# 721 and Dolby Digital 5.1



## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Hi there!

As some may already know, I am a new proud owner of a 721 receiver. So far it has been VERY nice. But I have a question...

Is there a problem with the 721 and Dolby Digital 5.1? I *thing* I got a 5.1 feed off of it once, but I couldn't get it to light up my receiver today. I have the DD setting on the receiver on PCM/DD and I also tried DD Only, but there was no change.

I checked the optical cable from the 721 to the DD Receiver and it is passing good signal.

Is there some quirk or setting I may be forgetting?

Does it have a similar bug to the old 7200 Dishplayer that if it is recording something and you are playing back a different DD recording or watching a live DD program that it does not put out the DD 5.1 signal? (I was recording a few things tonight)

Any ideas out there?

See ya
Tony


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

As you [rpbably know, not all programming is DD5.1, despite E and the 721 being DD5.1 capable.
Are you sure the prgrams were DD5.1?


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Yes, the programs I was looking at were definitely advertised 5.1 programs by Showtime, HBO and Starz.

See ya
Tony


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

Just be careful about this; just because the channel itself advertises that a program is available in Dolby Digital doesn't mean that Dish is carrying the Dolby Digital audio feed for this channel. An example is Cinemax; Dish doesn't provide the Dolby Digital feeds for any of the Cinemax channels. Similarly, only some sub-set of the other premium channels have Dolby Digital support, not all of them.


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## johnfmc345 (Jul 17, 2004)

I'll be getting my 721 any day now and hooking it up to Dolby Digital receiver. I currently have the AT 120 package and no premium channels. Does E* provide any DD5.1 feeds in the AT 120?


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

I know they do for sure on HBO.


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

Here are the only channels with Dolby Digital, according to the current Echostar Knowledge Base channel list:

HBO East (300)
HBO West (303)
Showtime East (318)
Showtime West (319)
Starz East (350)
Starz West (351)
PPV Channels: 502, 503, 506, 510, 511, 512, 516, 517, 521, 523.
HD Channels (all)

Hence, if you are using a 721 with only the America's Top 120 package, and no additional premium channel packages, none of your channels will be using Dolby Digital audio (unless you order PPV). Instead, they will all be using standard stereo MPEG audio.


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## kmcnamara (Jan 30, 2004)

Several of the PPV channels also have DD5.1


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## Jordan420 (Nov 11, 2003)

I usually find out by reading the FULL info of the show, at the very end of the description it will usually say stereo, but will say (DD) if the show has a 5.1 feed.

Jordan


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Only thing in Top120 that has DD5.1 is, as previously mentioned, some of the PPV. However, it is MY experiance that using the PCM mode provides better audio and Dolby ProLogic than using the analog jacks, so you should still get some improvement. YMMV.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Thanks for all the info guys...

Let me put it this way: I KNOW the programs I was playing back had Dolby digital 5.1. I know that my receiver did not see the 5.1 signal. I know that the optical TOS Link cable is working and that this is the signal my receiver is seeing. I know the channel HBO, Showtime and Starz were passing the 5.1 signal.

The question is: Is there any little fluke or setting that the 721 has that prevents the 5.1 signal from being passed down? I checked the DD setting on the 721 and tried PCM Only, PCM-DD and DD Only. There was absolutey no change in the sound.

Thanks again.

See ya
Tony


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## Jordan420 (Nov 11, 2003)

TNGTony said:


> The question is: Is there any little fluke or setting that the 721 has that prevents the 5.1 signal from being passed down? I checked the DD setting on the 721 and tried PCM Only, PCM-DD and DD Only. There was absolutey no change in the sound.


There is no strange setting-set it for PCM/DD if there is a DD signal the 721 will default to that. I would check the settings on your receiver.

Jordan


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

The settings on my receiver are in the Menu "Set-Up" -- "Dolby Digital" -- "PCM/DD"

What other settings do I check? That is the question.

If I have it set to "DD Only" I get silence on DD channels (HBO, Showtime and Starz)

Yesterday I checked again. I tuned to HBO, Showtime and Starz (300/303, 318/319, 350/351) when they were playing 5.1 programs. I know they were 5.1 programs because before the event the channel put up the 5.1 emblem and Starz even had one of the DD Trailers before the movie. None came through DD, only PCM. I checked the receiver by removing the optical connection. I heard the receiver default back to the analog connection. When I plugged in the DVD connection, the unit lit up with a 5.1 soundtrack of the DVD I had in.

So... Is it time to :::::shudder:::: call tech support?

thanks all.

See ya
Tony


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

Does your audio receiver show DD5.1 when you use a different Dish receiver on the same input?


