Hi,
I am completely new to DVDs - have not bought one yet but on the verge of buying a Pioneer DV-350 (although this is possibly not significant to my questions). I am however 'old' to Hi-Fi stereo systems and want to utilise my existing hi-fi system for the DVD sound output rather than spending additional money on a new amplifier compatible with Dolby 5.1 etc. I am a bit lost on some of the technical issues at the moment and found this site today, and i would really appreciate if anyone can give me a guiding hand just to get me over the initial hurdles, which are the following questions -

1) if I buy a DVD movie in say France, but it shows that it also has English language in Dolby 5.1, does that mean I can only get English if I output the sound to a 5.1 amplifier, or can I also get English if I output to a standard stereo hi-fi amplifier ? Basically I don't understand the significance of 6-channel sound to 2-channel sound in relation to language selection and I am fearing that the extra language is on the extra sound channel, which if I only have 2-channel amplifier then I can't get English....or is the 6-channel sound compressed to 2 channel sound and the language is a seperate matter? (Hope this makes sense).

2) If RGB output is available via SCART, then is a special SCART RGB cable needed or are all DVD scart cables support RGB by default ?

Many thanks in anticipation.

[Reiner]

1. It is correct that the languages are seperated by soundtrack. However all players can provide a downmix from 6 to 2 channels, thus it remains compatible with stereo systems or existing TVs.
If the DVD features a PCM track (stereo or DPL) in your preferred language I recommend using that as it will sound better than a downmix.

2. Yes, you need a fully wired SCART cable to support RGB. The cheap ones usually don't.

[karkus30]

One last thought, if money is tight then what you are doing is OK.

But if you can spare between 350 to 400 pounds, you can buy a full 5.1 system. You dont need to spend loads to get the benefits of a DVD player, but you will be missing out if you stick to 2 channel sound, it does make a big difference to the overall effect.

Something like a Yamaha HIB 40 system comes complete with all speakers ( tiny ), brackets, cable, powered sub woofer and dolby digital ( remote control ) amp. Stressing the remote control, cos wandering around in a darkened room turning amp up and down is a pain.

Happy viewing.

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. I think I understand what is needed now, but what did confuse me today was seeing on the techtronics site a Technics 420 advertised that specifically mentioned multi-language capability, and lesser models such as 220 and also the Pioneer do not have that. So what confuses me is the suggestion that if you do not have a player that states multi-language selection in its specs, I might not be able to hear English on a 'foreign' DVD film that has English as an extra language ??? Can anyone try and explin this 'twist' please ? Thanks.

[Jase]

The dvd player will play whatever track or tracks that are on the disc. You just select the relevant track, Dolby 5.1 in English, French, Spanish etc etc.

The multi language selection probably refers to the players onscreen menus, some may give you the choice.

Thanks Jase for the clarification.