We have two AVRs, but the question that lingers in my mind is why on the info does it only show Stereo and not DD. Even though one tv does not have an AVR, it used to show DD on the info pip.
Hopper not outputting 5.1 Dolby Digital
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We have two AVRs, but the question that lingers in my mind is why on the info does it only show Stereo and not DD. Even though one tv does not have an AVR, it used to show DD on the info pip.
How is the tv without the AVR hooked to the receiver? Receiver to TV via coax will only give stereo I believe.
They used to show the DD symbol in the movie guide description, a good portion of the VOD movies used to have 5.1 and sometimes the premium like HBO. The times Ive heard sound coming from the rear speakers has been rare.
Ive looked and could not find any DD 5.1 content, just stereo
Ive looked and could not find any DD 5.1 content, just stereo
All HD content is DD. HBO SD, Showtime SD and Starz SD main channels and several of the other branded channels are DD (just checked). Nearly all the movies are true DD.
I still say it is a little setting on the receiver itself. Something similar to the situation I described in my previous post. It CANNOT be the dish, LNB, HDMI cable, optical cable. It's just that simple. Now finding that setting is the trick.
I still say it is a little setting on the receiver itself. Something similar to the situation I described in my previous post. It CANNOT be the dish, LNB, HDMI cable, optical cable. It's just that simple. Now finding that setting is the trick.
I just double-checked the channels. the HD channels all show DD5.1 on my receiver. The SD channels with DD signal all show DD2.0 now.
There has to be a button on your remote to step through different audio modes. My Onkyo has several for different type of input, Music, Movie, etc. Each steps through Stereo, Dolby, Mono, Dierect, etc.
I had a similar problem with my Sony amp when I was with Directv and I had to reset my amp to the factory settings to resolve the problem. If you have the manual to your amp it should tell you how to accomplish a reset, if not you should be able to download a manual from the manufactures website. I would try that, it can't hurt.
OK, problem solved. There were two issues I was dealing with. The sound, and the lack of (DD) showing in the channel/program info window when it is opened. Apparently, contrary to what I was told by the techs, it does not appear when receiving 5.1 broadcasts. All that shows is (HD)(CC)(Stereo).
Here is what happened. It took a bit of mental detective work to figure it out. My wife and I were away for several weeks. Our grown daughter, who lives at home with us dropped the Logitech universal remote and it broke. I'm the only one in the household that is able to use the three remotes to change video and sound between off air, satellite, and the DVD/Blue Ray. I tried to explain to her over the phone how to do it. There are several buttons on the Harman Kardan AVR for sound output. I use "tape" for the over the air television reception, video 2 for the satellite, and dvd for the disc player.
Here's the rub. There is an optical cable from the TV to the AVR for the off air antenna audio. However, when watching DBS (the satellite feed), the HMDI cable which connects the DISH receiver to the tv sends audio as well as video. The speakers on the television are turned off. When the tv speakers are turned off, the audio is fed through the tv to the AVR, but not in 5.1. Our daughter must have clicked on the tape audio button and got sound, but not in Dolby. It was still digital which showed on the display of the AVR. We've had the universal remote for several years, so I didn't have to switch the AVR to the satellite audio feed when we changed the programming sources. Since it was producing audio, I didn't think about how the wiring had been installed, until some posted that the AVR was the likely culprit.
Thanks to the posters pointing me to the AVR, I started fiddling around with the AVR. When I switched from "tape" to Vid 2, the speaker display lit up, and voila, the output was, once again, in 5.1 surround sound.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that I am embarassed, and I debated about posting that which revealed I am an electronic doofus, and reacted innappropriately to my interaction with DISH support. I wasn't rude or abusive with them, but I did make a pest of myself.
