Need help with Sony Receiver and Tivo Premiere

[atomarchio]

Have Tivo Premiere using Streambaby. My connection is HDMI and I am using 3 speakers (left, center, right) in my family room.

We are only using a Sony DA3500ES and don't like the sound. The audio is not clear when watching movie with streambaby. There are no bars when lowering, increasing volume which is quite annoying. So the volume is either too low or too high.

Should I purchase another receiver to improve sound quality? If so, any suggestions on brand/model?

Or is there something else I should do? Please let me know. Thanks.

[jcthorne]

We will need more information to help you diagnose your problem. As much as I am not a fan of Sony audio components, I really do not think that is your problem here. Its more likely an incorrect downmix of audio tracks or something wrong with the file you are streaming. If the file is stereo audio, or worse AAC 5.1 its likely that the center channel dialog is missing or misdirected by the time you hear it. Post up some information on the file you are streaming (a mediainfo cut n paste would be great) and folk here can chime in on what may be your issue. Could also be setup of stream baby.

[atomarchio]

I purchased a Sony receiver because I already had a Sony TV and thought they would together better. Obviously, that was a mistake. Apparently, I am learning the hardway.

Originally, I only had left/center speakers. Then I purchased a center channel which did help but only a little.

I am not sure what to do. Buy more speakers, different receiver, etc.

Although all of my files have this issue. I just picked one. I downloaded the Mediainfo program with the information. Hopefully I did this right.

Thank you for help.

General
Complete name : \\HPSERVERLX\Videos\Kids Movies\2008.DVDRiP.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 697 MiB
Duration : 1h 44mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 935 Kbps
Writing application : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
Writing library : VirtualDubMod build 2540/release

Video
ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP : 2
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 1h 44mn
Bit rate : 796 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 272 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.183
Stream size : 593 MiB (85%)
Writing library : XviD 1.2.0SMP (UTC 2006-01-08)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : MS Stereo
Codec ID : 55
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 1h 44mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 94.3 MiB (14%)
Alignment : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration : 24 ms (0.60 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 145 ms
Writing library : LAME3.90.
Encoding settings : -m j -V 4 -q 2 -lowpass 17.6 --abr 128

[SNJpage1]

You said you originally only had a left and a center speaker. Did you mean to say left and right speakers? If what you typed is correct then you are losing a lot of the sound by not having a right speaker.

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by SNJpage1

You said you originally only had a left and a center speaker. Did you mean to say left and right speakers? If what you typed is correct then you are losing a lot of the sound by not having a right speaker.

I meant to say I originally only had left/right speakers. Then I added a center channel which did help.

However, I am wondering if my problem is related to the fact that my Sony receiver does not have any kind of visual indicator when increasing/decreasing the volume. (I am using HDMI and I called Sony about this).

Would switching to a different receiver which does have a visual LED indicator when increasing/decreasing volume help?

While not have these visual volume indicators is annoying, I think I am still having other issues.

[jcthorne]

Well the file you are transcoding and loading to your tivo only contains stereo audio encoded as mp3 format. So any more than a stereo pair of speakers will not help with this file. Do you have the reciever set to some kind of faux surround mode? Or Dolby prologic? Either of which will cause diffeculties for you without the correct speakers for the sound field its trying to generate. You should be using a straight pass through mode.

Have you played the file on your pc to verify the sound quality is good there?

The volume is either loud enough for you or not, of what use is the indicator other than knowing where its set before listening to avoid too loud before starting. Its a convienience but hardly necessary.

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by jcthorne

Well the file you are transcoding and loading to your tivo only contains stereo audio encoded as mp3 format. So any more than a stereo pair of speakers will not help with this file. Do you have the reciever set to some kind of faux surround mode? Or Dolby prologic? Either of which will cause diffeculties for you without the correct speakers for the sound field its trying to generate. You should be using a straight pass through mode.

Have you played the file on your pc to verify the sound quality is good there?

The volume is either loud enough for you or not, of what use is the indicator other than knowing where its set before listening to avoid too loud before starting. Its a convienience but hardly necessary.

I selected the "multi-stereo" on my receiver as that sends sound to all 3 speakers (left, center, right).

I can't figure out how to turn the surround sound effects off. It does not seem to give me an option to do that.

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by jcthorne

Well the file you are transcoding and loading to your tivo only contains stereo audio encoded as mp3 format. So any more than a stereo pair of speakers will not help with this file. Do you have the reciever set to some kind of faux surround mode? Or Dolby prologic? Either of which will cause diffeculties for you without the correct speakers for the sound field its trying to generate. You should be using a straight pass through mode.

Have you played the file on your pc to verify the sound quality is good there?

The volume is either loud enough for you or not, of what use is the indicator other than knowing where its set before listening to avoid too loud before starting. Its a convienience but hardly necessary.

Should I change any settings on the Tivo itself?

[kevo777]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

I selected the "multi-stereo" on my receiver as that sends sound to all 3 speakers (left, center, right).

I can't figure out how to turn the surround sound effects off. It does not seem to give me an option to do that.

Not sure what "multi-stereo" means, but I've never seen an HT unit generate a sound field optimized for a 3-channel setup. Not to say one doesn't or can't exist. If it's sending audio to left, right, AND center channels, then it's most likely "upmixing" a 2-channel source into a 5.1 mix. If this is the case (guessing here) then you definitely want to change to just a 2-channel left and right-only stereo mode.

I hope this helps.

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by kevo777

Not sure what "multi-stereo" means, but I've never seen an HT unit generate a sound field optimized for a 3-channel setup. Not to say one doesn't or can't exist. If it's sending audio to left, right, AND center channels, then it's most likely "upmixing" a 2-channel source into a 5.1 mix. If this is the case (guessing here) then you definitely want to change to just a 2-channel left and right-only stereo mode.

I hope this helps.

This is a Sony 3500ES receiver. It says sending speaker output to all speakers including left, center, right.

I've selected this one over 2-channel because then no sound comes out of my center channel speaker then.

It sounds like this would be the only option I have, right? Is there anything else I can do at this point?

[jcthorne]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

I selected the "multi-stereo" on my receiver as that sends sound to all 3 speakers (left, center, right).

I can't figure out how to turn the surround sound effects off. It does not seem to give me an option to do that.

Turn off multi stereo, its part of your distortion problem. You have a recording with 2 channel stereo sound, should have sound from front left and right speakers only. There is no dialog center channel track.

[jcthorne]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

This is a Sony 3500ES receiver. It says sending speaker output to all speakers including left, center, right.

I've selected this one over 2-channel because then no sound comes out of my center channel speaker then.

It sounds like this would be the only option I have, right? Is there anything else I can do at this point?

Yes, start with better program material that has ac3 DD 5.1 sound track.

Your reciever likely has a theater mode, Dolby digital mode or THX Home Cinima mode. Use that. It will play the sound channels sent by the tivo over the HDMI digital cable and not try to remix channels that do not exist.

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by jcthorne

Yes, start with better program material that has ac3 DD 5.1 sound track.

Your reciever likely has a theater mode, Dolby digital mode or THX Home Cinima mode. Use that. It will play the sound channels sent by the tivo over the HDMI digital cable and not try to remix channels that do not exist.

Regarding better program material, I had the file in AVI but I am converting to MP4 so it will play on the Tivo.

I've had issues with AVI files in the past and this conversion was solving the problem.

But is it creating the audio problem?