Help Please - DTS-HD MA doesn't work

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I have been, temporarily, using a Denon AVR-X3100. Plugged into this is a Samsung UBD-M7500 UHD Bluray player and the Denon outputs HDMI to the TV and has 5 speakers and two subwoofers connected.

Playing Series 7 of Supernatural in DTS-HD MA fine.

I reconnected my AVR-X4400 at the weekend. Went to play the blu ray and there is no sound. The AVR display says "Dolby Surround" on it, when you click on INFO it says it is not receiving a sound signal.

I tried some other discs. There was sound from soundtracks in DD5.1 and DTS:X. I also double checked with using the Shield that DD+ was working too.

I checked HDMIs were all secure. I checked blu ray player sound mode was unprocessed bitstream. I tried changing that to AUTO, tried multi channel PCM, then even tried two channel downmixed PCM and still no sound. Which is the very strange bit.

I tried powering everything off (at mains). Then, I swapped the HDMI leads. Still no sound. So powered down again and tried different HDMI input, still no sound.

I did a full reset on the AVR. Tested with no sound (even before I reloaded the Audyssey programme).

So, I got out PS3 down from a spare room. Tried that. Still no sound. The PS3 though has more detailed sound settings, you can select specific formats. So, I changed it so that it does not output DTS-HD MA. And we then had sound. The PS3 output it in normal DTS (still bitstream though).

Anyway any idea what's going on please? Is there something I'm missing in the AVR settings, why on earth would it work fine with normal DTS and with DTS:X but not with DTS-HD MA?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bit strange. You could try a factory firmware reset and then test it before updating the firmware again.

From Standby you hold down the Setup and Dimmer buttons whilst powering up the unit
 
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Thank you, I'll add that to the list. Didn't know you could do that. I might go and have a look at what all the firmware updates do first, just to make sure it doesn't remove anything else I need to do the test.
 
@Jase yes, a very long list of updates, and some stuff I want/need. But nothing that would stop it working. So, thanks, that will be what I try.
 

Resetting factory settings​


If the indicators are incorrect or the unit cannot be operated, restarting the unit may improve the problem. We recommend restarting the unit before returning the settings to the default settings.link
If the operations are not improved by restarting the unit, follow the steps below.
Various settings are reset to the factory default values. Make settings again.
Ope Resetting X64

Turn off the power using
Power Button
.

Press
Power Button
while simultaneously pressing INFO and BACK.

Remove your fingers from the two buttons when “Initialized” appears on the display.


Before returning the settings to the default settings, use the “Save & Load” function from the menu to save and restore the details of various settings configured on the unit.link


back to top

INTEGRATED NETWORK AV RECEIVER
Copyright © 2017 D&M Hold
 

Resetting factory settings​


If the indicators are incorrect or the unit cannot be operated, restarting the unit may improve the problem. We recommend restarting the unit before returning the settings to the default settings.link
If the operations are not improved by restarting the unit, follow the steps below.
Various settings are reset to the factory default values. Make settings again.
Ope Resetting X64

Turn off the power using
Power Button
.

Press
Power Button
while simultaneously pressing INFO and BACK.

Remove your fingers from the two buttons when “Initialized” appears on the display.


Before returning the settings to the default settings, use the “Save & Load” function from the menu to save and restore the details of various settings configured on the unit.link


back to top

INTEGRATED NETWORK AV RECEIVER
Copyright © 2017 D&M Hold

Thanks Gibbsy, I've tried a reset, didn't make any difference.

But I haven't tried reset back to factory (no firmware updates) as suggested by Jase, I didn't know you could do that until today!
 
Thanks Gibbsy, I've tried a reset, didn't make any difference.

But I haven't tried reset back to factory (no firmware updates) as suggested by Jase, I didn't know you could do that until today!
Just went back and had a look at @Jase link. Completely different. Like you I didn't know that one either. Good luck.
 
The problem is that, when you're an AVF member who helps with people's problems, it means you're pretty good at diagnosing stuff yourself 🤣

So, after everything I tried (above) I had the "it's broken, but fingers crossed there's something I haven't thought of"... going on. So, unless there are any more suggestions, all my hopes are with Jase's suggestion at the moment.
 
It's got to be a software problem so taking it back to basic should hopefully work.
 
Just went back and had a look at @Jase link. Completely different. Like you I didn't know that one either. Good luck.

As it says on the Denon Japanese site, when you've done this full full reset, you go to update and it loads one single update in one go to the latest version. I expect this may take a while!

But what is interesting is that this seems like a good protocol to follow. As we all know what firmware updates can be like, it seems likely that an AVR that has done them in ten or more stages is likely to be less stable than a lovely clean wipe back to factory level then do a single update.

I am in fact fascinated with this now, wonder if I do that with my x3100 if it will fix the front display settings issue (not likely) or the wifi not working issue (a bit more likely). 😜
 
The factory firmware reset is quite a handy thing to have in your arsenal if an AVR throws a wobbler. Usually no harm done with a nice clean fresh install either.

What becomes fun is if something still doesn't work on the factory firmware. Hopefully that won't be the case for you @Dobbyisfree and it sorts it out.
 
