DTS Music 5.1 Discs: These discs are a variation of audio CDs that
include a DTS 5.1 channel recording. The receiver decodes these discs
just like a DTS movie soundtrack when played on a CD player or DVD
player with a digital output connection.
DVD-A music discs: Taking advantage of the increased storage
capacity of the DVD disc, new high bit rate multichannel audio
recordings are available on DVD-A discs. DVD-A discs may include
multiple versions of the recording including standard PCM stereo,
Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, and 96kHz/24 bit (or higher) multichannel
recordings using MLP compression. Several of these formats (standard
PCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS 5.1) can be decoded by the receiver
when the DVD player is connected with a digital cable. However, the
existing optical and coax digital audio connection standard does not
provide sufficient bandwidth for multichannel high sampling rate MLP
recordings. Therefore, you must use the HDMI high-definition digital
connection to replay the high-resolution audio soundtrack of DVD-A
discs. Alternatively, the high-resolution audio can be decoded by the
DVD-A player and the resulting analog signals sent to the receiver’s
MULTI INPUT.
SACD®: This is a proprietary high-resolution audio standard for use on
SACD compatible disc players. As with DVD-A discs, the bandwidth is
too high for today’s digital connection. Thus, these discs must be decoded
by a SACD compatible player, with the output sent to the receiver’s
MULTI INPUTS.
MP3: MP3 format recordings, often downloaded from the Internet, can
be played on portable MP3 players or some disc players that can read
CD-ROM discs. These players can be connected to the receiver’s digital
inputs, but must output a digital PCM stream.
Automatic Surround Modes
Decoding of digital sources connected to the digital inputs is generally
automatic, with detection triggered by a “flag” embedded in the digital
recording telling the receiver what decoding format is required. For
example, when Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 channel surround is
detected, the receiver activates the proper decoding.
The unit will also detect DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 or DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
discs and activate DTS-ES
®
Extended Surround decoding. Dolby Digital
Surround EX recordings also trigger automatic decoding (although
not all Surround EX DVDs have the necessary flag and may require
manually activating Surround EX decoding).
Likewise, a digital input from a standard compact disc, a DTS 96/24
disc, or DTS-ES 96/24 disc, will be auto-detected and properly decoded
to 2CH stereo operation.
Dolby Pro Logic IIx or Rotel XS processing can be configured to be
automatically active in all 6.1 or 7.1 channel systems configured with
center back speaker(s) and will ensure proper extended surround
decoding of all multichannel digital signals, even those that might not
otherwise trigger the proper extended surround mode.
In many cases, the receiver will also recognize a digital signal with Dolby
Surround encoding (such as the default soundtrack on many DVDs) and
activate Dolby
®
Pro Logic II
®
decoding. Additionally, you can configure a
default surround mode for each input using the INPUT SETUP menu (see
the Setup section of this manual).
Combined with the auto-detection of Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, this
default surround setting makes operation of the receiver surround modes
totally automatic. For example, if you set Dolby Pro Logic II movie mode
as the default for all of your video inputs, the receiver will automatically
decode Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtracks when they are played
and use Pro Logic II matrix decoding for all other recordings.
For stereo inputs such as CD and Tuner, you could select STEREO mode
as the default for 2-channel playback or Dolby Pro Logic II music mode if
you prefer to hear music sources in surround sound.
Note: A digital signal coming into the receiver will be recognized
and properly decoded. However, on a DVD with multiple
soundtracks, you must tell the DVD player which one to send to
the receiver
. For example, you may need to use the DVD’s menu
system to select the Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 soundtrack rather
than the default Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby Surround soundtrack.
Manually Selecting
Surround Modes
As described in the previous section, the combination of auto-detection of
Dolby Digital and DTS recordings and setting default surround modes for
each input during the setup of the receiver makes operation of surround
modes totally automatic. For many users, this automatic surround mode
selection will meet all of their listening needs.
For users who prefer a more active role in setting surround modes,
buttons on the remote and the front panel provide manual selection of
surround mode that are not automatically detected or, in some cases, to
override an automatic setting.
Manual settings available from the front panel and/or the remote might
be used when you want to play:
• Standard 2-channel stereo (left/right speakers only) with no surround
processing.
• Downmixed 2-channel playback of Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS
recordings.
• Dolby 3-channel stereo (left/right/center) of 2-channel recordings.
• 5-channel or 7-channel stereo from 2-channel recordings.
• One of four DSP modes for DSP concert hall simulation from 2-
channel music recordings.
• Dolby Pro Logic II cinema or music mode matrix decoding of 2-
channel recordings.
• DTS Neo:6 cinema or music mode matrix decoding of 2-channel
recordings.
