Help with Panasonic cinema system

[geordie33]

I am hopeless with technology and have recently obtained a panasonic viera tv and a home cinema system
I have linked HDMI from tv and sky to cinema and optical from both as well
When I select optical on sky box I get silence-set to normal I get sound but presumably not Dolby D
Also the cinema remote only partially works-eg I cannot get a response to buttons such as surround
Any advice much appreciated

 

[davepuma]

Ensure your sky box is set to DOLBY D in the sound settings menu under Optical output (sky+) or under Digital Audio Output (sky+HD). At least I think that is right, I haven't checked the EPG/Services menu on an old sky box in a while.

You will have to be more specific. What home cinema system is it? Makes and model numbers should help.

When you say you're not getting a response from certain buttons, with some of the sound mode buttons, you might not get a response depending on the mode the system is in. When you confirm the make/model, we can check. Links to online manuals are also useful if you can find them.

 

[geordie33]

It is a panasonic bt735eb linked to amstrad sky hd and panny viera by both optical and hdmi leads
The Sky is set to dolby d and is connected to d-in2-no sound comes out
I wonder if this input has to be enabled?
The problem is that I seem unable to access menu functions although other things on the remote do work
Have tried restoring presets etc but no good
Thanks in anticipation

 

[Broadz]

Run HDMI from Sky box directly to the TV - connect Sky box to home cinema using optical only.

If you then select the optical input as source on the home cinema, and can hear the Sky box audio output (whether stereo or Dolby D) then the problem was caused by having both HDMI and optical feeding home cinema - and you wanting video to come from one source (HDMI) whereas audio was to come from another (optical).

 

[geordie33]

On checking it looks like I have mis informed you
There is an hdmi lead from sky to tv and an optical lead from sky yo d-in2 on the cinema box
When selecting a film on sky there is no sound coming through which I assume means d-in2 is not receiving it
The cinema box will not let me access any menu functions to see if there are settings that I can change
Ironically I replaced an older panny cinema box which worked perfectly via optical on sky

 

[Broadz]

When I select optical on sky box I get silence-set to normal I get sound but presumably not Dolby D

What does this mean? Where are you finding an option on the Sky box to swap between Optical and Normal?

The options you should be looking for are "Dolby D" and "Stereo". If on Dolby D you don't get any audio through the home cinema, but on stereo you do, then it is your home cinema system that needs tweaking to make it understand digital audio input as well as PCM stereo. Or returning to the shop you bought it from.

 

[geordie33]

Again you are correct about what the settings are on sky
I cannot find any way of accessing the menu on the box to change settings
Will cost a fortune to send it back to Amazons company

Thanks again

 

[davepuma]

The Sky box should be set to DOLBY D, so leave it if it is.

Please confirm there is a light emitting from the Sky box? Have you tried swapping the optical cables? Does TV tuner audio work okay on D-IN1? Have you tried D-IN1 with the Sky box?

I see you can change remote control codes on the remote for some strange reason. See page 22 of your manual. Also check that the remote is not in TV mode i.e. press the AV button to control the home cinema system.

You need to press SOUND to switch between modes. When you do, I would leave it on STANDARD.

 

[geordie33]

I found a setting not described in the manual.There were 3 settings (I think the first was PCM or something similar) and these were set by default to "on"In desperation I switched them to "off" and hey presto d-in2 was recognised.I then took your advice and switched sky to d-in1 and immediately got a dolby digital banner on the cinema system.The tv uses input 2 and viera link appears to switch to the sound system automatically if you turn the cinema on thus shutting down the tv speakers
I am posting this both to thank all for the advice and hopefully to help others.Panasonic could do with working on their manuals I think!