All posts by David Haworth
Below are all of David Haworth's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Hi Brian - the display on the A/V receiver is suddenly showing Dolby Digital on BBC1 HD and Dolby PL11 everwhere else. Is there a problem?
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But it has not happened before - just today and all other channels are broadcasting OK on the centre channel- only BBC1 HD. Even The BBC HD channel 109 is OK as is BBC1 101
Its like listening with a hole in the middle.
Yes it is Freesat HD
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Thanks - think I will just watch on "grubby' BBC1 101 till sorted.
Good to see you are still alive and well.
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Re centre channel on BBC1 HD - I did try (by no means an easy task) to complain to Beeb and I thought I may have had some success but now it seem to be intermittent, sometimes on sometimes off but only on this channel. The other 200+ channels are all OK.
Don't know if you have heard of anything since.
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Re Centre channel - my technical advisor (son) says that anything broadcast in stereo will activate the A/V software and produce a suedo centre channel.
Problem lies with BBC who often send signals that state DD 5.1 but are actually 2.1 (eg Arsenal v Birmingham cup final) , the A/V amp thinks its 5.1 so the software is not activated and therefore the sound will only be broadcast in stereo with no centre channel. Are we on the right track and if so are the BBC being economical with the truth in stating 5.1 when it not so?
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So what are you suggesting - that I should change the options even when you are not sure what the BBC are sending out.
As far as I am aware ITV HD is always OK - is this just a BBC thing that sometimes they send the signal out in 5.1 but it is actually 2.1. If it was 5.1 then there would not be a problem and I would have all channels with sound. The problem seems to be that they say it is 5.1 when it isn't so the amp doesn't recognise it. How is one to know apart from the hole in the middle.
Hate to think what "technical pygmies" would think of that!!!
Freesat connection is by optical HDMI cable through the amp (all the inputs are routed through the amp) which means that the amp does all the switching from one input to another with a single connection from amp to TV.
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I think what I am trying to say is that the A/V amp receives the stereo signal and reproduces it as 5.1 or DPL11 automatically. However if BBC sends the signal as DD 5.1 but it is actually stereo then the amp doesn't recognise it so 3 of the 5 speakers are left empty. Obviously if the signal is 5.1 there is no problem.
It is the centre speaker that handles most of the content and fixes the voices to the TV screen, but when listening in two channel the voices are kind of just floating around and not co-ordinating with the screen which would happen even if you just used the built-in TV amp/speakers.
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My god your up early!
You still have not confirmed whether BBC sends out a signal that seems to be labelled 5.1, confirmed by the display input on the A/V receiver,but is actually stereo, which I believe is the heart of the problem.
Listening to dialogue without a centre is a totally different experience and sadly missed when it isn't there.
Obviously this only applies to Freesat HD which has the ability to broadcast in 5.1.
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Thought I would add my son's comments.
He's correct that given a stereo feed, you have to select PL2, and your
onkyo does this for you automatically so you don't need to.
What I'm saying is that I think BBC1HD is broadcasting some shows in 5.1
but where the centre, rears and sub channel are silent. Ie they should
be broadcasting 2.0 so that the onkyo can choose to apply PL2
processing, but by sending a stereo feed in 5.1 (where L,R have content
but not C,SL,SR,Sub are silent) they're doing it wrong.
Whether you can force PL2 processing on a 5.1 feed I don't know... And
what it would do when you get a real 5.1 feed I don't know...
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Page 1
Friday 25 February 2011 6:20PM
I have suddenly lost the centre channel on BBC 1 HD only.
ITV1 HD is OK and BBC1 freesat OK.
Any ideas Brian.