I've got an pioneer 1014tx setup with a 5.1 athena system.

When I do on Manual (MCAA?) on the receiver, the different test tones play for each speaker correctly.

But when i use avia on the dvd player, when playing the left surround and right surround, it splits between both rears. In other words, when Avia does a test tone for either the right or the left, I hear it on both rear speakers.

I have the rears plugged into the Surrounds and not Rear Back Surrounds on the receiver.

When watching movies I dont hear much from the rear speakers.

What could my problem be?

have you verified that your speakers are connected correctly at the receiver?

I have, and they are.

uhmm, I would try doing the test tone from the receiver itself and see if you have the same problem instead of using the avia dvd or try the THX theater setup on the Star Wars DVD or something, some dvd's have a theater setup in the special feature section.

look thru your owners manual on the receiver and try the test tone from that.

if that still gives the same problem that you described then maybe you have an issue with the receiver

I my case, I use the DVD drive in my PC in an HTPC setup rather than a DVD player, with s/pdif from PC to the A/V receiver to handle the audio. Initially, while setting up, I had a similar problem to yours, with the Sony test mode giving me proper output from all five speakers (six, counting the sub) but with source from the PC giving me nothing from the rear, and also nothing from the centre speaker, I believe. Traced it back to audio settings on the PC, where s/pdif was greyed-out and multichannel speaker was selected. Once I got audio running thru s/pdif, everything was good....all 6 speakers going, DTS selectable, etc. Check the audio settings from the DVD player....

Just my $0.02....

The dvd player is my xbox 360 hd drive. Maybe that has something to do with it .I'll check it out.

Just to make sure, you are using the optical output on the Xbox360?

Just to make sure, you are using the optical output on the Xbox360?
Good question. Are you?

If so, it sounds like your receiver is not applying Dolby Digital 5.1, but something else (like Dolby Pro Logic II), to what is being input to it via your player's optical connection.

Make certain your player is set up to output "bitstream" and then make certain your receiver is configured correctly for Dolby Digital 5.1 playback of the optical source.

I'm not using the optical out on the xbox. I've got the vga for tv and rca outs going to the receiver. The reciver itself i think might be in a funny mode. Like pro cinemoa or Dolby Pro Logic.

I'm not using the optical out on the xbox. I've got the vga for tv and rca outs going to the receiver. The reciver itself i think might be in a funny mode. Like pro cinemoa or Dolby Pro Logic.
You can't get true, discreet 5.1 sound unless it's connected to the receiver via an optical connection

Yes, as pointed out you're just getting pro-logic type matrix surround. You need to use digital output(optical or coax) to get 5.1.

I found an extra toslink cable, and hooked up the digital inputs.

Now i ran into another problem on the receiver end. On my Pioneer 1014, i can get two optical inputs to run correctly.

There are two toslink inputs on the receiver. 1 for TV/SAT the other cor CD-TAPE , when i plug anything into the CD-TAPE, I cant get any sound out. Anyone familiar with this ?

I'm not familiar with your receiver. Take a look at the manual, but you most likely have to set assign the digital input to CD-Tape.