disc starts to load and the player then turns itself off. I start it again and finally we get picture and sound and everything is fine. This happens now every time I use the player. I think I'll definitely ring Selby's..... This has to do with your TV setting and its "auto" or "smart" settings and how it reacts to a HDMI device being turned on. The Panasonic is a relatively "dumb" HDMI device.
stevoz Posted August 27, 2021 Author Posted August 27, 2021 On 25/08/2021 at 9:54 PM, Snoopy8 said: It is certainly strange! After lockdown is lifted, are you able to borrow a more modern AVR to test? No access to a more modern AVR......I think I'll just live with it until I get a new receiver, which might be a while! Thanks for all your help mate.
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