Onkyo 3500 ; Set up for beginners

[Rockfella]

You nailed it down here. I used mkvmerge GUI to remove the first audio stream from many movies. The first audio stream was 2.0. The second audio stream was 6 channels. I wonder why the guy who ripped those kept 2.0 as first stream. I have test files now. Will test on the AVR and see what happens :clapping:

Most of your audio problems are with the player and not with the avr or rip file. If the movie has 5.1 audio then you should get 5.1 out. Sometimes the rips can have two tracks - one 5.1 and another 2 channel in which case the first stream is usually played. Problems can also occur if the audio is in aac format. AVR will use prologic for aac audio if you set aac to bitstream in your player. Using mediainfo tool, check the audio codecs in the problematic files. AC3, DTS and AAC are the most common audio formats used in rip files.

 

[Rockfella]

Doesn't work, after removing the first 2.0 audio stream the AVR still plays 6 channel (second audio stream now probably first) as 2.0

You nailed it down here. I used mkvmerge GUI to remove the first audio stream from many movies. The first audio stream was 2.0. The second audio stream was 6 channels. I wonder why the guy who ripped those kept 2.0 as first stream. I have test files now. Will test on the AVR and see what happens :clapping:

 

[baijuxavior]

^^ Is the stream in aac format?

 

[virtueso]

Few Updates : 1. Downloaded another movie, with two audio tracks, both 6 channel, but tv plays only pcm. this was a lower file size though, never had this problem with proper hd content.

2.Use free tool 'HANDBRAKE' to fix the low audio. In settings, select video as 'same' and audio as 'ac3' . It will take 15-30 minutes. The difference is noticable,quality is better, but not excellent. Anyway, i'm not complaining. It does the job.

3. When im playing content which dd, proper HD, in that when i switch presets, the original one is "dolby d" , and all except PLII and theater mode presets are there. All channel stereo preset sounds better than dolby d, but all this while, dolby digital icon,the small red thing is ON. if i switch to PCM on same content, the sound is not nearly as good on same preset even (all channel stereo).

Funny beeswax

 

[virtueso]

^^ Is the stream in aac format?

the content i mentioned ^ please see image. This does not play DD or DTS or 6 channel. AAC it is

 

[baijuxavior]

I'm yet to see an AVR that can play AAC 5.1. You should use a media player that can convert aac to dd on the fly or decode to 5.1 lpcm. XBMC can do this, just uncheck the option 'AAC capable AVR'. Most HD media players like himedia, kaiboer etc. also have options to send aac 5.1 as 5.1 lpcm. TV will down mix aac 5.1 to 2 channel pcm so your avr will always use prologic sound.

As long as you use aac 5.1 and tv, you will need to convert the audio to DD (AC3). Most of the mp4 files you download use aac audio. A liitle tool named Mp42Mkvac3 can be used to convert the mp4 aac movies to mkv ac3. The conversion is much faster. But I suggest you to get a good player. An htpc is recommended.

AAC is usually heavily compressed and it won't sound as good as original dd/dts signals. As a thumb rule, most mp4 downloads use aac where as mkv files sized around 3GB or more have DD or DTS sound. Buy some good blu-ray titles and feel the difference.

 

[Rockfella]

I have Baraka [1992] in MP4 format with AAC audio. File size is 3.64GB .... doing what you said... using Mp42Mkvac3.

I'm yet to see an AVR that can play AAC 5.1. You should use a media player that can convert aac to dd on the fly or decode to 5.1 lpcm. XBMC can do this, just uncheck the option 'AAC capable AVR'. Most HD media players like himedia, kaiboer etc. also have options to send aac 5.1 as 5.1 lpcm. TV will down mix aac 5.1 to 2 channel pcm so your avr will always use prologic sound.

As long as you use aac 5.1 and tv, you will need to convert the audio to DD (AC3). Most of the mp4 files you download use aac audio. A liitle tool named Mp42Mkvac3 can be used to convert the mp4 aac movies to mkv ac3. The conversion is much faster. But I suggest you to get a good player. An htpc is recommended.

AAC is usually heavily compressed and it won't sound as good as original dd/dts signals. As a thumb rule, most mp4 downloads use aac where as mkv files sized around 3GB or more have DD or DTS sound. Buy some good blu-ray titles and feel the difference.

 

[baijuxavior]

I used mp42mkvac3 two years back. There was a bug which will delete your original file. So always keep a copy of the original file in another folder before conversion, just in case.

 

[Rockfella]

Too much headache doing all this. Just watching whatever i have in whatever format lol. Will try n download better stuff from now on...

 

[virtueso]

amen to that. ^

 

[rvkrishnakumar]

I have the following.

Samsung 40" series 5

Onkyo 3500

DELL Inspiron Laptop.

When I connect Laptop to AVR through HDMI, both sound/video not there.
When I connect Laptop directly to TV, Both Audio/Video are coming, but the video is in 2.0 format.

