Posted by Roy L. Fuchs on 06/30/06 05:19

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:20:18 -0400, "Rich Clark"
<rdclark2SPAM@TRAPcomcast.net> Gave us:

>
><David_nj_7@mailbolt.com> wrote in message
>news:1151634576.413875.15920@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
>>I have a SONY DVD player that's about 5 years old or so. It workes
>> well however on some of the "newer" DVDs I cannot hear the people
>> talking. I can hear the music, some sound effects etc... but no
>> voices.
>>
>> I have tried messing around with the audio settings such as surround,
>> logic, dolby etc... and still no voices.
>>
>> Any idea what may be happening here? My TV is a stereo GE 31 inch TV
>> which is about 7 years old. It works fine and we have never had any
>> audio issues.
>>
>> I just don't understand why this is only with some of the NEWER DVDs.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>
>Somehow you're not getting the center channel.

GOOD Diagnosis!

> This means that your DVD
>player is outputting the surround track (5.1 channels, usually), but only
>the front Left and Right are getting to your playback device (which I infer
>is your TV's built-in speakers). I'm guessing the player has 6 audio outputs
>(Main L/R, Surround L/R, Center and LFE), two of which are also designated
>for use as Left and Right (red and white) when connected to a 2-channel
>audio system. And that you've connected it to the TV via these two outputs.
>
If one only has two speakers hooked up to one's six channel +
receiver, one should select a mode which pipes the center channel to
both sides evenly (monaural), or select a mode that reverts it to 2
channel stereo mix.

>The player will have a setup menu of its own, and you need to tell it via
>this menu that you want 2-channel output, not multichannel.

I should always read entire post first (bangs self on head)...

> Consult your
>manual. Many DVDs, especially older ones, default to their Dolby 2.0
>soundtracks, which is why they sound ok on your 2-channel system.

yup.

> Your newer
>ones may not even have a 2.0 (or 1.0) track, or if they do it won't be used
>by default. But all players will automatically downmix multichannel to 2
>channel if you tell it always to do so via the setup menu.

In the DVD player, or the receiver... either way.

[Back to original message]