Ok, right now, we have a audio reciever hooked up to a 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System. It is Dolby Digital and DTS compatible. We have a DVD player hooked up to it through an optical cable, and our HDTV reciever hooked up through Coaxial. I was playing around in the settings on the DVD player and the HD Box, and found these settings. I was wondering A) What they mean and B) What is the best option for the best sound quality.

OK, here goes:

1. PCM Down Conversion. I have no clue what this is. On or Off?

2. Dolby Digital; Bitstream or PCM?

3. DTS Digital Surround: Bitstream or PCM?

4. Dynamic Range Supression; On or Off (I have a feeling that this has to do with giving a surround sound feel to a stereo system. Am I right?


Thanks!

PCM means Pulse Code Modulation and is used to convert an analog formatted signal into a digital format. Since DVDs and satellite are already digital you won't be needing it. Use the following settings:

1. PCM down conversion: Off

2. Dolby Digital: Bitstream

3. DTS Digital Surround: Bitstream

4. Dynamic Range Compression: DVDs have what is called high dynamic range, meaning the difference in volume between quiet and loud is greater than on CD, TV, or other audio sources. So what this translates to is you have to turn up the volume more to be able to hear quiet dialog or subtle sounds. But when the loud moments come on, they can be quite loud. This is the way it was mixed and is actually a good thing, unless people are trying to sleep in the house. By turning on Dynamic Range Compression it decreases that range and makes loud scenes quieter and quiet scenes louder, usually best for movie watching when others don't want to hear the noise boom through the house.

Thanks Bill!