Dolby digital signal

Some HDMI cables can cause problems with sound transfer. Another cause is the settings. If the unit is set to put out PCM it will kill the Dolby signals. I once had a DVD player set to "mix" the signals which was great for a standard TV set, but killed the Dolby signals.

The large button that says 'Digital Input' should toggle between Dolby, DTS and Pro Logic.

If you would like to use high definition audio decoding, connect the HDMI from the blu ray player to the receiver. If that it not an option for you due to lack of equipment such as an additional HDMI cable to go from the receiver to the television for the video portion of the signal, then connect your optical cable again. After the optical cable is connected, make sure the Dolby Digital decoding is enabled on the receiver, and that the media you are playing also has a version of 5.1 surround sound. Then, enter the setup menu of the player (which I suspect this is actually where the problem might reside in your case) and make sure that Dolby Digital and DTS are not set to "downmix." Dolby Digital should be set to output Dolby Digital and so on and so forth...hope this helped.

Before you buy anything try checking the AUDIO Settings in the Menu of Each Device (Mostly TV) and see if they are set to PCM or BITSTREAM. HDMI is mostly set to PCM while Optical is generally Bitstream. The TV may be set to the opposite of what it needs to be. I would try to get PCM to work first cause it is Better, If not then set what you can to Bitstream and it should pass. Also check in TV Menu for SOUND OUT or AUDIO OUT or SPEAKERS. Some TV's have a problem passing Audio through when they are already Outputting them to it's own Speakers! I Hope this Helps out!

OK, I just figured this out. Go to the audio options in your DVD player and switch from pcm to bitstream. Now my movies sound right again.

For dolby digital to work you have to have the optical or coax cable hooked up to the reciever ,The HDMI cable is for digital video and audio output but does not support dolby digital out the cable into your reciever , so just turn off the dolby digital on your reciever and you should hear the sound.
here is more info

Dolby TrueHD is an advanced lossless multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories which is intended primarily for high-definition home-entertainment equipment such as Blu-ray Disc. It is the successor to the AC-3 Dolby Digital surround sound codec which was used as the audio standard for DVD discs. In this application, Dolby TrueHD competes with DTS-HD Master Audio, another lossless codec from Digital Theater System.
Dolby TrueHD uses Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) as its mathematical basis for compressing audio samples. MLP was used on the earlier DVD-Audio format, but details of TrueHD and DVD-Audio differ substantially. A Dolby TrueHD bitstream can carry up to 14 discrete sound channels. Sample depths up to 24 bits/sample and audio sample rates up to 192 kHz are supported. Like the more common legacy codec Dolby Digital, TrueHD bitstreams carry program metadata. Metadata is separate from the coding format and compressed audio samples, but stores relevant information about the audio waveform. For example, dialog normalization and Dynamic range compression are controlled by metadata embedded in the TrueHD bitstream.

In short yes!

If you have two optical inputs and two equipment (PS3 and HDVD) then you shouldnt have a problem at all. Just make sure you change the mode of the receiver to TV/SAT when you want to use the HDDVD. Your problem may be the video out put.

If i was you i would do the following:

1. Get rid of all your optical cables as you won't need it.
2. If your receiver support HDMI then by default HDMI will send both video and digital sound.
3. Plug the HDMI of the PS3 to the HDMI input of the receiver, plug the HDMI of the HDDVD player into the HDMI 2 of the receiver and plug 1 HDMI cable from the receiver to the tv/monitor you have.

That is the best set up so when you play PS3 you select dvd/ld and when you watch hddvd you select tv/sat.

However having said all that the fact that you have dvd/ld suggests you actually don't have HDMI at all on the receiver(...i just checked the specs of the receiver). Which means you will need to have 2 hdmi inputs for your tv and you will need to have the 2 optical connections.

But in short yes to your question.

hope this is not too confusing.

good luck

smeags.

Try checking your audio output in the setup screen of dvd player. Try setting Digital Out HDMI to Auto, if it isn't already. See if that helps.

PCM is standard when using HDMI cables, you are passing an already decoded audio signal to the receiver and it outputs the sound and does nothing more. The reciever calls this PCM, your PS3, when pressing select should show that it is decoding the dolby digital HD. There is no quality difference in the two. PCM is the same because it is un compressed audio. So when using HDMI, no matter the signal that the movie or music is playing, wether it be dolby or DTS, you will see PCM when using HDMI.

If it is a new DVD that may be a problem, as signal changes may be frustrating this old machine... but it is likely the cabling from the DVD player to the reciever. Are you on the right channels/settings? is the optical cable and digital cable recieving digital output from your DVD player? Try changing those settings and you should be in good shape Thanks! good luck!