Thanks to all, Tom
Here is what happened. It took a bit of mental detective work to figure it out. My wife and I were away for several weeks. Our grown daughter, who lives at home with us dropped the Logitech universal remote and it broke. I'm the only one in the household that is able to use the three remotes to change video and sound between off air, satellite, and the DVD/Blue Ray. I tried to explain to her over the phone how to do it. There are several buttons on the Harman Kardan AVR for sound output. I use "tape" for the over the air television reception, video 2 for the satellite, and dvd for the disc player.
Here's the rub. There is an optical cable from the TV to the AVR for the off air antenna audio. However, when watching DBS (the satellite feed), the HMDI cable which connects the DISH receiver to the tv sends audio as well as video. The speakers on the television are turned off. When the tv speakers are turned off, the audio is fed through the tv to the AVR, but not in 5.1. Our daughter must have clicked on the tape audio button and got sound, but not in Dolby. It was still digital which showed on the display of the AVR. We've had the universal remote for several years, so I didn't have to switch the AVR to the satellite audio feed when we changed the programming sources. Since it was producing audio, I didn't think about how the wiring had been installed, until some posted that the AVR was the likely culprit.
Thanks to the posters pointing me to the AVR, I started fiddling around with the AVR. When I switched from "tape" to Vid 2, the speaker display lit up, and voila, the output was, once again, in 5.1 surround sound.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that I am embarassed, and I debated about posting that which revealed I am an electronic doofus, and reacted innappropriately to my interaction with DISH support. I wasn't rude or abusive with them, but I did make a pest of myself.
Thanks to all, Tom
Be aware that the optical output from a TV will only send 5.1 from the TV's own OTA tuner, and NOT from input devices, such as your Dish receiver. If this is how you are connected, you are still not getting 5.1 from the Sat. Optical should be from Dish receiver to AV receiver.
Tom,
Glad you got it figured out, and all is better. No worries about being an "electronic doofus" we all have times when we can't figure something out. That's why we're all here.
Glad you got it figured out, and all is better. No worries about being an "electronic doofus" we all have times when we can't figure something out. That's why we're all here.
I use three inputs on the AVR which are dvd, tape, and video 2. video 2 is the direct connection from the satellite receiver. Dvd is a direct connection from the disc player to the AVR, while "tape" is the connection from the tv to the AVR for off air programming.
The "problem" arises because the DISH receiver is connected to the TV via an HDMI cable which sends both audio and video to the television. The TV then sends a digital audio to the AVR, but, as you stated, not in surround sound. What happened is that when our daughter dropped the universal remote on the floor and it broke, she did not understand the three inputs for the AVR. She watched a disc, then switched back to the satellite programing, and punched the buttons on the remote for the AVR. When she got audio, she stopped, not realizing it was on the wrong input port.
Having used the universal remote for several years, I forgot about the way the unit was hooked up. Those who posted about the AVR got me to thinking and tinkering with the AVR. Took a while, but it eventually came back to me. At my age, I'm lucky to remember anything, let alone the spaghetti wiring that is on our entertainment system.
Regards, Tom
That was my problem too until I upgraded to the Hopper. It was my excuse to also upgrade my old AVR which had no HDMI inputs, which was forcing me to use a web of different wires and adapters to get the setup to work. Now, it's all HDMI between the different components and it looks and works great....
I've notice how the hookups have evolved since we got our equipment. They are definitely cleaner and neater, not to mention simpler to hook up.
I did some experimentation in an effort to unravel what the OP is running into. Here's what I found on my Hopper (Joey should be the same although I don't have one to verify).
Hopper's Audio Output Mode is set to Dolby/PCM, you get the audio that is contained in the source material without alteration.
If Hopper's Audio Output Mode is set to PCM Only, it outputs 2-channel linear PCM audio regardless of the source material's audio format. This implies Hopper decodes Dolby Digital to linear PCM.
HDMI and digital audio (optical) outputs both receive the same signal.
Hopper does not ever convert DD 5.1 to DD 2.0.
If the OP saw DD 2.0 on his AV receiver, it is highly likely that is the audio format provided by the content provider. Dish just passes it on the way it is received. In scanning through channels last night, there was roughly an even mix of DD 5.1, DD 2.0 and 2-channel PCM audio.
