How to get Dolby 5.1 with Samsung (TV+Home Theater)+ DirecTV?

[katofelinus]

I have my Samsung UN55UH6830 TV connected to the DirecTV box with an HDMI cable but the TV does not output Dolby Digital 5.1 but DTS Neo 2:5 because it is an "external source" and only "internal sources" like TV Tuner or Streaming output DD 5.1.

The only way I can get DD 5.1 is connecting the DirecTV box directly to my old Home Theater System with an optical cable. I am thinking of upgrading to the Samsung HT-J5500W Home Theater System (HTS) but first I would like know if the following setup will work well:

1) Connecting the DirectTV box with an Optical Cable to the Samsung HT-J5500W System.
2) Connecting the Samsung HT-J5500W HTS to my Samsung TV with a HMDI cable (ARC Port).
3) Connecting an old Laser Disc Player to my Samsung TV with a component Cable.
4) Connecting an External Hard Drive with movies (MP4 and MKV) to my TV through a USB port.

In Theory, I would get:

1) Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio from my DirecTV box and from the BlueRay Disc Player included in this System.
2) Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio from the movies (MP4 and MKV) I have in the External Hard Drive connected to my TV.
3) I will be able to change the volume with either the TV, DirecTV or Home Theater remote controls.

Will this work as described? Is there a better way of doing this?

Thanks

 

[mdram]

I run my genie to the avr then the avr to the tv
i also have a blu ray to the avr

no issues with dolby this way

 

[poofyhairguy]

Will this work as described?

Pretty much, I don't know about the remotes.

Is there a better way of doing this?

I think so. With that home theater system you are limited to one optical, so you can never add a console or a box like a Roku down the road.

The best most optimal way of doing things is to get a AV receiver that takes HDMI inputs and running everything through that. But that might be more money unless you really milk deals.

I mean this will work how you want, but you have no room for growth. I would hook the HD up to the TV first and make sure that outputs surround via optical because if it won't do that it won't output surround via ARC.

 

[gus6464]

I have a Sony X850C connected to a Marantz SR5010. My TV is connected to the receiver through the ARC port on both. Cable box is connected directly to the TV via HDMI. I have CEC and ARC turned on in the receiver. This allows me to get sound though the TV like normal if the receiver is off. When I turn on the receiver the TV will recognize ARC is enabled and it will turn off the TV speakers and output via my receiver instead. When it does that I get 5.1 sound from cable.

Also when I am in this mode if I increase the volume on my TV it will do it on the AVR.

For this to work you have to set the TV to output PCM via ARC as well.

For starters you need to make sure that your Samsung HTS can support CEC/ARC.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I have a Sony X850C connected to a Marantz SR5010. My TV is connected to the receiver through the ARC port on both. Cable box is connected directly to the TV via HDMI. I have CEC and ARC turned on in the receiver. This allows me to get sound though the TV like normal if the receiver is off. When I turn on the receiver the TV will recognize ARC is enabled and it will turn off the TV speakers and output via my receiver instead. When it does that I get 5.1 sound from cable.

Also when I am in this mode if I increase the volume on my TV it will do it on the AVR.

For this to work you have to set the TV to output PCM via ARC as well.

For starters you need to make sure that your Samsung HTS can support CEC/ARC.

As far as I know PCM via ARC only supports stereo since there is no decoder in the TV. On my Samsung JS9000 I have to set Dolby Digital or DTS Bitstream to get 5.1 via ARC. If I set PCM I get 2.0 stereo only no matter the source. However, I only use it for apps and OTA TV. I plug all my other devices into the receiver directly and pass through the video to the TV.

 

[katofelinus]

I have a Sony X850C connected to a Marantz SR5010. My TV is connected to the receiver through the ARC port on both. Cable box is connected directly to the TV via HDMI. I have CEC and ARC turned on in the receiver. This allows me to get sound though the TV like normal if the receiver is off. When I turn on the receiver the TV will recognize ARC is enabled and it will turn off the TV speakers and output via my receiver instead. When it does that I get 5.1 sound from cable.

Also when I am in this mode if I increase the volume on my TV it will do it on the AVR.

For this to work you have to set the TV to output PCM via ARC as well.

For starters you need to make sure that your Samsung HTS can support CEC/ARC.

Sony is one of TV brands that allows Dolby Digital 5.1 output from any source. Unfortunately, Samsung does not. Just by OTA (tuner) and Streaming. Anything else, including DirecTV, is downgraded.

