Sony HT-X8500 - Virgin V6 - eARC - DD or PCM?

[andyodell]

Will try to make this short.

Have got a new Sony TV, the Virgin V6 box is connected using HDMI then eARC to the Sony HT-X8500 Sound bar.

The sound bar is 2.1ch but has its own virtual surround methods. So should the V6 box be set to DD or PCM. Is PCM just stereo, then defeating the point of the virtual surround. Do any channels on Virgin broadcast in any form of surround. I dont know what is doing the decoding here, the V6 Box, the TV or the Soundbar.

Ive been searching online and a cant really find a clear answer.

Thanks

 

[Clem_Dye]

Set the VM box to DD and try something that is 5.1 and see how you get on. The BBC1HD slot at 18:30 M-F is a good place to start. Personally, I would set it to DD. The 8500 can handle all of the modern codecs, but will munge them to 2.1/whatever. Better to give the box the correct audio stream rather than have it munge 2.1 into pseudo 5.1, at least to my mind. I have an old Sony XT1 soundable, and that works fine feeding multichannel stuff into a 2.1 unit.

 

[andyodell]

Set the VM box to DD and try something that is 5.1 and see how you get on. The BBC1HD slot at 18:30 M-F is a good place to start. Personally, I would set it to DD. The 8500 can handle all of the modern codecs, but will munge them to 2.1/whatever. Better to give the box the correct audio stream rather than have it munge 2.1 into pseudo 5.1, at least to my mind. I have an old Sony XT1 soundable, and that works fine feeding multichannel stuff into a 2.1 unit.

Thanks for this. I’m having some issues with A/V Sync which I’m trying to sort. This might be connected... As the TV has PCM options, plus Dolby compression options I am getting confused for which is best. Is everything trying to decode the audio separately, or would setting the TV and the V6 to PCM help with letting the sound bar do all the work?

 

[Clem_Dye]

PCM = 2.0 audio. Set everything to DD 5.1/5.1+ and see what happens.

 

[andyodell]

PCM = 2.0 audio. Set everything to DD 5.1/5.1+ and see what happens.

The V6 Box was set at DD, there were some sync issues. I have set at PCM now and will see if anything improves. Does this mean that the TV/Soundbar will decode it back into DD?

 

[Clem_Dye]

No. If you feed it a stereo signal you’ll get stereo out or some sort of pseudo surround sound which won’t be like the proper feed.

 

[Morden]

The V6 Box was set at DD, there were some sync issues. I have set at PCM now and will see if anything improves. Does this mean that the TV/Soundbar will decode it back into DD?

Pcm means the virgin box will do the decoding, not the soundbar.

 

[Clem_Dye]

But is that 2-channel PCM or multichannel? IME, PCM for non-eARC capable kit is just 2 channel.

 

[andyodell]

Pcm means the virgin box will do the decoding, not the soundbar.

at which part should the decoding happen? The V6, the TV or the Sound bar.

The TV has options which I’m thinking might be in the middle and messing something up.

 

[andyodell]

But is that 2-channel PCM or multichannel? IME, PCM for non-eARC capable kit is just 2 channel.

Both TV and Sound Bar at eARC if that changes anything?

 

[Clem_Dye]

Yes, they support that, but have you enabled that both the TV and bar? it shouldn't really make much difference, from what I can work out though. If the V6 box outputs bog standard DD5.1 audio, your kit should give you that whether set to ARC or eARC. However, both need to be set the same way, either ARC or eARC.