Audio Stupidity
Originally published at Lunar Shards. You can comment here or there.
So instead of getting to Final Fantasy XIII last night, I ended up fighting with a fickle piece of hardware. No, the game ran the opening fine but my audio system would only output normal stand ran the movie while fiddling with my audio. At the same time dropping into every Audio/Video forum to figure out if there’s a particular problem with my setup. I originally bought a Pioneer HTS-GS1 some time ago. It’s a lovely system. Everything plugs into the sub woofer and the control panel sits away from the sub-woofer via a sorta wired panel which has the nice Xbox 360 look to it. It was built with the Xbox 360 in mind anyway
The system is suppose to do DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 which is why I got it. My previous system, a Klipsch GMX D-5.1 was giving me problems towards the end with the sub-woofer popping when I switched sources and also the fact there was no remote to the entire bloody thing. Would require me to get up and examine the disc base to change to any other source. It’s a nice system if you are using it with a PC or something where the disc model is close to you but not if you have to getup and reach over past the TV just to change a setting.
Anyway, the system Pioneer system is suppose to be able to auto detect the audio format coming from my system, PS3 or Xbox 360. In normal operation it’s suppose to use Dolby Digital when playing games or movies but for some reason the system refused detect it right and instead ran stereo mode. I must have missed this the last one or two times I watched something but I immediately caught it when i had to pick up one of the rear speakers my cat knocked over when I got home. No sound. My first fear was, oh great, she broke it! But then I realized it had a quiet buzz of a powered speaker but no sound. I immediately started messing with the remote seeing if I accidentally dropped my system into stereo only. Dropping into my PS3 menu, I found that DTS 5.1 was disabled. Odd, this system supports DTS 5.1 so I selected it and went back to the game’s opening. Still nothing. I switched the system to Dolby Pro-Logic but that wasn’t the right setting either. It’s suppose to have a DTS or Dolby Digital lighting up on the panel.
So I pulled out Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and started to test with a blu-ray movie that I knew worked on the system. Well past tense was right. It did work the last time I watched this movie. I like it, it’s cheese but it’s my kind of cheese :3 Well, as it turns out the movie had the same problem. I switched over to my 360 and had the same problem too while attempting to use wings of Honneamise to test the 5.1 from there. Same problem which was odd. I hit the forums for a bit then decided to directly patch my system into the PS3 instead of passing it through the TV. I had read along the lines that TVs even though they accept HDMI inputs may not pass 5.1 digital sound data out of it’s optical port except from a cable source.
I did the same tinkering routine as I did with the previous setup but no luck. It seemed odd because the system gave me far less choices in as far as audio options that I can use. DTS and Dolby weren’t detected properly either which was odd. I ended up watching the movie almost 1 and 1/2 times before I found the problem. I switched the movie from PCM Linear to Bitstream and my audio system went “Hey! That’s a Dolby Digital signal!” and switched over to Dolby Digital mode. For the love of… the setting was in a hidden away inside a menu while watching the movie. I ended up dropping in FFXIII after I turned off the audio system and back on to clear the Dolby Digital and yup, game fires up in Dolby Digital mode. WTF… Seriously? What’s the point of having multiple HDMI ports on a TV if the optical output won’t pass the audio channel to the sound system properly!? Gah! Now I have to buy that HDMI A/V cable for my 360 just to get proper digital output from that system. I’m going to do a bit more research and call my uncle. He’s a bigger audiophile then myself.