Receiver LCD displaying number of speakers

Balfa

I just got a Yamaha HTR-5930 receiver and I have a question.

I always thought that the little speaker icons on the unit's LCD are telling me which speakers are in currently outputting sound: that all speakers would be lit whether it's digital, pro logic or just forced stereo output from 5 speakers. that only front L & R would be lit if it was a stereo analogue source without Pro Logic or if it was just a 2.1 digital source (old movie on DVD, for example).

However, from my experience with this unit, it seems as though the speakers only light depending on which discrete channels it's getting. So for a digital 5.1 DVD source, all speakers are lit, but if it's just two channel analogue, even if it's decoding pro logic surround from it, it only lights the two speakers on the LCD.

Can someone confirm for me that what I'm experiencing now is actually the norm?

Also, my old crappy amp used to have an AUTO option for its Pro Logic II decoder, where it could tell if the signal contained DPLII info and switch on its decoder as necessary, but this one doesn't seem to have such a feature.

Is it likely that there's an auto option that I'm just not aware of? And is there any way for me to tell if a signal contains Pro Logic II besides just listening? Like, some Gamecube and PS2 allow you to switch between mono, stereo and DPLII in the options screen, but if there's no such option, how can I be sure I'm getting surround?

Idleater

Without being smart, I would read up in the manual what the display shows, and how the decoding functions work.

I have an external decoder that lights up the speakers that are being decoded - for 5.1 there is all 6, stereo it is 3 and prologic it has 6 I think.

Does it really matter which lights are on anyway?

L.

pH

Balfa wrote:

how can I be sure I'm getting surround?

Your ears!

On a more serious note, my yamaha RX750 behaves the same way, the speaker squares on the display only light for DD or DTS and not for pro-logic.

I just leave mine set to PLIIx Movie, if it finds Pro Logic it uses it, otherwise it's straight stereo - if it finds DD or DTS then it switches to them.

Balfa

pH wrote:

Your ears!

Heheh, yeah, I know. In Resident Evil 4 for Gamecube, I can specifically hear the rain in all speakers and most other stuff just from the front, so I know that's how it's intended. I'm just paranoid that, being a surround newbie, I won't be able to tell for sure if certain sounds are meant to be there or if it's just piping random sounds that match the DPLII matrix through the rear speakers

nereid, I wouldn't have posted here if I hadn't thoroughly read the manual and checked their website. I suppose in the end it doesn't matter much which lights are showing. I just want to be sure I know how my system works, inside and out, so that I can get the best enjoyment from it and quickly diagnose anything that's not right, y'know?

theslick

This is normal - those lights on the yamaha are the input channels. The prologic sorround is somehow encoded onto L/R channels and the decoder is able to extract it.

http://www.dolby.com/professional/pro_audio_engineering/solutions_surround.html

Donno howto tell if a source is prologic or just stereo - except looking at the back of the dvd box.