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I’ve just bought an HDR-1000s/2TB box after years of having Sky. My concern is I can’t get anything other than 2 channel audio on my Onkyo SR805 receiver from the Humax box. Even if a Sky program broadcasted a 2 channel standard audio output, my Onkyo receiver would still be able to change it to pseudo 5.1 Neural multi-channel signal. I also never had any problems with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio from Sky. I have tried setting my Onkyo for HDMI digital input and also Optical digital input, neither of these worked – it still only has 2 channels (Stereo).
I have the Humax set-up as follows;
Audio type: Stereo
Digital Audio out: Multi-channel
I have tried the Audio both with an optical cable and also HDMI and am still not getting any more than a 2-ch output. Even if I play an mkv file movie with DD5.1 on a USB and play thru the Humax it’s still 2ch.
I’ve tried different HDMI cables and re-installed my Sky box to confirm that is ran multi-channel, which it did, so I know the receiver is working. Could it be the DD source from Humax is different than Sky’s (different format?) and my Onkyo, which is 7 years old, can’t play this type of file? I play different types of mp4’s, mkv’s etc with all types of audio codecs (AAC, AC3 etc…) on it from a Media HDD and they all play on the Onkyo no bother.
Really stumped with this one (maybe I’m being dumb!) – any input will be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Firstly the audio is the same on a Sky box as the HDR1000S (it’s simply what the broadcaster transmits). All the HD channels use AC3 (aka Dolby Digital). I have seen your post on AV forums which has photographs. Much of the content is DD2.0 by the way.
Your settings are correct by the way.
My amp displays the DD icon for 2.0 and 5.1 but the display says Dolby Prologic for 2.0 indicating the DSP prologic decoder is being used to extract matrixed surround audio data.
Your box is clearly receiving DD as it has the DD icon lit.
Some possibilities
For some reason your amp is incorrectly telling the Humax box it hasn’t got an ac3 decoder which forces the output to be recoded to stereo lpcm (the PCM icon on your amp is lit rather than the DD icon). This is what the box will output when the digital output is set to stereo.
The box may have somehow got stuck in the stereo output mode. Not a bug I have ever seen reported.
You could try toggling the option a few times and failing this working try a reset to factory defaults.
Thanks Graham
I wonder if it is a newer AC3 codec that my Onkyo can’t decode? I get my new Yamaha 677 amp on mon/tues, hopefully that will have the ability to play all the newer codecs.
shadowhood – 8 minutes ago »
Thanks Graham
I wonder if it is a newer AC3 codec that my Onkyo can’t decode? I get my new Yamaha 677 amp on mon/tues, hopefully that will have the ability to play all the newer codecs.
It can’t be, the audio you get from say BBC1-HD on a Sky box is the same audio as you get on the same channel on a Sky box (It’s the same transmission). The audio is encoded at source by the broadcaster so the audio bitstream is identical and only altered if the box recodes it. On satellite there is also a second MP2 stereo track used for Audio Description)
Basically the box has to recode under the following circumstances.
To be output over an analogue output
To be output over hdmi where the box doesn’t support 5.1 over hdmi (All Humax HD boxes support 5.1 over HDMI, earlier Sky boxes didn’t to get 5.1 you had to use a S/Pdif optical or coax output)
By manually telling the box to output Stereo lpcm (some TV’s have limited ac3 encoders that create problems with dfferent levels of audio between SD and HD).
The connected kit indicates to the box that it doesn’t support ac3 audio.
So basically (I’m a bit out my depth here), The audio signal sent from BBCHD will not be recoded by Humax as it is going straight to a multi-channel output (my amp)?
Therefore, there is no reason why I should not be getting any more than 2 channels. So, is it pointing to a problem with the Humax then? It appears to be recoding it to a stereo output.
shadowhood – 2 minutes ago »
So basically (I’m a bit out my depth here), The audio signal sent from BBCHD will not be recoded by Humax as it is going straight to a multi-channel output (my amp)?
