Expert: Wayne Tapia - 2/14/2010

Question
Ok I might be nit picking but I recently got a Samasung BD-P1600 BR Player and I am trying to make sure I am getting full 5.1 DTS surround with my Yamaha HTR-5840 playing BR's. It has an optical connection straight from the Blu Ray player to the reciever and is DVD AUTO input set on the Receiver. The thing is I owned an older Yamaha model and the speaker input channels would all light up in the bottom RH corner with my 5.1 encoded DVD's. The speakers work but I don't know if I have the encoder/decoder working when only the R and L (2) channels are lit up? The DTS is lit up and it the Cinema DSP I have scanned through all the audio settings an the BR Player and everything I could get to on the Receiver but them pesky lights are not coming on?? I would think they would be on at any state as long as the Blu Ray is in the movie and on the right setting. Am I concerned about nothing or should I go get my DVD player from my neighbor I sold too to try and diagnose this? :)

Answer
If you're getting discrete channels of output from the speakers , it almost sounds like the lights are burned out or something. If you can borrow your old player, I'd say go for it.

Do you have a test disc you can try? If not - go to this page (http://www.lynnemusic.com/surround.html), download the AC3 test, burn it to a dvd and try it out.