The factory firmware reset is quite a handy thing to have in your arsenal if an AVR throws a wobbler. Usually no harm done with a nice clean fresh install either.

What becomes fun is if something still doesn't work on the factory firmware. Hopefully that won't be the case for you @Dobbyisfree and it sorts it out.

Well, the Denon AVR1910 in our spare room decodes and works with DTS-HD MA, it would be a bit gutting for whoever bought this x4400 in 2018 new (that wasn't me) if it didn't work :)

Thing is, when I had it connected before, I didn't have any DTS-HD MA sources. But this has got to be an error, as it's even stranger that it still decodes DTS:X.
 
Well, the Denon AVR1910 in our spare room decodes and works with DTS-HD MA, it would be a bit gutting for whoever bought this x4400 in 2018 new (that wasn't me) if it didn't work :)

Thing is, when I had it connected before, I didn't have any DTS-HD MA sources. But this has got to be an error, as it's even stranger that it still decodes DTS:X.

It's definitely an odd one. If the DTS decoding was borked you'd expect none of it to work.
 
If still getting audio in association with content inclusive of DTS:X then the player must still be bitstreaming DTS-HD MA to the AV receiver? This is how the DTS:X metadata would be packaged and delivered to the AV receiver. The metadata by itself has no audio data. The audio information/data is packaged in the DTS-HD MA element of the package.

Does the receiver not indicate that the DTS:X metadata is delivered with DTS-HD MA within the AV receiver's audio information menu?

The strange thing about Denon and Marantz firmware updates is that they seem to include a dedicated DTS element to them. Maybe something has gone amiss with this part of the update?
 
If still getting audio in association with content inclusive of DTS:X then the player must still be bitstreaming DTS-HD MA to the AV receiver? This is how the DTS:X metadata would be packaged and delivered to the AV receiver. The metadata by itself has no audio data. The audio information/data is packaged in the DTS-HD MA element of the package.

Does the receiver not indicate that the DTS:X metadata is delivered with DTS-HD MA within the AV receiver's audio information menu?

The strange thing about Denon and Marantz firmware updates is that they seem to include a dedicated DTS element to them. Maybe something has gone amiss with this part of the update?

Yeah, I know, that's why it is very weird! I put the Bad Boys 3 disc in expecting DTS:X to also not work.

I didn't check the Setup-General-INFORMATION menu when the DTS:X blu ray was in. The normal INFO button just says DTS:X, like on the front display.

Hoping a full reset will fix it 🤞
 
It's definitely an odd one. If the DTS decoding was borked you'd expect none of it to work.

Jase, and lot of others who like helping. I've found the following table if anyone wants to do a FACTORY RESET (i.e. including firmware, unlike the USER RESET) - and this shows it for older models.

Used with the link you shared, I believe that covers all AVR-X models.

 
I found the following:

Seems that this isn't unheard of and has effected Denon AV receivers in the past.

Thank you, yes I saw that link yesterday. Hence, hoped the normal (user) reset would work.

I think it's quite funny, my temporary fix with the PS3, good old PS3. Think how old it is, what an awesome piece of kit they are - it has a huge list of sound formats you can switch on or off. It's normally in our spare room, only last week someone stayed over and it flawlessly played Netflix :)
 
Jase, and lot of others who like helping. I've found the following table if anyone wants to do a FACTORY RESET (i.e. including firmware, unlike the USER RESET) - and this shows it for older models.

Used with the link you shared, I believe that covers all AVR-X models.


Further to this - super handy piece of info alert!

Just connected up the x3100 to power and ethernet.

This poor old AVR, the front display dimmer button (and settings) would go "OFF-VERY DIM-DIM-DIM" instead of "OFF-DIM-MEDIUM-BRIGHT". Also, it would not connect to wi-fi.

I have just run the factory reset. Immediately front display back to bright again and dimmer function working. Then, did firmware updates on ethernet connection (which surprisingly didn't take that long). Powered it off, unplugged ethernet, power it back on. And it connects to wi-fi.

So, erm, thanks @Jase makes me wonder how many other little faults are all over the place on AVF's Denons that can be fixed :)
 
So, for some reason the factory reset for the x4400 took about 40 minutes.

And DTS-HD still doesn't work.

And, it's doing some funny crackly things with the picture only on CBL/SAT input now too.

(Again, tried swapping round HDMI leads made no difference).

It's starting to look bad now.

The only one thing to try, which is extremely unlikely to fix this, is to reinstall all of the firmware updates. Once that is done, it will be the final day to decide what I'm doing.

Of course, the crackles with CBL/SAT could be a Humax fault, as it also does it on other HDMI inputs - but weird for that to start now.

Once firmware updates done, I'll swap the AVR again this weekend and see what happens.

This, and my history with the x3100 are really turning me off AVR-X models!
 
The reason my main system shows as different is because I took the x4400 upstairs.

Plugged into spare speakers and subwoofer.

Did full factory reset again, no luck. Installed all firmware updates, no luck.

AVR in the lounge now works in DTS-HD with either BR player. And has no picture issues.

Thanks @gibbsy @Jase and @dante01 for your help.
 
And has no picture issues.

They may have read wrong. There is the issue that it is limited to 1080 vertical lines :) but as it's manual is written with a feather quill I'll let it off!
 

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