HR10-250 audio questions

[jsirota]

I've had my HR10-250 for about 4 months now. I've got some questions that hopefully some of you can help me with.

First, let me state that I do NOT have any surround-sound decoder. All audio is heard through the TV's speakers, connected via the HDMI port. The "Dolby Digital" audio setting under th settings menu is set to "No, play standard audio."

1) When watching an HDTV program, especially over-the-air as opposed to from the satellite, the audio level is very quiet. I have to boost the TV's volume significantly over SD broadcasts. This makes it quite awkward to channel-surf. I think what might be happening is that I'm hearing only the audio that would be on the front, side channels if I had a Dolby 5.1 decoder -- I'm simply missing all center channel information, which is where the bulk of the audio is. Sports broadcasts are quite awkward, as I seem to hear the crowd noises very well, but announcers are relatively quiet.

Is this a common issue? How do I fix it? Is it the HR10-250's fault, or the fault of my TV?

2) If I do buy a DD5.1 decoder and hook it up to the HR10-250 via the optical port -- is there audio output to that port on SD broadcasts as well as DD5.1 broadcasts? Or is that port only active for DD5.1 broadcasts? I'd like to simplify this for my wife by simply using the external audio decoder and speakers for ALL television, not just for HD broadcasts.

Thanks for any help!

[cheer]

1) I doubt you're actually missing center-channel audio, or you wouldn't be able to hear dialog. :) This is a common problem, even with an audio receiver doing DD. A lot of it is the broadcasters. What can be even worse is the delta between the network feed and the local feed. When WMAQ NBC-5 in Chicago switches from the network feed (for example, Law and Order) to, say, a local commercial promoting a newscast, the volume level jumps A LOT.

2) Yes, there is always optical output -- this is exclusively how I listen to my DTivo. For SD broadcasts without DD, you get 2-channel PCM output.

--chris

[jsirota]

Thanks Chris.

During the superbowl, we had to give up on the HDTV broadcast (which was OTA). We could not hear the announcers without cranking the TV's volume way up, which resulted in unacceptably load crowd noise from the stadium.

When you are using your external audio box, do you find that if you switch between an OTA channel and the DirecTV equivalent, that the volume level is VERY VERY different? As in, normal volume for a satellite channel results in volume at barely-a-whisper for the OTA channel?

This isn't the normal difference that you get from one channel to another -- this is the difference between a setting of "20" on our TV (of 100) for satellite, and "50" or more for HDTV OTA broadcasts.

[Mr. Bill]

I have owned 3 different D* HD boxes, 2 SD boxes and an HR10. The audio, no matter if DD5.1 or 2-ch, has always been a lot louder on any D* channel than on an OTA channel. That's just the way it is.

[cheer]

Same here. On D* channels -- especially SD channels without DD5.1 -- my receiver volume tends to get set anywhere between 36 and 44.

With HD OTA stuff, I generally have to crank it to 48-54.

YMMV.

--chris