Audio playing back only in mono?

B

bozeman1941

Member
I discovered recently that my HDR-FOX T2 is only playing back audio in mono, regardless of how the audio settings are set (Stereo/Surround). There isn't even a mono option! This is happening regardless of the source (live off air/recordings off HD/media files on a USB drive).

Anyone come across this? I only noticed it recently when watching a recording where I knew the music, and I thought 'That doesn't sound right'. Upon checking, it's the same with everything. My JBL 2.1 soundbar and Yamaha DPU-50 both work fine in stereo or surround with my other PVR (a Humax Foxsat HDR) and my Sony UBP-X700 blu-ray player. TV is a Sony Bravia KD55FX8096. I've tried everything and I'm stumped! Any ideas, anyone?
 
The first questions you will probably need to answer are "How is the box connected to the system?", and "What is the system topography?".
 
The two PVR's and the blu-ray player are connected to the TV via HDMI, and the optical audio out from the TV goes to the optical in on the Yamaha DSP, and then on to the JBL soundbar by optical cable and/or analogue line out; the results are the same regardless of which input is used on the soundbar. Blu-ray and FOXSAT both give stereo (or surround) sound without problem, so it's not the TV, the Yamaha or the soundbar which are at fault. The only common factor is the HDRFox T2. It doesn't matter whether the audio out of the PVR is set to 'stereo' or 'surround', it only gives mono sound through the soundbar. I can't find any other settings relating to sound on the HDRFox.
 
Could be a cable problem or the specific TV input as those are also common factors. To eliminate those have you tried swapping the HDMI connections on the two boxes?
 
I haven't tried that, as the audio feeds are optical, so they either work or they don't; unlike with an analogue cable where it might be possible to get a short or a broken connection, and so lose a channel, or short to mono. I have tried different optical fibre cables, but that made no difference, as expected. In fact, thinking about it, there are no analogue connections anywhere in the system; they're all either HDMI or optical.
 
So you've got
Source HDMI to TV
TV sound output to AV amp etc

In that case check the relevant TV HDMI settings
Eg Sony TV/sound/HDMI(x)/dual sound/ set to stereo (not A or B)
 
bozeman1941 said:
The two PVR's and the blu-ray player are connected to the TV via HDMI, and the optical audio out from the TV goes to the optical in on the Yamaha DSP, and then on to the JBL soundbar by optical cable and/or analogue line out; the results are the same regardless of which input is used on the soundbar.
Click to expand...

bozeman1941 said:
I haven't tried that, as the audio feeds are optical,
Click to expand...

So the HDR-FOX audio isn't via the HDMI? :confused:
 
bottletop said:
So you've got
Source HDMI to TV
TV sound output to AV amp etc

In that case check the relevant TV HDMI settings
Eg Sony TV/sound/HDMI(x)/dual sound/ set to stereo (not A or B)
Click to expand...
Problem solved; thanks guys!

It turns out that the HDMI input on the TV that the HDR-FOX is connected to, had somehow set itself to 'B'; I think I first noticed it following a firmware update, but didn't realise the significance of 'B', so I didn't do anything with it, till I noticed the lack of stereo on that input. Having checked all the myriad sub-menus on the TV, and not finding anything wrong (it turns out it's set using a button on the remote handset) I was left scratching my head, until you mentioned 'B', and I thought 'Now where have I seen that?'

Result!
 
Oh yes; of course I knew. I just never used them, as the audio goes into the TV via HDMI, then out of the TV to the Yamaha DSP, and on to the soundbar via light pipe.
 
bozeman1941 said:
Oh yes; of course I knew.
Click to expand...
My post 12 was a reply to the text I quoted from post 10 (posted by user MikeSh), not to your post. Context is everything.

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Black Hole said:
So you've never noticed the HDR-FOX has an S/PDIF / TOSLINK digital fibre-optic audio output (not to mention the analogue RCA sockets and SCART socket)?
Click to expand...
Yes, of course. But the first line of his earlier post (#3) implies that the optical is from the TV onward:
bozeman1941 said:
The two PVR's and the blu-ray player are connected to the TV via HDMI, and the optical audio out from the TV goes to the optical in on the Yamaha DSP, and then on to the JBL soundbar by optical cable and/or analogue line out;
Click to expand...
 
Black Hole said:
So why the :confused: ?
Click to expand...
Because post 3 suggests there is only HDMI from the box but later ones suggested it uses the optical too. The lack of clarity was confusing me.
It's exactly why I wrote post 2, but I wish I hadn't bothered now, and probably won't in future.
 
MikeSh said:
Because post 3 suggests there is only HDMI from the box but later ones suggested it uses the optical too. The lack of clarity was confusing me.
It's exactly why I wrote post 2, but I wish I hadn't bothered now, and probably won't in future.
Click to expand...
I think the sources feed the TV using only HDMI. Then the TV audio out via optical to AV amp etc.
 
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