Audio Out from TV. Dolby?

[T.T.]

I have a Sharp TV, model SX80J9. It was bought in 2000.
It has four inputs, TV, AV1, AV2, AV3.
AV1 is used for the VCR and AV2 is used for the DVD.
At the back of the set there is provision for stereo Audio Out.
If the program being played, (whether from TV, VCR, or DVD) is encoded with
surround sound, is the output from the Audio Out jacks encoded for surround
sound?
In other words, can the sound from these Audio Out jacks go straight to a
surround sound amplifier and be decoded by it for 5.1 surround sound?

I am looking at the manual for the Yamaha RX-V357 and it is a bit confusing.

 

[Phil Allison]

"T.T."

I have a Sharp TV, model SX80J9. It was bought in 2000.
It has four inputs, TV, AV1, AV2, AV3.
AV1 is used for the VCR and AV2 is used for the DVD.
At the back of the set there is provision for stereo Audio Out.

** Simple two ch. analogue signal.

If the program being played, (whether from TV, VCR, or DVD) is encoded
with surround sound, is the output from the Audio Out jacks encoded for
surround sound?

** Huh ? Define ?

In other words, can the sound from these Audio Out jacks go straight to a
surround sound amplifier and be decoded by it for 5.1 surround sound?

** Nope.

5.1 Dolby surround is a digital signal - normally provided via a optical
( Toslink) or single RCA jack via co-ax cable.

The DVD player will have one or both such on the back.



........ Phil

 

[T.T.]

"T.T."


** Simple two ch. analogue signal.



** Huh ? Define ?




** Nope.

5.1 Dolby surround is a digital signal - normally provided via a optical
( Toslink) or single RCA jack via co-ax cable.

The DVD player will have one or both such on the back.



....... Phil

Thanks Phil
A long time ago, having a couple of spare speakers and a goodish amp, I
bought a Kenwood SS-3300 add-on surround sound processor.
It took the Audio Out from the VCR, and drove a centre speaker and two
surround speakers. The surround speakers were called left and right, but did
not receive different signals.
From the Line Out of the Kenwood, left and right cables connected to the Aux
of the existing amplifier, which drove the normal left and right stereo
speakers.
This meant that any broadcast program, or any videocassette, which was
Dolby encoded produced surround sound and it was spectacular. So evidently
whatever came out of the Audio Out of the VCR (whether broadcast or from a
videocassette) included whatever information was necessary to be decoded
into a centre speaker and a surround signal for the two rear speakers.
I was told that those same signals (still including whatever was needed for
surround) were available at the Audio Out at the rear of the Sharp TV.
It seems I was misled.
What IS certain is that I will have to undo a day's work laying cables under
the house. (Amongst the spiders and their multi-legged friends)

Here is my current understanding of the situation.
1. There is ONE Video Out socket at the back of the Yamaha, and that will
connect to (say) AV1 on the TV.
2. The DVD player will connect to the Yamaha via an optical cable for the
sound, and a video cable for the video.
3. The VCR will connect to the Yamaha via AV cables.
4. Broadcast programs will use the VCR tuner.
5. The sound from broadcast programs and videocassettes, where appropriate,
will have surround sound.
6. DVD sound will, where appropriate, be in 5.1 surround.
7. The co-ax from the antenna will go to the VCR, but need not go from there
to the TV.

I will be grateful for any comments.
I am not going to get much help from the retailer.

 

[David L. Jones]

I have a Sharp TV, model SX80J9. It was bought in 2000.
It has four inputs, TV, AV1, AV2, AV3.
AV1 is used for the VCR and AV2 is used for the DVD.
At the back of the set there is provision for stereo Audio Out.
If the program being played, (whether from TV, VCR, or DVD) is encoded with
surround sound, is the output from the Audio Out jacks encoded for surround
sound?
In other words, can the sound from these Audio Out jacks go straight to a
surround sound amplifier and be decoded by it for 5.1 surround sound?