I set my Pioneer AV receiver to HDMI PCM only and Hopper to Dolby/PCM and got no audio if the program was DD 5.1 or DD 2.0. I did get audio of the program was PCM.
HDMI cable quality or "rating" should not be an issue since the interconnect is digital. A marginal cable might result in sparkles or audio crackles but not a change in the audio type sent by Hopper. In fact I do not believe Hopper auto-negotiates audio output at all.
I just checked channel 349 and it shows as DD 2.0. So the OP is getting what I do.
Don't confuse PCM 5.1 and and DD 5.1. They are delivered to the AVR differently. The AVR may receive PCM 5.1 via HDMI fine and for whatever reason reject DD as I was able to do with my Pioneer.
Hopper can decode DD (5.1 or 2.0) to 2-channel PCM but there is no indication that it can re-encode audio to DD (2.0 even). There is really no reason it would need to and would add cost (Dolby licensing at least).
Note that DD 5.1 fits in less bandwidth than 2-channel PCM so the digital audio connection (optical or coax) supports it just fine.
Hopper's Audio Output Mode is set to Dolby/PCM, you get the audio that is contained in the source material without alteration.
If Hopper's Audio Output Mode is set to PCM Only, it outputs 2-channel linear PCM audio regardless of the source material's audio format. This implies Hopper decodes Dolby Digital to linear PCM.
HDMI and digital audio (optical) outputs both receive the same signal.
Hopper does not ever convert DD 5.1 to DD 2.0.
If the OP saw DD 2.0 on his AV receiver, it is highly likely that is the audio format provided by the content provider. Dish just passes it on the way it is received. In scanning through channels last night, there was roughly an even mix of DD 5.1, DD 2.0 and 2-channel PCM audio.
I set my Pioneer AV receiver to HDMI PCM only and Hopper to Dolby/PCM and got no audio if the program was DD 5.1 or DD 2.0. I did get audio of the program was PCM.
HDMI cable quality or "rating" should not be an issue since the interconnect is digital. A marginal cable might result in sparkles or audio crackles but not a change in the audio type sent by Hopper. In fact I do not believe Hopper auto-negotiates audio output at all.
I just checked channel 349 and it shows as DD 2.0. So the OP is getting what I do.
Don't confuse PCM 5.1 and and DD 5.1. They are delivered to the AVR differently. The AVR may receive PCM 5.1 via HDMI fine and for whatever reason reject DD as I was able to do with my Pioneer.
Hopper can decode DD (5.1 or 2.0) to 2-channel PCM but there is no indication that it can re-encode audio to DD (2.0 even). There is really no reason it would need to and would add cost (Dolby licensing at least).
Note that DD 5.1 fits in less bandwidth than 2-channel PCM so the digital audio connection (optical or coax) supports it just fine.
Swwitching to an AVR with multiple hdmi inputs was a god send. With my old avr, my techno-phobe wife had to use multiple remotes to switch inputs. My co-workers would laugh when she called me at work when I was on the evening shift and I had to try to walk her through switching devices. With my Onkyo AVR she knows which buttons to push to get to the Bluray, dvdr and Dish.
She pciked up on the remote for the Hopper very quickly.
She pciked up on the remote for the Hopper very quickly.
I have similar problem. Movie info indicates when the audio is available in 5.1. I can get 5.1 from my Joeys, but the hopper refuses to give me 5.1. Same exact movie and same channel, but the Hopper won't give 5.1 audio option and the Joeys do. I called tech support, and they basically told me they don't care and I should be happy with stereo. They'll sell me another Joey to set beside my hopper if that makes me feel better. I couldn't believe it. Spoke to a Superviser and he said he'd mention it to technical department, but he had no idea whether they would do anything or not. Unbelievable.
Just to be clear, do you have your Hopper Audio Output set to Dolby? If so, do you go through an AVR? If so, which kind of AVR?
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