Therefore, there is no reason why I should not be getting any more than 2 channels. So, is it pointing to a problem with the Humax then? It appears to be recoding it to a stereo output.
I’m as baffled as you are. But yes the problem seems to be the Humax is re-coding to lpcm even though you have told it not to.
It’s doing the same with stereo ac3 as well (the great majority of HD is in stereo.
If you have recordings of Dr Who (apart from episode 1) or Strictly Come Dancing they have 5.1 audio.
Can only suggest you try the suggestions I posted earlier.
shadowhood – 2 minutes ago »
Double post – site went down for a short period when try to reply.
shadowhood – 7 minutes ago »
So basically (I’m a bit out my depth here), The audio signal sent from BBCHD will not be recoded by Humax as it is going straight to a multi-channel output (my amp)?
Therefore, there is no reason why I should not be getting any more than 2 channels. So, is it pointing to a problem with the Humax then? It appears to be recoding it to a stereo output.
Thing is though are the program’s your watching even broadcast in 5.1?
shadowhood – 7 minutes ago »
So basically (I’m a bit out my depth here), The audio signal sent from BBCHD will not be recoded by Humax as it is going straight to a multi-channel output (my amp)?
Therefore, there is no reason why I should not be getting any more than 2 channels. So, is it pointing to a problem with the Humax then? It appears to be recoding it to a stereo output.
Thing is though are the program’s your watching even broadcast in 5.1?
-gonzo- – 6 minutes ago »
shadowhood – 7 minutes ago »
So basically (I’m a bit out my depth here), The audio signal sent from BBCHD will not be recoded by Humax as it is going straight to a multi-channel output (my amp)?
Therefore, there is no reason why I should not be getting any more than 2 channels. So, is it pointing to a problem with the Humax then? It appears to be recoding it to a stereo output.
Thing is though are the program’s your watching even broadcast in 5.1?
His amplifier is showing a PCM source not an ac3 one. The poster has posted same on a few sites, some have photographs attached.
Long shot, Shadowhood you haven’t by any chance made a analogue audio connection to your amp in addition to the digital one ?
Thanks for the input again mate.
Well, the program info says it’s Dolby with the DD icon. So I’m not sure if that is Dolby Stereo or DD5.1.
As I mentioned previously, on Sky it didn’t matter whether the show was 2 or 5 ch, my amp would always be able to produce 5 channel. It can only do 2 from the Humax. I’ve emailed Humax this morning at 9am but still not heard anything. Is their phone tech service any good?
shadowhood – 2 minutes ago »
Thanks for the input again mate.
Well, the program info says it’s Dolby with the DD icon. So I’m not sure if that is Dolby Stereo or DD5.1.
As I mentioned previously, on Sky it didn’t matter whether the show was 2 or 5 ch, my amp would always be able to produce 5 channel. It can only do 2 from the Humax. I’ve emailed Humax this morning at 9am but still not heard anything. Is their phone tech service any good?
You can’t tell from the display. Incidentally your amplifier should be able to decode prologic 11 surround sound from pcm stereo same way it can from Dolby Digital stereo, it should work if correctly set up on SD channels as well. The option will be one of the Digital Sound Processing options (DSP).
Can you answer the question I asked about analogue connections ?
I doubt if Humax will be able to help, it’s not an issue I have ever seen before.
I’ll have to check when I get home (at work). I know for a fact there isn’t a physical analogue input on the amp, and I’m pretty sure (99%) the analogue input set up on the amp menu is cleared, unlike the digital input.
shadowhood – 1 minute ago »
I’ll have to check when I get home (at work). I know for a fact there isn’t a physical analogue input on the amp, and I’m pretty sure (99%) the analogue input set up on the amp menu is cleared, unlike the digital input.
No analogue inputs on the AMP, are you sure ? I have never seen an AV amp without analogue inputs. Basically have you connected anything from the box scart socket or the Red/White RCA Phono sockets to the amplifier.
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