Blu-Ray and Surround Sound help needed

Don't know if I'm posting this in the right spot, but I need some help.


I finally upgraded to a Blu-Ray player and joined the rest of the world.

I set it up last night and tried watching Star Wars BluRay. Everything worked great but my surround sound receiver would only play the 5.1 and 2.0 Audio Channels. That's fine, except that it seems that the only 5.1 English Channel was the descriptive channel, the 6.1 would not play. I have an older 5.1 surround sound system, I thought it should be able to play the 6.1 audio channel? Have I missed something in the setup? Help!

Unfortunately there could be several problems. Did you make sure you selected the 6.1 track on the disc? There could also be settings in the bluray menu and/or the receiver menu. You'll probably have to go through each menu to make sure that they are decoding properly. I've had this problem as well and it does take some time to figure it out. Hopefully these will help.

Darthrazz said:

I have an older 5.1 surround sound system, I thought it should be able to play the 6.1 audio channel?

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Theres your problem.

King Darkness said:

Theres your problem.

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It's at least 9 or 10 years old. Maybe that is the problem. Would it be possible to buy a receiver and leave my speakers set up?

Yeah, you could just get a new audio receiver.

You definitely need a newer receiver and extra speaker.

Oh yeah, DW is right, you'll need the extra speaker for 6.1

King Darkness said:

Oh yeah, DW is right, you'll need the extra speaker for 6.1

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Math is hard.

Yeah, you could just get a new audio receiver.

Darth Waller said:

You definitely need a newer receiver and extra speaker.

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Cool beans, thanks for the advice, can anyone recommend a decent receiver and can I buy any speaker or does it have to be a special one?

I don't know much about receiver brands. I've had Yamaha in the past and it's always been fine to me. My current system was a complete-in-box system and it's also fine, but I don't remember the maker.

For the speaker, 6.1 adds a rear center speaker, so you can get any type of speaker that's similar in size to your rear surround speakers.

What is your budget?

Any decent HTIAB will be alright. I like 5.1 myself and have this in the living room.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsun...stem/2047429.p?id=1218307912312&skuId=2047429

It sounds great for the price and has a bluray player.

If you are spending serious money, invest the most in the speakers because you will keep those forever while always updating the receiver.

When my next house gets build, I'll have a dedicated theater room with SVS speakers and sub and prolly a Emotiva reciever/amp.

There are some excellent 7.1 receivers in the $500 range - Onkyo makes great ones (although they tend to run hotter than others), as does Yamaha, Pioneer and Denon.

As to a rear speaker, get something that's at least similar in size and spec to your surrounds. You absolutely always have to have your left, center and right matched, but you have a lot more lattitude with the surrounds. You don't want a surround that's very different tonally, but getting it close is good enough.

I have an Onkyo and I've been happy with it.

Onkyo! That's the theater-in-a-box setup I have.

I'd say my budget is about $400-500. So I could get a Theatre in a box sort of thing, I could always sell off my old system , even if for a few bucks to offset the cost of a new one.

Yea, but there's nothing in any $500 HTIB that's going to be something you'll keep if you ever want to upgrade. If you spend the money on a receiver (and with a relatively cheap sixth speaker for now), you can upgrade your speakers later to something nicer and be able to utilze the receiver for a long time. That's me, though.

Michael Crawford said:

Yea, but there's nothing in any $500 HTIB that's going to be something you'll keep if you ever want to upgrade. If you spend the money on a receiver (and with a relatively cheap sixth speaker for now), you can upgrade your speakers later to something nicer and be able to utilze the receiver for a long time. That's me, though.

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That is true, I might actually go that route. You make a valid point Michael.

If your going to upgrade your amp you may as well get a 7.1
From what I've noticed most of the newer blu-rays are either 5.1 or 7.1. Hardly see them with 6.1 audio.
Good luck, there's nothing like a good sarround set up..