[VU+ Ultimo] No Dolby through HDMI

[kvarnstj]

Hi!

I have connected TV from Ultimo with HDMI cable. When starting box from standby (does not have to be from deep standby), sound from channels with dolby sound is not sent to TV through the HDMI. In audio settings I have downmix to stereo set to no for both AAC and Dolby. When sound is missing from HDMI, and I toggle to Dolby downmix option to yes, sound starts working. Now setting it back to no, the sound keeps working ok. However if I now set the box back to standby and start it again, the problem reoccurs.
Is there any fix for this? I need to have the downmix set to yes, in order for the sound to work at all times.

 

[Donkeyface]

I'd say your TV can't decode Dolby,
What make model TV is it?

 

[kvarnstj]

Yes it can I think, otherwise the sound would not work at all right. As I said, sound works ok if I go to VIX sound settings, toggle dolby downmix to yes, then back to no. When I put Ultimo to standby and back on, sound is gone again. Toggling downmix no->yes->no fixes the problem again. I think problem is that Ultimo does not send any dolby through the HDMI after startup, after toggling the settings it starts sending it.

 

[DaMacFunkin]

But why would you want to send 5.1 discrete channels to your stereo TV? If connected just to your TV by hdmi then down mix set to yes is correct.

 

[kvarnstj]

Antother issue. I have a Soundbar connected from my TV. Basically I could connect the optical spif from the Ultimo directly to the soundbar as well, overcoming the fault described earlier, but there is another fault preventing me to do that. The soundbar has a autostandy function (which I would like to use), i.e. it goes to standby after 10 minutes if no sound is received from the source. If it is connected directly to the Ultimo (optical spif), the soundbar never goes to standby. That indicates that the Ultimo keeps sending something all the time even when Ultimo is in standby. Only Ultimo deep standby will let the Soundbar go to standby. The TV does not have this issue, i.e. when TV is put to standby, the soundbar soon goes to standby as well.

 

[Donkeyface]

Yes it can I think, otherwise the sound would not work at all right. As I said, sound works ok if I go to VIX sound settings, toggle dolby downmix to yes, then back to no. When I put Ultimo to standby and back on, sound is gone again. Toggling downmix no->yes->no fixes the problem again. I think problem is that Ultimo does not send any dolby through the HDMI after startup, after toggling the settings it starts sending it.

What is the make/model of your TV?
I'm assuming your on a HD channel with DD??
It sounds like the TV can't decode the DD, and when you set the box to downmix, the stb can then output audio! The TV will always ask for a video/audio signal it can decoded/play before the source outputs anything, so i think the sat box will keep outputting the downmix irelavant if on/off.
TV make/model please.

 

[Donkeyface]

Did you find the TV make/model?

 

[kvarnstj]

Samsung LE40R86BCX/FID. If you say the TV does not support DD, fine. However quite strange that toggling downmix no->yes->no gets the sound going. Would mean it is downmixing even if the setting is "no". So to get the DD to my soundbar, I need to connect it with optical cable directly from the Ultimo. However, as I said there are some problems with this. 1) With Ultimo in standby, it keeps sending something on the line, since the soundbar never goes to standby. Only deepstandby lets the soundbar sleep. 2) When Ultimo is woken up from deep standby to standby (scheduled in VIX timers), it will actually start outputting sound for a few seconds. At wakeup process, the Ultimo is on for a few seconds before it goes to standby. This is enough to wake up the soundbar and start outputting sound for a few seconds. Not a nice feature early in the morning

 

[Rob van der Does]

I have no issues getting DD via HDMI and spf/df.
Indeed: in standby there remains a signal (on both outputs) which can prevent devices from going to standby. Many device have this issue; you'll need to get them to standby yourself.

It looks like your TV does support DD (via "SRS TS XT", see page 25 of your manual).

 

[Donkeyface]

Your TV technically supports DD but like a lot of samsungs, even newer version wont output a decoded DD signal thru the speakers. The reason is the TV is only a "pass thru" device, the DD gets passed thru the optical out to be decoded via a AVR.
TV manual page 43 - "You can only hear Dolby Digital sound through the audio receiver connected through an optical cable. You can only hear PCm sound through the main speaker."
So no your TV cannot output DD via its speakers, only PCM.

Cheers

 

[kvarnstj]

Tv can passthrough dd if the source is the TVs own tuner and output is the TVs optical port. If dd is coming in from the hdmi e.g. from the Ultimo, dd is not forwarded to optical. Neither can it downmix it from hdmi. Only option is to connect optical directly from Ultimo to sounbar. Is it a Vix feature that it sends something all the time even in standby? Can it be fixed? As I said I need to put the soundbar to standby manually due to this, also sounbar does not wake up automatically if it is manually put to standby, so I need to turn it on manually. This kind of ruins the idea with a replacement to the tv speakers, as I need to manually turn it on and off. How about the wake up from deep standby to standby? Can I prevent it to go on for a few seconds, also preventing it to output audio from the speakers for this brief moment?

 

[Rob van der Does]

Is it a Vix feature that it sends something all the time even in standby? Can it be fixed? As I said I need to put the soundbar to standby manually due to this, also sounbar does not wake up automatically if it is manually put to standby, so I need to turn it on manually.

Nope, this is a driver issue. All my boxes have this.
You could use a decent universal RC that uses activities (see my signature for examples) to overcome this.