XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

[PDinLeek]

Hi

Just tried to set up the machine I bought a couple of months ago.

I use HDMI connector to my Philips LCD - works fine for commercial DVD playback and general computer stuff. (see seperate thread about TV tuner)

I have also connected the optical output into my Yahama amp. It is only reporting a stereo input not a Dolby Digital signal as expected.

The same DVD played through a Sony DVD recorder connected to the amp in similar way gives me full 5.1 surround sound.

Any suggestions about settings, etc would be much appreciated.

I expected this machine to be all singing and dancing!!

Thanks and regards

[LAMitchell]

Hi guys I have a similar problem in that the amp is comming up with 5.1 but it is not. Its is Dolby Digital Live, which is basically beefed up prologic. It seems that the drivers downgrade the Dolby CODEC from the DVD to Digital live then output it as 5.1. The sound quality is worse for this.

Ideally I would expect the PC to pass through the signal directly to the amp via SPDIF so there is no filtering. In fact it should be possible to get DTS.

I a ticket open with Sony now for three weeks and as yet I have not spoken to an engineer.

[Ditcheh]

Hi guys I have a similar problem in that the amp is comming up with 5.1 but it is not. Its is Dolby Digital Live, which is basically beefed up prologic. It seems that the drivers downgrade the Dolby CODEC from the DVD to Digital live then output it as 5.1.  The sound quality is worse for this. 

Ideally I would expect the PC to pass through the signal directly to the amp via SPDIF so there is no filtering. In fact it should be possible to get DTS.

I a ticket open with Sony now for three weeks and as yet I have not spoken to an engineer.

I can save you some time then, the XL-100 *is NOT capable of a simple straight digital pass through*!! unbeleivable but true! I had a support ticket in regarding this and the answer was short and simple, the XL-100 cannot do passthrough, end of story. it decodes the stream from the DVD, converts it to Dolby Digital Live! and bungs that out through the spdif. Totally bizarre and really stupid.

My whole experience with the Xl-100 has put me right off Sony, anyone wanna buy a nearly new xl-100 for £500? Cant wait to get rid of the POS.

[buffalo92]

Hi guys I have a similar problem in that the amp is comming up with 5.1 but it is not. Its is Dolby Digital Live, which is basically beefed up prologic. It seems that the drivers downgrade the Dolby CODEC from the DVD to Digital live then output it as 5.1.  The sound quality is worse for this. 

Ideally I would expect the PC to pass through the signal directly to the amp via SPDIF so there is no filtering. In fact it should be possible to get DTS.

I a ticket open with Sony now for three weeks and as yet I have not spoken to an engineer.


I can save you some time then, the XL-100 *is NOT capable of a simple straight digital pass through*!! unbeleivable but true!  I had a support ticket in regarding this and the answer was short and simple, the XL-100 cannot do passthrough, end of story.  it decodes the stream from the DVD, converts it to Dolby Digital Live! and bungs that out through the spdif. Totally bizarre and really stupid.

My whole experience with the Xl-100 has put me right off Sony, anyone wanna buy a nearly new xl-100 for £500?  Cant wait to get rid of the POS.

Hi,

Same thing : the XL-201 (and XL-202 too I guess) I bought is not capable of digital pass thru and the "Dolby Digital Live!" is very bad. Its a pity that such an expensive PC can't do better...

[mcfair]

I had the same problem yesterday.The sound card must be set to ac3 not pcm with dolby digital live on,then go to media centre setup an make sure that the speakers are set to 5.1 or 7.1 then it should work in full DD.

Also check out www.xl100.co.uk this where I found this sollution

[Ditcheh]

I had the same problem yesterday.The sound card must be set to ac3 not pcm with dolby digital live on,then go to media centre setup an make sure that the speakers are set to 5.1 or 7.1 then it should work in full DD.

No it does not, it can only ouput DD live, it cannot do a straight passthrough, you will get sound from all of your speakers but its DD live, NOt proper Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound chip is not capable of passing an unadulterated signal through to an external decoder. That is the official word from Sony support and also my findings from months of trawling through various forums...remember DD live IS NOT proper Dolby Digital, its much lower sound quality. Also, no pass through means that even if your external decoder can handle a DTS sound track, you can never listen to one since the Vaio cannot decode DTS. Cannot understand why Sont have designed it this way, its just stupid.