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Sounds like a problem with your 721 on DD / PCM, Tony - sympathies at having to call Tech Support


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Gary,

I thought the same thing...that the receiver input might be bad. So I just fed it my DVD's TOS Link. The DD Worked fine. So it narrows it down to the 721.

Looks like a call to Tech Support is in order. These guys are generally pretty good once you get passed the level 1 ("is it plugged in") people.

See ya
Tony


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## Unthinkable (Sep 13, 2002)

TNGTony said:


> Gary,
> 
> I thought the same thing...that the receiver input might be bad. So I just fed it my DVD's TOS Link. The DD Worked fine. So it narrows it down to the 721.
> 
> ...


As someone else posted above, I'd be wary of trusting that all these movies are truly being broadcasted in 5.1 even when you see the trailer before the movie and a DD 5.1 listed in the info screen. This doesn't guarantee that someone at Dish is really passing through the full audio treatment the way its advertised to be. When I had HBO and Showtime, I noticed the primetime treatment on both networks usually was truly DD 5.1 from 8pm EST - midnight while later rebroadcasts of the same movies on both networks often weren't even if the guide info said otherwise. Oftentimes, it seemed like a 2-3 hour window where only the most popular, newer release movies were true DD 5.1 and it seemed to frequently be just one or two a night at that from each provider. Maybe things have changed since then though. I haven't had either one for over a year now. Your best bet imo is to tune to the first three minutes of an advertised DD 5.1 PPV movie where you get to watch it free and see what you get on there. If your receiver plays that perfectly fine then chances are probably pretty good that you're just noticing bandwidth constraints preventing Dish from passing more movies in DD 5.1 on the premium movie channels.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Thanks again...once and for all....

THE EVENT RECORDED AND THE EVENTS I LATER TUNED TO ON THE 721 WERE DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 PROGRAMS AND MOVIES....
...ON CHANNELS THAT PASSED THROUGH DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1
...BY DISH...
...TO A RECEIVER THAT HAS DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1...
...AND IT WORKS FINE...
...VIA A TOS LINK THAT CARRIES DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 SIGNAL...
...THAT ALSO WORKS FINE...
...USING PROGRAMS KNOWN TO BE DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 ("Dead Like Me", played live and recorded from channel 318. "Six Feet Under" recorded and played live from channel 300 and the movie "Second Hand Lions" recorded and played back from channels 350 and 351 (I like this movie)

Tests done to eleminate everything above....
Events recoded on the 721 that did not come through DD 5.1 were also recorded on an old 7200, hooked up via the exact same TOS Link cable, on the same receiver, on the same day, with the starz aligned correctly, and a shamen performing a chant....it produced a dolby digital 5.1 signal on said equipment. Switch back to the 721 (by physically removing the TOS Link cable from the 7200 to the 721...no Dolby digital signal.

Again the 721 unit is set to "PCM/DD". When set to DD Only, I get silence! Pure, clean, hiss-less, digital silence. Nothing but zeros.

So...I'll ask one last time, *is there some sort of hidden setting or reset to get DD working?*

I keep puonding the question here because I know when I call tech support I'll have the same reaction from people on the other end of the phone and have to hear all sorts of variables on other equipment that is working fine and other scenarios that I realize will not get me DD 5.1. The last thing they will want to admit is that the 721 may have a problem that is software related or worse yet, that there is a defect in my particular unit. And, unlike here, I will have to deal with the deafening silence of a poor schmuck on the other side of the phone while he busily runs though the computer scripts to find, nothing and I will once again have to hear, "Gee, sir...I've never heard of this problem before. Try turning off your receiver overnight and that will fix it." (Hidden quote..."when you call back tomorrow, be sure to call after 7 pm because that's when I get off work.")



Thanks for all the responses.

Oh, and BTW, it's irksome, but not a huge problem! Though the 5.1 sound is fantastinc, the PCM is fine too. So I don't want to have my receiver replaced with a different unit that may have more serious problems. That is another reason why I hesitate to call Tech Support!

See ya
Tony


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

I wanted to report that I stumbled on the answer to my problem with the Dolby Digital sound track not wanting to work...

As I mentioned in my first post, I was pretty sure that DD5.1 was working fine through the 721 and my audio system just fine at first. Then it stopped working for some reason. I still got PCM and I knew the audio cable was fine.

I had also noticed in the last two days that the Olympic Showcase channel (the one with the 6 screens, very cool, worked fine, but when I selected any of the channels to watch full screen, the sound would stop working.

Both had a common source! "Alternate Audio" / Language setting....

