DVD Player Setup.

RF,

If you set up the audio output in the DVD player, it is not necessary to set it up again each time you play a different disk. Once it is set up in the players menu, it should stay the same.

I've done this several times when I had a DVD player in a 2-channel system. I set the DVD players output to PCM and connected the DVD player to my DAC. I never had to go into the movie's menu to select PCM.

Enjoy,

TIC

Hi Roryfan,

I respectfully disagree with Reubent on this one. As far as movie discs are concerned, it's always a good idea to check the disc's audio menu before starting the movie to be sure it is set to the "best" soundtrack (ie: highest number of channels) for that particular title. Sometimes the software on the disc will default to a lower soundtrack like Dolby 2.0 if that was how the disc was authored. Your player may not override this by itself.

One exeption that I know of is Sony. Most if not all of their models have a feature called "Audio Priority" which will seek out the soundtrack on a disc with the highest # of channels. This feature works well but is optional and must be enabled in the player's setup menu. I am not aware of other brands that offer this feature but check your owner's manual. Good luck! jz

TIC,
If you set the digital output to PCM format, it is always stereo PCM from the digital output, regardless of the original format. Analog output may be different.

jz,
I agree with you mostly. For some reason, Dolby 5.1 sounds better than Dolby 2.0 even after downmixing to stereo. However, if there is a PCM track available, I would use the 2 channel PCM track instead of 5.1 DTS or DD for stereo playback.