 

[JeffMD]

You have a lot of questions and you got confusing, so let me try and break down your connections.

1) Connecting the DirectTV box with an Optical Cable to the Samsung HT-J5500W System.

A) Knowing that optical is capable of 2 PCM and any of the compressed 5.1 formats, this should be fine.

2) Connecting the Samsung HT-J5500W HTS to my Samsung TV with a HMDI cable (ARC Port).

A) For blueray player playback, should be just fine.

3) Connecting an old Laser Disc Player to my Samsung TV with a component Cable.

A) Sure, you can also drag the audio leads to the j5500w and use the 2 RCA inputs. (Although I guess audio return should work fine here too.)

4) Connecting an External Hard Drive with movies (MP4 and MKV) to my TV through a USB port.

A) Since both devices are Samsungs, the Audio return should work fine. I am not sure how well your tv will play those movies. There may be limitations on linking 5.1 streams to the audio return.


>>>In Theory, I would get:

1) Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio from my DirecTV box and from the BlueRay Disc Player included in this System.

A) Sure

2) Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio from the movies (MP4 and MKV) I have in the External Hard Drive connected to my TV.

A) You did not mention what your tv was. They generally rely heavily on hardware decoding chips which tend to fail %50 of the time for me on the content I download. As I mentioned above, relaying 5.1 streams from usb sources is not guaranteed.

3) I will be able to change the volume with either the TV, DirecTV or Home Theater remote controls.

A) no idea what your DTV remote looks like. If it supports both devices then sure.

You should be able to live off controlling both samsung devices using only one of the remotes. There may be some hoops the remote makes you go through to toggle which volume you are controlling, but this is nothing new among universal remotes.

 

[skriefal]

Doesn't your Samsung A/V receiver have HDMI inputs? Use one of those to connect your DirecTV box.

If the Samsung doesn't have HDMI inputs then you're going to be stuck with running a separate optical or coaxial S/PDIF cable from the DirecTV box (if the Samsung has those...), or using ARC from the TV. The former should give you Dolby Digital support from DirecTV; the latter probably won't.

I haven't seen a laserdisc player with a component video output (possible exception for the Japanese Hivision "HD" players). It'll probably have a composite video output (single "yellow" jack). If your TV supports composite input then you can use your laserdisc player. Video quality may be "not so hot" though, as modern HDTVs often skimp on the comb filter and other analog-input circuitry.

 

[katofelinus]

01/22/2016 - Update

Finally, I was able to install the Samsung HT-J5500W AV Receiver/BlueRay unit to my TV, DirectTV, Apple TV and Hard Drive and almost everything worked as expected.

I should say that the AV Receiver/BluRay unit has only ONE HDMI output and ONE Audio Optical input, so there is no way to connect everything to the AV Receiver/BlueRay. The goal of Samsung is to connect everything to the TV and then, via HDMI Arc input, connect to the AV receiver/BluRay. I installed it as follows:

1) DirecTV (HDMI) + AppleTV (HDMI) + Hard Drive (USB) > TV > AV Receiver/BluRay (HDMI ARC).

2) DirecTV > AV Receiver/BluRay (Optical)

I get Dolby Digital 5.1 option in the TV from the BluRay, Apple TV and the Hard Drive.

With DirecTV it gets tricky. Even after connecting with HDMI Arc the Dolby Digital option is still not available on the TV Sound Settings, just the downgraded PCM or DTS Neo 2.5 are available. That was the reason I connected the audio directly from DirecTV to the AV Receiver by Optical cable. But when the ARC option is "on" or "auto" the sound of DirecTV will go through the HDMI to the TV (and downgraded to DTS Neo 2.5) instead of the Optical (DD 5.1). I only get DD 5.1 from DirecTV (via optical cable) if I turn off the ARC option off. I just turn off the ARC Option with DirecTV, for everything else it is "on" or "auto".

So with a few clicks a got what I was looking for: DD 5.1 from DirecTV, BluRay, Apple TV and Hard Drive. Plus being able to turn on/off and change volume with either the TV, DirecTV or AV Receiver/BluRay remote controls.

One disadvantage of this Samsung AV is that it does not display the Digital Audio Output (DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, PCM, Dolby TrueHD, etc.). It does only display the External Device to Use (BD/DVD, D. IN, AUX, FM, BT). My old Logitech AV displayed all that info: DTS, DD 5.1, Stereo, etc.