Harman-Kardon AVR 135 - Manual (Page 28)

28 OPERATION
Operation
Surround Mode Types
For Dolby Digital and DTS sources, a three digit
indication will appear, showing the number of
channels present in the data. An example of this
type of display is 3/2/.1.
The first number indicates how many discrete
front channel signals are present.
• A 3 tells you that separate front left, center and
front right signals are available. This will be dis-
played for Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 pro-
grams.
• A 2 tells you that separate front left and right
signals are available, but there is no discrete
center channel signal. This will be displayed for
Dolby Digital bit streams that have stereo pro-
gram material.
• A 1 tells you that there is only a mono channel
available in the Dolby Digital bitstream.
The middle number indicates how many discrete
surround channel signals are present.
• A 2 tells you that separate surround left and
right signals are available. This will be displayed
for Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 programs.
• A 1 tells you that there is only a single, sur-
round encoded surround channel. This will
appear for Dolby Digital bit streams that have
matrix encoding.
• A 0 indicates that there is no surround channel
information. This will be displayed for two-
channel stereo programs.
The last number indicates if there is a discrete
Low Frequency Effects (LFE) channel. This is the
“.1” in the common abbreviation of “5.1” sound
and it is a special channel that contains only bass
frequencies.
• A .1 tells you that an LFE channel is present.
This will be displayed for Dolby Digital 5.1 and
DTS 5.1 programs, as available.
• A 0 indicates that there is no LFE channel infor-
mation available. However, even when there is
no dedicated LFE channel, low frequency sound
will be present at the subwoofer output when
the speaker configuration is set to show the
presence of subwoofer.
• The information in the right side of the display
will tell you if the digital audio data contains a
special flag signal that will automatically acti-
vate the appropriate 6.1 or 7.1 mode. This will
be shown as EX-ON or EX-OFF for Dolby Digital
bitstreams and ES-ON or ES-OFF for DTS bit-
streams.
An UNLOCK message may appear in the
Lower Display Line ˜. This is your indication
that the digital audio data stream has been inter-
rupted or is no longer present. When that occurs,
the unit’s digital signal processor has no signal to
lock onto, and is thus “unlocked.” You may see
this message when a DVD is first started until the
stream is playing and the processor determines
which mode to apply; or any time the data
stream is stopped or paused, such as when the
menus of some discs are displayed or when the
player is switching between the different sections
of a disc. You may also see the message when a
satellite receiver, cable set-top or HDTV tuner is in
use if the digital audio is temporarily interrupted
when channels are changed or when a cable box
switches from a channel with a digital data
stream to a channel with analog audio only. The
UNLOCK message is normal, and does not
indicate any problem with your receiver. Rather, it
tells you that the incoming data has simply been
paused or is not present for a variety of possible
reasons.
When Dolby Digital 3/2/.1 or DTS 3/2/.1 signals
are being played, the AVR will automatically
switch to the proper surround mode, and no
other processing may be selected. When a Dolby
Digital signal with a 3/1/0 or 2/0/0 signal is
detected you may select any of the Dolby sur-
round modes.
It is always a good idea to check the readout for
the channel data to make certain that it matches
the audio logo information shown on the back of
a DVD package. In some cases you will see indi-
cation for “2/0/0” even when the disc contains a
full 5.1, or 3/2/.1 signal. When this happens,
check the audio output settings for your DVD
player or the audio menu selections for the spe-
cific disc being played to make certain that the
player is sending the correct signal to the AVR.
PCM Playback Indications
PCM is the abbreviation for Pulse Code
Modulation, which is the type of digital signal
used for standard CD playback, and other non-
Dolby Digital and non-DTS digital sources such as
Mini-Disc. When a PCM signal is detected, the
Main Information Display ˜ will briefly
show a message with the letters PCM, in addition
to a readout of the sampling frequency of the
digital signal.
In most cases this will be 4 8 KHZ , though in
the case of specially mastered, high-resolution
audio discs you will see a
9 6 KHZ indication.
The PCM 4 8 KHZ indication will also appear
when modes or inputs are changed for analog
sources. In those cases the system is telling you
the sampling frequency used internally at the
output of the analog-to-digital converters that
change the incoming signal from a VCR, tape
deck, the tuner, or other ana-log source to digital.
Speaker/Channel Indicators
In addition to the Bitstream Indicators, the
AVR features a set of unique channel-input
indicators that tell you how many channels of
digital information are being received and/or
whether the digital signal is interrupted.
(See Figure 9).
Figure 9
These indicators are the L/C/R/LFE/SL/SR/SBL/SBR
letters that are inside the center boxes of the
Speaker/Channel Input Indicators $ in the
front panel Main Information Display ˜.
When a standard analog stereo or matrix
surround signal is in use, only the “L” and “R”
indicators will light, as analog signals have only
left and right channels.
Digital signals, however, may have one, two, five,
six or seven separate channels, depending on the
program material, the method of transmission
and the way in which it was encoded. When a
digital signal is playing, the letters in these
indicators will light in response to the specific
signal being received. It is important to note that
although Dolby Digital, for example, is referred to
as a “5.1” system, not all Dolby Digital DVDs or
audio tracks selected on DVD or other Dolby
Digital programs are encoded for 5.1. Thus, it is
sometimes normal for a DVD with a Dolby Digital
soundtrack to trigger only the “L” and “R”
indicators.
NOTE: Many DVD discs are recorded with both
“5.1” and “2.0” versions of the same sound-
track. When playing a DVD, always be certain to
check the type of material on the disc. Most discs
show this information in the form of a listing or
icon on the back of the disc jacket. When a disc
does offer multiple soundtrack choices, you may
have to make some adjustments to your DVD
player (usually with the “Audio Select” button or
in a menu screen on the disc) to send a full 5.1
feed to the AVR or to select the appropriate
audio track and thus language. It is also possible
for the type of signal feed to change during the
course of a DVD playback. In some cases the pre-
views of special material will only be recorded in
2.0 audio, while the main feature is available in
5.1 audio. As long as your DVD player is set for
6-channel output, the AVR will automatically
sense changes to the bitstream and channel
count and reflect them in these indicators.