What I had done was change the "Language" setting ("Alternate Audio" on most receivers) to Japanese. I did this because I sometimes like to watch the free TV Japan programs every now and again. Not knowing any Japanese I know that some programs have an alternate audio program in English when "Japanese" is set as the "alternate audio"/"language". I do this with all my other receivers and leave it on "japanese" because they all properly default back to the main audio track if there is no SAP on the Japanese "channel". The Dishplayer 7200 worked fine set this way for years!

It seems that the 721 didn't like it. It will not look for DD audio signal while there is a language other than "english" selected no matter what. Again, all other receivers I know of default to the main track DD or PCM if the alternate is not present. The 721 wont.

I ran into this just by accident today while trying to figure out why I wasn't getting any sound when I selected any of the 6 "olympic" pictures to go full screen. I selected "English" as the language and it worked for the Showcase channels. Since there weren't any real events going on, I just started to surf and paused on HBO (300) for a moment. SHAZAM! the receiver lit up like a christmas tree and I was getting glorious 5.1 DD surround!

So the problem is fixed (or at least I know of a usable workaround--the receiver still has an "undocumented feature" )

And just another little tid-bit...anyone notice that the 721 does not have an "Alternate/Other", alternate audio channel like all the other receivers I own? (4000, 1000, 7200) This is where TCM, TBS, Lifetime, USA and other channels have their Descriptive Audio Service or special aiudio programming.

I'll poke around...but does anyone know where the DVS soundtrack might be hiding on the 721?

See ya
Tony


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Oh...and another little anomaly with the "showcase channel". If you go to the showcase channel (100) directly from a channel that has Dolby Digital, there will be no audio on the Showcase Channel. Quit out of the showcase channel, change the 721's channel to anything with no DD audio track, then select 100...the sound works.

See ya
Tony


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

I just ran a quick test on this with my 921 and could NOT create the failure.

I really expected it to show up considering the similarities of the 721 & 921.

I am running Line Mode, DD/PCM and tried it with both a DD 2/0 and a DD 3/2.1 show.


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## SteveinDanville (Jun 26, 2002)

Slordak said:


> Here are the only channels with Dolby Digital, according to the current Echostar Knowledge Base channel list:
> 
> HBO East (300)
> HBO West (303)
> ...


I have never gotten a DD 5.1 feed through my Yamaha receiver on HBO West; that's why I always record and/or watch off HBO East, because when it advertises 5.1, it IS 5.1. Don't watch enough Showtime or Starz to know what the East/West differentiation might be, but HBO West definitely does not come across in DD 5.1, only the Eastern feed.


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## SDiego (May 19, 2003)

I have the 721 and a yamaha reciever, and I get 5.1 on all the channels advertising DD. But sometimes too, I have noticed alot
that It will say in the info screen that it's DD, but only comes out stereo. Maybe its only DD 2.0 and not 5.1. who knows. Its not consistent.
Ron


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

HBO East and West (300 & 303 and I do get it in DD with my Yamaha DD receiver)
Showtime East and West (318 & 319)
Starz east and west (350 & 351)
and many PPV channels are the ONLY non HD channels on Dish that transmit Dolby Digital.

Channels like Encore and a few other offer Dolby Digital, but Dish does not carry the DD signal.

See ya
Tony


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## SDiego (May 19, 2003)

That is true, but my gripe is when say channel 350 for example says in the info that it's DD but when the movie starts it's not.


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## Tony Trent (Nov 28, 2002)

TNG-Tony, there is a problem with Dolby Digital according to Dish Tech Support. As of August 20 at 11:30 PM Pacific time they admitted they are not currently transmitting Dolby Digital on ANY channels except the HDTV channels. They won't say what the problem is and won't say when they will be transmitting again. Bummer! The Sirius Satellite Radio channels were Dolby Digital 5.1 channel until a few days ago. Now they are PCM Syereo CRAP only. Not worth listening to anymore. I have a 6000 HD receiver, a 721 receiver, and a 7100. The only DD I get now is the 5 or so HD channels. I get silence from DD on all other channels all receivers. I had to put all my receivers in the PCM/DD mode to get any sound. I was actually listening to Sirius Radio in 5.1 channel when it suddenly went to stereo a few days ago. I have called several times and they still aren't talking about what the problem is, except they admit they are NOT transmitting DD on non-HDTV channels. Anyone else have any more info??


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## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

This morning I am getting DD on HBO E/W SHO E/W and Starz E/W. I do not remember the sirius channels ever being in DD.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

IMHO, further discussion of the DD issues (if any) should be contained to the thread Tony started for that purpose: [thread=31810]Dolby Digital Gone![/thread]


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