But when I directly Play with USB or using the AllShare from Samsung, both Video/Audio are okay. (5.1 )

I need to connect thro HDMI as all formats are not supported by TV. (though it supports mkv., etc) Some subtitles are not displaying.

 

[baijuxavior]

First you need to set AVR as the display device in laptop. Fro this press Win+P and select 'Projector only' or 'Extend'. 'Duplicate display' won't work as your avr and laptop have different resolutions. Now in windows audio device properties set hdmi as the playback device. Sometimes you will need to specify the audio device in the player also.

 

[virtueso]

I have the following.

Samsung 40" series 5

Onkyo 3500

DELL Inspiron Laptop.

When I connect Laptop to AVR through HDMI, both sound/video not there.
When I connect Laptop directly to TV, Both Audio/Video are coming, but the video is in 2.0 format.

But when I directly Play with USB or using the AllShare from Samsung, both Video/Audio are okay. (5.1 )

I need to connect thro HDMI as all formats are not supported by TV. (though it supports mkv., etc) Some subtitles are not displaying.

do you select the device using remote ov 3500 to chose the laptop? for ex if laptop and avr are connected via hdmi which goes into avr's 'GAME' slot, you need to press hdmi on your tv remote, and then press 'GAME' on the remote to switch to laptop. I have a HP probook, everything plays without any issues.

As baijux said, you may need to switch from 2ch to 5.1 in the media player's settings.
In VLC, i need to right click on the video while it is playing on my tv (via hdmi, on 2ch) and select 'audio track' in the options and select 5.1 SPDF option.

If supported, this option will be there and change your output to 5.1 and the red DD or DTS icon will light up in the avr as well.

Mine is a samsung series 6 40" LCD and onkyo 3500 of course

 

[prosenjit]

get and asus player..play hassle free..cheap anyway

 

[virtueso]

Weird problem guys, started happening recently;


When my ps3 is connected to the avr via hdmi,hdmi passthrough to tv for display, something strange has started happening.

Whenever i switch any fan or light or anything else on or off in this room, or even in the adjacent room,the display flickers on the tv, and the AVR "fluctuates" , like it would if you were watching tv, and then selected game, which takes a few seconds to switch the video to game, and the audio to multi ch 5.1 or DD or whatever.

Please see the video for understanding.


View My Video


Shown it to the local electrician, who of course is at a loss, and other things i have tried are as follows:
-switched hdmi cable for a new one
-changed the power point of both avr, ps3 and tv separately and altogether
-changed hdmi slot
-given ps3's hdmi output to TV and optic out from TV to AVR for audio
-just tried running ps3 with a UPS connected, as a voltage stabilizer.

Very strange and disturbing thing, I fear it may damage one or more of the equipment connected in my setup i.e. tv or avr or ps3.
This does not happen always, but far too often.

It does not happen when watching TV (standard def, video to tv, audio to avr via optic)

Please help

 

[virtueso]

Why does audio in certain (action) scenes go so high that one has to frantically reach for the remote to lower the volume before it wakes up the neighbors ? And sometimes struggle to hear speech when you lower it to that extent, thus playing volume +/- constantly with the remote?

Usually with SD audio, but even with HD 5.1 content this happens sometimes.. It's very annoying. My bass and trebble are 4 each (out of 10) , subwoofer is at 7 or 8 (out of 12), center speaker is at 5, L and R are at 5, surrounds are at 8. (all out of 12).

The audio preset is PLII movie or Neo 6 cinema.
It's the worst with All Channel Stereo.

 

[rjg]

Thank You For Very good Advice

Connect PS3 and XBOX directly to AVR using HDMI.
Connect HDMI out of AVR to TV
Connect optical out of TV to AVR
Assign the optical input to one of the HDMI or analog input of the AVR. When you want to hear optical audio, switch to this input.

When AVR receives audio through both hdmi and optical, hdmi is given preference. You can change this behaviour if you wish. Check the avr manual.

Your avr will show pcm, if the decoding is done by the player itself. It will show DD or DTS if the player sends the signal to AVR for decoding. This is usually known as bitstreaming. It all depends on the source video and the player's capability to decode the audio.

 

[virtueso]

Why does audio in certain (action) scenes go so high that one has to frantically reach for the remote to lower the volume before it wakes up the neighbors ? And sometimes struggle to hear speech when you lower it to that extent, thus playing volume +/- constantly with the remote?

Usually with SD audio, but even with HD 5.1 content this happens sometimes.. It's very annoying. My bass and trebble are 4 each (out of 10) , subwoofer is at 7 or 8 (out of 12), center speaker is at 5, L and R are at 5, surrounds are at 8. (all out of 12).

The audio preset is PLII movie or Neo 6 cinema.
It's the worst with All Channel Stereo.

*BUMP*
i'm sure this is a common problem, please suggest a solution guys..^ ruins the moment many times while watching movies etc