# R15 Dolby 5.1 - no sound on back speakers ever



## orayzio (Apr 23, 2006)

Has anyone else experienced this? I have an R15 hooked up to my receiver via the digital ports and whenever I watch a show in 5.1, although my receiver indicates that it is decoding a 5.1 signal, there is never any sound on the back speakers. I only get sound out of my front speakers, center, and sub-woofer. I see this with all the premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.) that encode in 5.1.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

The sound from the rear speakers are not always noticable. Only effects and such. If you get close to the speak and watch some action/blow-em-up program you should be able to hear something from them as long as your decoder is working properly.


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## orayzio (Apr 23, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> The sound from the rear speakers are not always noticable. Only effects and such. If you get close to the speak and watch some action/blow-em-up program you should be able to hear something from them as long as your decoder is working properly.


I know that there's not always sound coming out of the rear speakers during 5.1, but there's no sound ever from the back speakers during explosions, climactic scenes, and other times when there really should be something from the back.

I can compare this to my DVD player, also hooked up to the receiver, and the DVD player correctly includes some sounds from the rear.


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## DesignDawg (Jan 8, 2006)

Very, very, very, VERY few channels on DirecTV have 5.1 surround sound, no matter what receiver you are using. If you are watching a channel that does not use it, and your receiver is not set up to emulate it (with some virtual surround mode), you will not get anything in the rears. Basically, if you're not on HBO (NOT HBO 2 or any other "special" HBO channel), watching a hit series on a first run basis, (in other words, watching Sopranos on ch. 501 right now), you are not getting 5.1 sound. It's not an R15 issue.

Ricky


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## orayzio (Apr 23, 2006)

DesignDawg said:


> Very, very, very, VERY few channels on DirecTV have 5.1 surround sound, no matter what receiver you are using. If you are watching a channel that does not use it, and your receiver is not set up to emulate it (with some virtual surround mode), you will not get anything in the rears. Basically, if you're not on HBO (NOT HBO 2 or any other "special" HBO channel), watching a hit series on a first run basis, (in other words, watching Sopranos on ch. 501 right now), you are not getting 5.1 sound. It's not an R15 issue.
> 
> Ricky


I realize that and I'm not saying that I'm not getting 5.1. I'm saying that I do get 5.1 for HBO - the R15 is sending me the encoded 5.1 signal and my receiver is decoding it as a 5.1 signal for channels that have 5.1 (basically HBO) - but the 5.1 signal is missing the rear channels. In other words, either DirecTV is sending a half-assed 5.1 signal for those few channels that offer 5.1 or the R15 is sending a half-assed signal.

I'll rephrase my initial question - if you go to a DirecTV channel with 5.1 sound _and_ you have a 5.1 sound system _and_ you watch a show with lots of explosions where you think there should be sound on the rear speakers, do you hear anything out of those rear speakers? Anyone?


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Take a listen to Blade:Trinity on Starz right now, you should be hearing a lot of rear channel action. Mary Reilly is on Flix and in DD5.1, been watching it on and off haven't heard a peep out of my rears.


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## orayzio (Apr 23, 2006)

Steve Mehs said:


> Take a listen to Blade:Trinity on Starz right now, you should be hearing a lot of rear channel action. Mary Reilly is on Flix and in DD5.1, been watching it on and off haven't heard a peep out of my rears.


Okay, that worked. I get rear channel sound on Blade:Trinity. Must just be a programming issue - I'm guessing that the premium channels broadcast everything as 5.1, even though only some programs use all channels.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

orayzio said:


> Okay, that worked. I get rear channel sound on Blade:Trinity. Must just be a programming issue - I'm guessing that the premium channels broadcast everything as 5.1, even though only some programs use all channels.


No, not all premium channels are in 5.1. Some shows are, some are not. Many more HD shows are on the HD channels.

I'm not sure of this but it may be another R15 bug. I'm not sure the R15 is showing any shows with the 5.1 DD logo but my DTivo does show this. It's a pain to guess, but why would you're audio receiver show it's receiving a 5.1 signal if it's not. That's my real method of telling. I don't depend on the guide, but if my receiver is showing a DD 5.1 signal, I know I'm getting it from the DTivos. My R15 isn't connected to any receiver capable of 5.1.


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## DesignDawg (Jan 8, 2006)

Also keep in mind that Dolby Digital does not necessarily mean 5.1. There is also Dolby Digital stereo. HBO broadcasts a few shows this way also. So, your DD light may be lit up, but indeed it is not using all 5.1 channels. If your receiver has a display that shows which speakers are in use, you may notice that your DD light (or indicator) is on, but only the L&R speakers are lit up. Or maybe the L, R, & sub, as your sub is probably just getting a mono sum and crossing it over.

Ricky


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## pentium101 (Nov 19, 2005)

The times that I've watched HBO, I've noticed that the sound was not DD5.1 but was in Dolby Pro Logic instead. But with Dolby Pro Logic, the rear channel is sent out in mono instead of discrete channels as in DD5.1.

So the rear speakers should always have some sound coming from them when viewing this type of programming.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

So even thougth Lost on HD has 5.1 the SD channel on the R15 won't give you the 5.1 sound if you use the optical cables? Just wondering.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

I'm at work and can't check, but isn't there an audio setting in setup to turn on Dolby?


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> So even thougth Lost on HD has 5.1 the SD channel on the R15 won't give you the 5.1 sound if you use the optical cables? Just wondering.


No.

Why would it, unless you live in some freaky alternate universe where your SD channels are in DD....About the only SD channels with DD sound are some of the premium movie channels, some of the PPV's, and the occasional freeview....which seems to have become that joke called CDUSA...


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

CCarncross said:


> No.
> 
> Why would it, unless you live in some freaky alternate universe where your SD channels are in DD....About the only SD channels with DD sound are some of the premium movie channels, some of the PPV's, and the occasional freeview....which seems to have become that joke called CDUSA...


Ok, didn't know. I've never hooked up the optical cable from my R15 since the only other free digital input on reciever left is a coax (I have two coax and two optical). So I'm not really missing anything then because I don't have any premium channels and watch anything that in HD on the Tivo box.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> Why would it, unless you live in some freaky alternate universe where your SD channels are in DD....


I must live in some freaky alternative universe  With Time Warner, all of my standard definition digital channels are in Dolby Digital. Most are in DD 2.0, CSPAN 2 and The Weather Channel are in DD 1.0. All SD premiums are in DD, if the movie or program is in 5.1 from the provider (HBO, MAX, SHO, STZ) it will be broadcast in 5.1. Right now only 15 movie channels have a show or series showing that's in DD5.1. Usually it's more but considering what time it is, not many of the Cinemax channels are in 5.1 at the moment


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