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36 OPERATION
Operation
Speaker/Channel Indicators
In addition to the Bitstream Indicators,the
AVR features a set of unique channel-input indi-
cators 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
E
in the
front panel Main Information Display
ˆ
.
When a standard analog stereo or matrix sur-
round signal is in use, only the “L” and “R” indi-
cators will light, as analog signals have only left
and right channels.
Dolby Digital signals, however,may have one,
two, five, six or seven separate channels, depend-
ing on the program material,the method of
transmission and the way in which it was encod-
ed.When a digital signal is playing,the letters in
these indicators will light in response to the spe-
cific 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.
Important Note:When a digital surround
source (Dolby Digital, DTS) is played, the letters
SBL/SBR for the Surround Back channels will
appear only when a DTS ES DISCRETE 6.1 source
is played.Then this surround mode will be indi-
cated in the Lower Display Line
B
on the
front panel.With all other recordings the icons
for the surround back speakers may light (when
those speakers have been configured) to indicate
that a signal will be fed to them but no letters
inside will light as the unit will not receive an
input signal for the surround back channels.
The letters used by the Speaker/Channel Input
Indicators
E
also flash to indicate when a bit-
stream has been interrupted.This will happen
when a digital input source is selected before the
playback starts, or when a digital source such as
a DVD is put into a Pause mode.The flashing
indicators remind you that the playback has
stopped due to the absence of a digital signal
and not through any fault of the AVR.This is nor-
mal, and the digital playback will resume once
the playback is started again.
Night Mode
A special feature of Dolby Digital is the Night
mode, which enables Dolby Digital input sources
to be played back with full digital intelligibilty
while reducing the maximum peak level and
lifting the low levels by 1/4 to 1/3.This prevents
abruptly loud transitions from disturbing others
without reducing the impact of the digital source.
The Night mode is available only when the Dolby
Digital mode is selected.
The Night mode may be engaged when the
Dolby Digital Surround mode is selected by press-
ing the Night Button
B
on the remote. Next,
press the
⁄/¤ buttons
D
to select either the
middle range or full compression versions of the
Night mode.To turn the Night mode off,press
the
⁄/¤ buttons
D
until the message in the
lower third of the video display and in the
Lower Display Line
B
reads D-RANGE
OFF.
The Night mode may also be selected to always
be on as soon as the Dolby Digital mode is acti-
vated at either level of compression using the
options in the DOLBYmenu.See page 26 for
information on using the menus to set this
option.
IMPORTANT NOTES ON DIGITAL PLAYBACK:
• When the digital playback source is stopped, or
in a pause, fast forward or chapter search mode,
the digital audio data will momentarily stop, and
the channel position letters inside the Speaker/
Channel Indicators
E
will flash.This is normal
and does not indicate a problem with either the
AVR or the source machine.The AVR will return
to digital playback as soon as the data is avail-
able and when the machine is in a standard play
mode.
•Although the AVR will decode virtually all DVD
movies, CDs and HDTV sources, it is possible that
some future digital sources may not be compatible
with the AVR.
• Note that not all digitally encoded programs
and not all audio tracks on a DVD contain full
5.1 or 6.1 channel audio. Consult the program
guide that accompanies the DVD or laser disc to
determine which type of audio has been record-
ed on the disc.The AVR will automatically sense
the type of digital surround encoding used, indi-
cate it in the Surround Mode/Bitstream
Indicators
¯
and Channel Input Indicators
E
and adjust to accommodate it.
• When a Dolby Digital or DTS source is playing,
you normally may not be able to select some of
the analog surround modes such as Dolby Pro
Logic II, Dolby 3 Stereo, Hall,Theater,5CH/7CH
Stereo or Logic 7, except with specific Dolby
Digital 2.0 recordings that can be played with
the Pro Logic II modes too (see page 35).
• When a digital source is playing, it is not possi-
ble to make an analog recording using the Tape
3
or Video 1 orVideo 2
X
record outputs, if
the source is connected to any digital input of
the AVR only. But the analog two channel signal
of that source, the ”Downmix” to Stereo or
Dolby Surround, can be recorded by connecting
its analog audio outputs to the appropriate ana-
log inputs (e.g. DVD) of the AVR, even if the
digital input of the AVR remains selected.
Additionally, the digital signals will be passed
through to the Digital Audio Outputs
PQ(Ô
.