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OPERATION 35
Operation
• The digital audio input signal may be either
optical or coaxial, but the signal must be in the
MP3 SPDIF format. Direct connection of USB or
serial data outputs is not possible, even though
the signals are in the MP3 format. If you have
any questions about the data output format from
your computer or a sound card, check with the
device’s Owner’s Manual or contact the manufac-
turer’s technical support area.
• If your computer or sound card’s digital output
is not capable of direct connection to the AVR or
if the output is not capable of delivering MP3
data stream, you may use an optional, external
transcoder,such as those available from Harman
Kardon (DAL 150) to convert the USB output of a
computer to a format compatible with the AVR.
Contact your Harman Kardon dealer for addition-
al details.
• Due to the wide variation in MP3 formats and
encoding speeds, it is possible that the AVR may
not be compatible with all MP3 input signals.
Some may produce unacceptable results and
some may not be decoded.This is not a fault of
either the computer or the AVR, but rather a
by-product of the unpredictable nature of MP3
playback.
Selecting a Digital Source
To utilize either digital mode you must have prop-
erly connected a digital source to the AVR.
Connect the digital outputs from DVD players,
HDTV receivers, satellite systems or CD players to
the Optical or Coaxial inputs on the rear or
front panel
UV*Ó
. In order to provide a
backup signal and a source for analog stereo
recording, the analog outputs provided on digital
source equipment should also be connected to
their appropriate inputs on the AVR rear panel
(e.g., connect the analog stereo audio output
from a DVD to the DVD Audio inputs
R
on the
rear panel when you connect the source’s digital
outputs).
To select a digital source such as DVD,first select
its input using the remote or front panel Input
Selector
4
%
as outlined in this manual in
order to feed its video signal (if any) to the TV
monitor and to provide its analog audio signal for
recording.When the digital input associated with
the input selected (e.g. “DVD”) is not selected
automatically (due to the input settings made
earlier during the system configuration,see page
21), select the digital source by pressing the
Digital Input Selector button
G
Û
and
then using the
⁄
/
¤
buttons
D
on the remote
or the Selector buttons
7$
on the front panel
to
choose any of the OPTICALor
COAXIAL
inputs, as they appear in the
Main Information Display ˆ,or on-screen
display.To confirm the selection press the Set
Button
F
on the remote.
When the digital source is playing, the AVR will
automatically detect which type of digital data
stream is being decoded and display that infor-
mation in the Main Information Display ˆ
and/or with the Surround Mode/Bitstream
Indicators ¯ (see below).
Note that a digital input (e.g. coaxial) remains
associated with any analog input (e.g. DVD) as
soon as it is selected, thus the digital input needs
not be re-selected each time the appropriate
input choice (e.g. DVD) is made.
Digital Bitstream Indicators
When a digital source is playing, the AVR senses
the type of bitstream data that is present. Using
this information, the correct surround mode will
automatically be selected. For example,DTS bit-
streams will cause the unit to switch to DTS
decoding, and Dolby Digital bitstreams will enable
Dolby Digital decoding.When the unit senses
PCM data, from CDs and LDs and some music
DVDs or certain tracks on normal DVDs, it will
allow the appropriate surround mode to be select-
ed manually. Since the range of available surround
modes depends on the type of digital data that is
present, the AVR uses a variety of indicators to let
you know what type of signal is present.This will
help you to understand the choice of modes and
the input channels recorded on the disc.
To help you see which type of digital source is
playing, the Surround Mode Indicators
¯
also serve as bitstream indications to show which
type of bitstream present, as well as the surround
mode in use, if applicable.
Dolby Digital:When the green LED next to the
Dolby Digital logo is lit, a Dolby Digital bitstream
is being received. Depending on the audio track
selected on the source player and number of
channels on the disc, different surround modes
are possible. Note that only one channel without
subwoofer,called ”1.0” audio, or all five chan-
nels with subwoofer (”5.1” audio) or all steps
between can be encoded on Dolby Digital audio
tracks..With all those tracks, except ”2.0” audio,
only the Dolby Digital and VMAx modes are avail-
able.With all Dolby Digital tracks you can add the
THX processing as described on page 33, than
the LED next to the THX or THX Surr EX logo
(depending on 5.1 or 6.1/7.1 setup and on chan-
nels encoded) will light as well.
When the Dolby Digital signal is only two channel
(”2.0”) these two channels (l and r) often con-
tain Pro Logic surround informations. With those
tracks the AVR automatically switches to the
Dolby Pro Logic II Movie mode (in addition to the
Dolby Digital mode), but you may also select the
Vmax mode.When the D.D. 2.0 signal contains
no Pro Logic information, the pure Dolby Digital
mode will be selected automatically, but you may
also select any Pro Logic II mode (only Music or
Emulation should be used then) or any Vmax
mode.When the Pro Logic II Mode was selected
with Dolby Digital tracks (automatically or manu-
ally) the green LED next to the Dolby Pro Logic II
Indicator ¯ will light (together with the Dolby
Digital LED).
DTS:When the green LED next to the DTS logo
lights, a DTS bitstream is being received.When the
unit senses this type of data,only the applicable
DTS mode may be used.But you may add the THX
processing as described on page 33,than the LED
next to the THX or THX Surr EX logo (depending on
5.1 or 6.1/7.1 configuration) will light as well.
PCM:When the green LED next to the word DIGI-
TAL is lit, a standard Pulse Code Modulation,or
PCM, signal is being received.This is the type of
digital audio used by conventional compact disc
and laser disc recordings.When a PCM bitstream
is present, all modes except Dolby Digital and DTS
are available.
HDCD:When the green LED next to the letters
HDCD is lit the CD that is playing is encoded
using the special High Definition Compatible
Digital
®
process. HDCD
®
discs use 20-bit encod-
ing and other proprietary processing to provide
the ultimate in CD listening. Note that HDCD pro-
cessing is only available in the Stereo (Surround
Off) mode.
MP3:When the green LED next to MP3 is lit, a
compatible MPEG 1/Layer 3 digital signal is being
received.This is the popular audio format used by
many computer programs for recording com-
pressed audio files.When an MP3 bitstream is
present, the sound will automatically be played in
the stereo (Surround Off) mode.The surround
modes are not available during MP3 playback.
Note that there are many different forms of MP3
encoding available and the format is used at a
number of different bit rates.The AVR 8500 may
not be compatible with all forms of MP3,
particularly when the data file is encoded above
128 kb/s.