Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Denon Blu-ray into CP750

This is topic Denon Blu-ray into CP750 in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ian Garland (Member # 8499) on 11-16-2018, 11:41 AM:

Has anyone had any experience using the co axial digital out on a Denon DN-500BD player into a Dolby CP750.

I know the signal levels are not true AES it being a prosumer sort of player, They state that it gives out an AES/EBU signal at 0.5v with a 75 ohm loading and it certainly does not light up on the front panel as a recognised digital signal.

However other bits of domestic kit that are certainly no where near professional work fine when connected, like a £99 satellite RX that works fine either on AES or Optical in, Even a cheap as chips Coax / optical converter is recognised and works so why not the Denon ?

Any suggestions?

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 11-16-2018, 12:19 PM:

Do other sources work? Is it possible that the CP750 is configured for 7.1, in which case the Digital 2 input comes out CH7/CH8 and is otherwise disabled?

Harold

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-16-2018, 01:12 PM:

Have you gone through the settings to ensure that you are sending out "LPCM" from that Coax output (not everything comes pre-configured). When working with Dolby processors, remember, they do NOT work with DTS (most Blu-rays) so outputting just LPCM is the safe-bet.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 11-16-2018, 02:12 PM:

yes the BluRay problem with DTS is pretty common when using a CP750 or 850. But I think the CP750 still lights the "active" LED regardless. The big clue with BluRay is when trailers have sound (because they don't have DTS audio, and play LPCM audio) but the feature is silent.
If the active LED isn't coming on (and you know it works!) then I suspect the player is defective. Try changing the audio to plain S/PDIF stereo first though - in the BluRay player menus somewhere.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 11-19-2018, 04:23 AM:

You're only playing stereo content with your Blu-ray? Otherwise I would use the analog outputs on the Denon and the analog inputs on the CP750. At least that way you can have 7.1 surround and also play DTS tracks.

Please notice that you go from unbalanced outputs to balanced inputs.

Posted by Ian Garland (Member # 8499) on 11-20-2018, 05:50 AM:

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like it may well be a fault on the player itself.

Currently all the odd domestic type stuff is switched through the HDMI inputs on an AV receiver and then 8 pre outs connected into the Dolby. All works well as it is but we have some part timers running shows and was hoping for a more elegant way with less devices that needed switching to the correct settings for it to work

Thanks again.
Ian

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-20-2018, 06:06 AM:

If you skip the AV receiver and enter the CP750 directly, you may get into trouble with discs containing dts audio. So, you need to make sure you can get the Denon configured to transcode all dts into either AC3 or LPCM. And with the limitations of LPCM over S/P-DIF/TOSLINK, this is probably not the best solution.

It's consumer gear as well, but, you may get away with a simple S/P-DIF/TOSLINK autoswitcher. While I usually don't like automatic source switching, the 'activate last upcoming source strategy' usually works well enough, and most devices have a manual override anyway. There are also more professional devices which may support remote switching through server cues, so you can setup specific playlists or macros which do all the necessary source specific switching for both image and sound.

Are you sure the AV receiver doesn't offer some sort of remote control? Some of the better ones offer RS232.

There are standalone HDMI switchers/audio decoders on the market which include remote switching, but, with all the wanted features and functionality, they come at a hefty price.

Which server/mediablock do you use?

- Carsten

Posted by Ian Garland (Member # 8499) on 11-21-2018, 02:45 PM:

Carsten

Yes the DTS problem is part of the reason for the AV receiver in the first place. The Denon is supposed to output LPCM but it never worked from new, I did query with UK agents but never got a response and note there have been Firmware updates for you stateside but nothing UK.

The receiver is a Pioneer SC-LX59 and does have a RS232 D sub 9 on the rear but nothing mentioned in the literature as to parameters for use or even it's existence.

All is working well as it is and the only problems will occur when the volunteers are running the system but I am always on call when they show out so probably not worth to much further time but maybe something to explore in a bored moment with nothing to do. Guess there are not that many of the Denon units out there. We are just a small community cinema and the price of the Oppo stuff was beyond budget, still it's a vast improvement on the Panasonic it replaced.

FYI Dolby DSS200/CAT862

thanks for your input
Cheers
Ian

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-21-2018, 08:51 PM:

Doesn't that Denon offer discrete multichannel analog audio as well? Then why need the receiver? From what I see in the manual, there is no transcoding option, so, the Coax output will strictly output AC3 for AC3, AND DTS for DTS, and fail towards the CP750 in the case of DTS. The 8ch RCA analog out into the CP750 is the only option, Otherwise, that DENON looks like a nice player.

- Carsten

Posted by Ian Garland (Member # 8499) on 11-22-2018, 06:38 AM:

Yes the player has 7.1 discrete outputs and I could just run them into the CP750 instead of the AV receivers output i guess. The receiver is mainly used as an HDMI switcher between LANsat, Sat, DVD, Bluray and a MAC so it just seems easier to use it to select everything at once with one knob..

The player it self is very nice and completely region free. The only irritation is despite it being able to disable the onscreen display it dose display the pause or play icon so still have to use the douser.