No.
You can only get surround from a 2 channel source if your processor has
"Dolby Surround" and the source material is encoded as such. But Dolby
Surround is NOT 5.1
Otherwise you will have to use Dolby ProLogic II to get "simulated" 5.1
surround. PLII does a pretty darn good job though.

You have to connect your DVD player directly to your surround amp via
digital coax or optical cable. Connecting a DVD player via the normal
stereo jacks would be silly as you'd lose all the nice Dolby Digital
encoding which most DVD's have.

A usual surround setup will use the surround receiver as the input
switching system and the TV as simply the "output" device. That way the
receiver can choose the best decoding method from the source it has
available. eg. you'd connect your STB, VCR, DVD, XBox/PS2 into the
surround receiver inputs, and let the receiver do all the video and
audio switching.

Dave

 

[David L. Jones]

Thanks Phil
A long time ago, having a couple of spare speakers and a goodish amp, I
bought a Kenwood SS-3300 add-on surround sound processor.
It took the Audio Out from the VCR, and drove a centre speaker and two
surround speakers. The surround speakers were called left and right, but did
not receive different signals.
From the Line Out of the Kenwood, left and right cables connected to the Aux
of the existing amplifier, which drove the normal left and right stereo
speakers.
This meant that any broadcast program, or any videocassette, which was
Dolby encoded produced surround sound and it was spectacular. So evidently
whatever came out of the Audio Out of the VCR (whether broadcast or from a
videocassette) included whatever information was necessary to be decoded
into a centre speaker and a surround signal for the two rear speakers.
I was told that those same signals (still including whatever was needed for
surround) were available at the Audio Out at the rear of the Sharp TV.
It seems I was misled.

You were not misled, you are completely correct.
That is called "Dolby Surround". It is a method of encoding 4 channel
(2 front + centre + 1 surround) into a normal 2 channel stero signal.
See http://www.dolby.com/consumer/technology/tech_overview.html

"Dolby Digital" is now the most widely used, especially for DVD's. This
is a digital signal instead of the usual 2 ch analog used by Dolby
Surround.

What IS certain is that I will have to undo a day's work laying cables under
the house. (Amongst the spiders and their multi-legged friends)

Here is my current understanding of the situation.
1. There is ONE Video Out socket at the back of the Yamaha, and that will
connect to (say) AV1 on the TV.
2. The DVD player will connect to the Yamaha via an optical cable for the
sound, and a video cable for the video.

Only if your receiver can switch s-video. If it can only switch
composite (RCA) then you are better off connecting the DVD stright to
the s-video in of the TV.

3. The VCR will connect to the Yamaha via AV cables.
4. Broadcast programs will use the VCR tuner.
5. The sound from broadcast programs and videocassettes, where appropriate,
will have surround sound.
6. DVD sound will, where appropriate, be in 5.1 surround.
7. The co-ax from the antenna will go to the VCR, but need not go from there
to the TV.

I will be grateful for any comments.
I am not going to get much help from the retailer.

Get yourself a favour and get yourself a digital TV STB. You'll get
better sound and picture, and you can then switch all your video and
audio through the surround receiver and never have to change input
modes on the TV again.

Dave

 

[T.T.]

You were not misled, you are completely correct.
That is called "Dolby Surround". It is a method of encoding 4 channel
(2 front + centre + 1 surround) into a normal 2 channel stero signal.
See http://www.dolby.com/consumer/technology/tech_overview.html

"Dolby Digital" is now the most widely used, especially for DVD's. This
is a digital signal instead of the usual 2 ch analog used by Dolby
Surround.


Only if your receiver can switch s-video. If it can only switch
composite (RCA) then you are better off connecting the DVD stright to
the s-video in of the TV.


Get yourself a favour and get yourself a digital TV STB. You'll get
better sound and picture, and you can then switch all your video and
audio through the surround receiver and never have to change input
modes on the TV again.

Dave

Thank you all.
I have set up the system as described in steps 1 to 7 above.
It works impressively. There are probably improvements I can make, but I
will be content for the time being.