"Decoder settings when watching movies" Topic

I have an OC issue. But now (somebody who knows this stuff, correct me if I'm mistaken) I've decided that what I assumed was correct behavior out of my Yamaha RX-V379 receiver was in fact the aberration.

Before, sometime ago, I know that I could go to "Options" and "DSP/Surround", and in between "5ch Stereo" and "Straight", I would have the option of "Sur. Decode": which included Dolby Logic, PL II Movie, Music, or Game; and Neo. 6 Music or Cinema.

Then unaccountably, when playing DVDs, the "Sur. Decode" options disappeared between "5ch Stereo" and "Straight". Below, where the above six decoders had appeared before, all I see is "--".

WTH happened to my options?

I fumed, ranted and nearly threw a fit. My system wasn't WORKING! And if there is one thing I hate about the universe, it's when things don't work.

But after researching this a bit online (accompanied by my Yamaha manual of 77 freaking pages), I've come to the conclusion that the receiver automatically bypasses the manual selection of Dolby/DTS options and simply defaults to "Straight" or "Standard". (I am still unclear what the practical difference between these two decoders is, other than Straight bypassing the remote speakers; why would anyone want to ever cut out their remote speakers? I.e. why would that ever be an option anyone would want to use?)

To manually select one of the "Sur. Decode" options would be redundant, because the DVD audio encoding signals the receiver with its type, and when that is already five channel stereo, no further fiddling is needed: Straight or Standard sends all the sounds to the proper channels to break it up for full stereophonic effect. A two channel encoding (such as Dolby) doesn't require further separation and sending to the five channels, because Standard is already doing this.

So I shouldn't view the "loss" of my "Sur. Decode" options as a failure in my receiver. Rather, it is normal, efficient behavior. Any previous display of "Sur. Decode" options was the oddball behavior (and not a problem per se, but decidedly redundant).

Am I understanding this right?

Some of us don't even understand your question.

Dave

I bet! Neither did I, until a couple of days ago, and I've had the Yamaha receiver almost two years!

Yesterday, I tried switching between "Standard" and "Straight" while watching a movie, and I could not tell any difference. But different discs might change that. What seems to be happening is that "Straight" is the default upon which all other DSP modes are built, or added or layered. "Standard" is the most ubiquitous of these layered-on modes. I guess………..