Harman Kardon AVR 330 Owner's Manual

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Harman Kardon AVR 330 Owner's Manual Manual pdf 32 page image

32 OPERATIONOperationDigital Bitstream IndicatorsWhen a digital source is playing, the AVR sensesthe type of bitstream data that is present. Usingthis information, the correct surround mode willautomatically be selected. For example, DTS bit-streams will cause the unit to switch to DTSdecoding, and Dolby Digital bitstreams will enableDolby Digital decoding. When the unit sensesPCM data, from CDs and LDs and some musicDVDs or certain tracks on normal DVDs, it willallow the appropriate surround mode to be select-ed manually. Since the range of available surroundmodes depends on the type of digital data that ispresent, the AVR uses a variety of indicators to letyou know what type of signal is present. This willhelp you to understand the choice of modes andthe input channels recorded on the disc.When a digital source is playing, the AVR willdisplay a variety of messages to indicate the typeof bitstream received. These messages will appearshortly after an input or surround mode ischanged, and will remain in the MainInformation Display ˜ for about five secondsbefore the display returns to the normal surroundmode indication.Surround Mode TypesFor Dolby Digital and DTS sources, a three digitindication will appear, showing the number ofchannels present in the data. An example of thistype of display is 3/2/.1.The first number indicates how many discretefront channel signals are present.• A 3 tells you that separate front left, center andfront 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 rightsignals are available, but there is no discretecenter channel signal. This will be displayed forDolby Digital bit streams that have stereo pro-gram material.• A 1 tells you that there is only a mono channelavailable in the Dolby Digital bitstream.The middle number indicates how many discretesurround channel signals are present.• A 2 tells you that separate surround left andright signals are available. This will be displayedfor 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 willappear for Dolby Digital bit streams that havematrix encoding.• A 0 indicates that there is no surround channelinformation. This will be displayed for two-channel stereo programs.The last number indicates if there is a discreteLow Frequency Effects (LFE) channel. This is the“.1” in the common abbreviation of “5.1” soundand it is a special channel that contains only bassfrequencies.• A .1 tells you that an LFE channel is present.This will be displayed for Dolby Digital 5.1 andDTS 5.1 programs, as available.• A 0 indicates that there is no LFE channel infor-mation available. However, even when there isno dedicated LFE channel, low frequency soundwill be present at the subwoofer output whenthe speaker configuration is set to show thepresence of subwoofer.When Dolby Digital 3/2/.1 or DTS 3/2/.1 signalsare being played, the AVR will automaticallyswitch to the proper surround mode, and noother processing may be selected. When a DolbyDigital signal with a 3/1/0 or 2/0/0 signal isdetected you may select any of the Dolby sur-round modes.It is always a good idea to check the readout forthe channel data to make certain that it matchesthe audio logo information shown on the back ofa DVD package. In some cases you will see indi-cation for “2/0/0” even when the disc contains afull 5.1, or 3/2/.1 signal. When this happens,check the audio output settings for your DVDplayer or the audio menu selections for the spe-cific disc being played to make certain that theplayer is sending the correct signal to the AVR.PCM Playback IndicationsPCM is the abbreviation for Pulse CodeModulation, which is the type of digital signalused for standard CD playback, and other non-Dolby Digital and non-DTS digital sources such asMini-Disc. When a PCM signal is detected, theMain Information Display ˜ will brieflyshow a message with the letters PCM, in additionto a readout of the sampling frequency of thedigital signal.In most cases this will be 4 8 KHZ, though inthe case of specially mastered, high-resolutionaudio discs you will see a 9 6 KHZ indication.The PCM 4 8 KHZ indication will also appearwhen modes or inputs are changed for analogsources. In those cases the system is telling youthe sampling frequency used internally at theoutput of the analog-to-digital converters thatchange the incoming signal from a VCR, tapedeck, the tuner, or other ana-log source to digital.Speaker/Channel IndicatorsIn addition to the Bitstream Indicators, theAVR features a set of unique channel-inputindicators that tell you how many channels ofdigital information are being received and/orwhether the digital signal is interrupted.(See Figure 9).Figure 9These indicators are the L/C/R/LFE/SL/SR/SBL/SBRletters that are inside the center boxes of theSpeaker/Channel Input Indicators $ in thefront panel Main Information Display ˜.When a standard analog stereo or matrixsurround signal is in use, only the “L” and “R”indicators will light, as analog signals have onlyleft and right channels.Digital signals, however, may have one, two, five,six or seven separate channels, depending on theprogram material, the method of transmissionand the way in which it was encoded. When adigital signal is playing, the letters in theseindicators will light in response to the specificsignal being received. It is important to note thatalthough Dolby Digital, for example, is referred toas a “5.1” system, not all Dolby Digital DVDs oraudio tracks selected on DVD or other DolbyDigital programs are encoded for 5.1. Thus, it issometimes normal for a DVD with a Dolby Digitalsoundtrack 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 tocheck the type of material on the disc. Most discsshow this information in the form of a listing oricon on the back of the disc jacket. When a discdoes offer multiple soundtrack choices, you mayhave to make some adjustments to your DVDplayer (usually with the “Audio Select” button orin a menu screen on the disc) to send a full 5.1feed to the AVR or to select the appropriateaudio track and thus language. It is also possiblefor the type of signal feed to change during thecourse of a DVD playback. In some cases the pre-views of special material will only be recorded in2.0 audio, while the main feature is available in5.1 audio. As long as your DVD player is set for6-channel output, the AVR will automatically