Harman Kardon AVR 435 Owner's Manual

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38 OPERATIONOperationSelecting a Digital SourceTo utilize either digital mode you must haveproperly connected a digital source to the AVR.Connect the digital outputs from DVD players,HDTV receivers, satellite systems or CD players tothe Optical or Coaxial inputs on the rear orfront panel *Ó. In order to provide abackup signal and a source for analog stereorecording, the analog outputs provided on digitalsource equipment should also be connected totheir appropriate inputs on the AVR rear panel(e.g., connect the analog stereo audio outputfrom a DVD to the DVD Audio inputs on therear panel when you connect the source’s digitaloutputs).To select a digital source such as DVD, first selectits input using the remote or front panel InputSelector 4% as outlined in this manual inorder to feed its video signal (if any) to the TVmonitor and to provide its analog audio signal forrecording. When the digital input associated withthe input selected (e.g. “DVD”) is not selectedautomatically (due to the input settings made ear-lier during the system configuration, see page 21),select the digital source by pressing the DigitalInput Selector button G Û and then usingthe ⁄/¤ buttons E on the remote or theSelector buttons 7$ on the front panel tochoose any of the OPTICAL or COAXIALinputs, as they appear in the Upper DisplayLine ˜ or on-screen display.When the digital source is playing, the AVR willautomatically detect whether it is a multichannelDolby Digital or DTS source or a MP3 or conven-tional PCM signal, which is the standard outputfrom CD players.Note that a digital input (e.g. coaxial) remainsassociated with any analog input (e.g. DVD) assoon as it is selected, thus the digital input neednot be re-selected each time the appropriateinput choice (e.g. DVD) is made.Digital 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 senses PCMdata, from CDs and LDs and some music DVDs orcertain tracks on normal DVDs, it will allow theappropriate surround mode to be selected manu-ally. Since the range of available surround modesdepends on the type of digital data that is present,the AVR uses a variety of indicators to let youknow what type of signal is present. This will helpyou to understand the choice of modes and theinput 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 Main Infor-mation Display ˜ for about five secondsbefore the display returns to the normal surroundmode indication.For 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 "3" tells you that separate, discrete left sur-round, center surround and right surround sig-nals are present. This is available only on discswith DTS-ES digital audio.• 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-chan-nel 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.• The information in the right side of the displaywill tell you if the digital audio data contains aspecial flag signal that will automatically acti-vate the appropriate 6.1 or 7.1 mode. This willbe shown as EX-ON or EX-OFF for Dolby Digitalbitstreams and ES-ON or ES-OFF for DTS bit-streams.When Dolby Digital 3/2/.1 or DTS 3/2/.1 signalsare being played, the AVR will automaticallyswitch to the proper surround mode, and no otherprocessing may be selected. When a Dolby Digitalsignal with a 3/1/0 or 2/0/0 signal is detected youmay select any of the Dolby surround 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 indica-tion 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 specif-ic disc being played to make certain that the play-er is sending the correct signal to the AVR.Speaker/Channel IndicatorsIn addition to the Bitstream Indicators, theAVR features a set of unique channel-input indi-cators that tell you how many channels of digitalinformation are being received and/or whetherthe digital signal is interrupted.These indicators are the L/C/R/LFE/SL/SR/SBL/SBRletters that are inside the center boxes of theSpeaker/Channel Input Indicators Ú in thefront panel Main Information Display ˜.When a standard analog stereo or matrixsurround signal is in use, only the “L” and “R”