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Help with Sony STRDE595 settings for surround sound

MrRedPants
11-03-2009, 08:42 PM
I have a Sony STRDE595 with 5 speakers and a subwoofer (1 center, 2 front, 2 rear and subwoofer)
Audio coming from Verizon FIOS motorolla STB via fiber optic cable.

According to the manual, I have these options:
1. The Auto Format Direct (AFD) button which can toggle between

* AFD Auto (decoded 'as ecoded'),
* DOLBY PL (dolby pro logic)
* and PLII MOV or PLII MUS (Dolby Pro Logic II).

The other options (buttons) I have are MOVIE and MUSIC:

2. Movie toggles between Cinema Studio EX

C.ST.EX A - for any movie
C.ST.EX B - for science fiction, action movies with lots of sound effects
C.ST.EX C - for musical type movies.

3. Music toggles between hall, jazz, concert - I have little use for this feature

(that summary was for me or anyone else with same setup and similar questions)

I have had it on AFD Auto which is not accomplishing what I want (#1 above)

I find that the audio is either in Dolby Digital 2/0 (this is what scrolls accross screen) and comes out of Front L, R and subwoofer OR Dolby Digital 3/2.1 and is in full surround (blue light lights on center of receiver, get sound out of all speakers. I also note LFE is lit (low frequency effect)). It is more often the former than the latter, which is the problem. With TV shows, if it's coming as Dolby Digital 2/0, then I have no center channel. If I toggle it to Dolby PL (I get L,C,R and sub) or PLIIMOV or PLII MUS (I get all 5 speakers).

I also listen to the music stations on the STB and it comes out in Dolby Digital 2/0 (L, R and sub) - I want it to just be coming out of all 4 speakers (and sub if possible) equally when I'm listening to music. Do I want PLII MUS?

What I want is one setting that will do what I want without having to change the setting on the reciever every time I change the channel. I can accept chaning it to PLII MUS when I'm listening to music. But, when I'm scrolling through channels, changing from AFD Auto to something else every time is a pain. When it says Dolby Digital 2/0 - what setting would that correlate to in the list above? If I were to change it manually. If I do have to change it manually, do I choose the Dolby PL, PLII MUS or MOV or do I go to the C.ST.EX options?

I'm glad these recievers have so many options, but it makes it more confusing. I want to have the best sound I can, but mostly I want the center channel to have dialog when I'm watching TV.

Hopefully I've posed that question clear enough. I know this comes up often but I couldn't find a post that has these specifics.

Thanks in advance!

HiDefRev
11-03-2009, 11:14 PM
IMHO, you should just use Dolby PLII Movie for all of your TV viewing, and Dolby PLII Music for music. These two settings will give you the least problems and will provide you with at least some semblance of 5.1 sound. :2cents