Philips 32" and Sony DVD - probs with virtual surround sound

TheDuke

Hi guys,

I have just purchased a Philips 32" 100Hrz Wide screen TV (32PW8807/12) and it is hooked to a Sony DVD (DVP-NS305).

I am a novice in this area as I hove only recently got interested in the whole home entertainment system thingy (as with two kids all I ever get to see in the cinema is “1 millionth and bloody one Dalmatians” – all the other parents out there will understand) rolleyes: .

Anyhow, both systems have their own "intelligence". I have managed to optimise the picture to the point where it is just breath taking, not quite sure how - but I tweaked (between DVD and TV) until it was there (watched Blade II last night - WOW!:eek: ).

However, I am finding it difficult with the sound. When starting a movie I select Dolby 5.1 Surround (I think that is the sequence). Both DVD and TV support virtual surround sound - if I activate it on both it sounds like cats in a barrel :. So, turned off all on the TV and then only used the DVDs features and it just about ok, then I turned all of the DVDs Surround Sound features off and used the TVs options, which was allot better but I still felt that there was something missing, i.e. did the DVD pass all the relevant sound related information on to the TV to produce the surround sound? – Now, maybe I am just expecting too much from the virtual surround, but I thought that at some point I am supposed to hear stuff beside me. Or is there a known issue when hooking two different systems together (i.e. a Sony to a Philips)?

Anyhow, I am puzzled and would greatly appreciate and help, advice, etc. I can get.

Thanks in advance,

The Duke : ))

TheDuke

I've done some further research on the specs (but still confused).

The DVD audio output is DTS, the TVs is Dolby virtual Surround. Is this the offset?

Also, I now know what Dolby Digital 5.1 means now and I certainly do not have the five speakers (www.dolby.com answered a lot).

Still need help though

The Duke : ))

TheDuke

another brilliant site where you can find product information as well as being incredibly informative is www.comet.co.uk.

The Duke : ))

TheDuke

I spent a full night getting up to speed with dolby surround and still do not have an answer. The Sony booklet for the DVD is quite good and I set up everything as is should be - i.e. Dolby sound output to digital coax, etc.

The user manual for the Philips TV is rubish and their site is no better. The TV has 3 scat and two analog left/righ sockets but no digital coax (which is, following all my research) is where the singal must go so that the TV (which has the Virtual Dolby Surround logo) can process the Dolby singal (that's correct, isn't it?)

Following extensive research on the Dolby site virtual Dolby Surround is supposed to give you 5.1 but with no more than two speakers.

Maybe I've done everything correct to date but the quality from the Philips system is just not that great... ??!?!?!

Please reply... someone.... so I don't think I am going mad talking to myself

The Duke : ))

Kali

The Philips TV won't be able to playback any Dolby signal (for that you'll most likely need an additional home cinema receiver or one of theose cheap 5-speaker packages)... your best bet is to set the DVD to stereo and then enable the Virtual Surround on the TV (with most TVs its only a type of psuedo-surround, creating a wider field from a 2-channel source)

Kali

that should read "wont playback any Dolby digital signal".

TheDuke

thanks for the reply Kali.... stopped me from loosing it

Following another night of education I thought so too...

Thanks for the confirmation. I have one question though, why is it that Philips are aloud to sell the TV as Virtual Dolby Surround (got a sticker on the front) when it is not the same as explained on the Dolby site (or did they just hope no one would ever look there ).

The Duke : ))

Kali

Thanks for the confirmation. I have one question though, why is it that Philips are aloud to sell the TV as Virtual Dolby Surround (got a sticker on the front) when it is not the same as explained on the Dolby site (or did they just hope no one would ever look there ).

Well it is actually a Dolby technology, its listed at the bottom of this page:
http://www.dolby.com/company/is.ot.0011.TechOverview.05.html
You might have been confusing it with Dolby Surround or Dolby Digital Surround (both quite different).. either way its there

TheDuke

Thanks again. Checked that out and I think I know where I went wrong although the naming is very very confusing....

The Duke : ))