Sony CT-100 Info, Reviews, Etc. - Page 26

I second this!

I need to buy an extra HDMI cable to hook this up and was looking at monoprice but there are so many different ones! Can anyone tell me which is the best cable to get for the least price? I am guessing a 6 fotter....Or send me a link if that's easier...thanks in advance!

Hi, I'm sorry if this has been covered before - I spent some time searching and reading though this post and haven't seen anyone with this issue.

I'm not having any sound problems. My problem is that when I connect my cable or PS3 to the ct-100 via hdmi, and then the ct-100 via hdmi to my tv (samsung 46a550), it looks... hazy. Just slightly, but enough that the colors seem a little drained and everything is just a tiny bit noisy - expecially bright whites.

To test this I first connected my cable box direct to the tv using hdmi and input 1 on the tv and played one scene - looks good/normal. Then connected cable to the SAT hdmi input of ct-100, and connected ct-100 using hdmi tv output to the tv input 1. Now the tv scene (an HD recording of a tv show) looks a little off. I'm no videophile, but it was noticable to me and my gf - I tried to do some testing not telling her which way it was connected and which one looked better - she always could tell when it was going through the ct-100.

I tried to eliminate all variables - the second hdmi cable I use is the one I've been using with my ps3 with no problems for about 1 year. I also tried this experiment with the ps3 and a blue ray movie - same cables, same test, same problem. When I use those same cables and connect direct to the tv from either source - problem gone.

Has anyone else had this problem? Thanks for any input you can give.

Correct Davyo! The reason to choose PCM is because the CT100 is very picky when you select an output. When the CT100 see's you have it on Bitstream, it tries to force DD 5.1 (or Dolby Digital Prologic II 2.0ch.) or DTS 5.1 out (even if you don't have it selected). This isn't always the case and there were a few times I somehow got 5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound (don't ask). Having your player set at PCM will always direct the CT100 to the highest setting you have on it (5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound). Hopefully that's understandable. I have to say though... me as AVS Sony CT-100 guru... lol Davyo. You made me laugh when I read that !

@Rault: You're pretty good at answering the questions I know nothing about (like the one from aridneptune). I have all my devices hooked up via HDMI and don't mind switching out one if I need to, don't have any other devices hooked up to other sources on the CT100 (exception to the TV source on the CT100 [Red and White]). So you're more helpful to others when it comes to MULTIPLE ways (like optical out, coaxial) to setup peoples devices. I'm a fan of HDMI right now !

@aerowk:

Well my Display Setting:
Video Output Settings- 1080p
RGB Full Range (HDMI)- Full
Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr Super-White (HDMI)- On

Video Settings are:
BD/DVD Cinema Conversion- Automatic
DVD Wide Display- Pan and Scan
BD/DVD Upscaler- Fullscreen
BD/DVD Video Output Format (HDMI)- Automatic
BD 1080p 24hz Output- Automatic

Due note that the settings I have might not work well for you. I only have these set this way because I know my TV can handle it because it's a Bravia. Rault will agree with me on this as he has one as well. Not all TV's are built the same.

Crap,looks like I'm going to double post... aw well. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how you have this set up. Alright, take the HDMI from your PS3 and put that in the Bluray input in the CT100. For your Cable put it's HDMI cord into the SAT input in the CT100. Now have a HDMI cable in the CT100 HDMI output (far right) and connect it to your TV. Use the CT100 remote to switch between sources (press one of the top 5 Dot buttons on the CT100 remote). If you are still having problems, switch ports when it comes to outputs (like the PS3 in DVD, etc.) Still have problems, you might have a defective unit and might have to return it for another one. Does anyone else have anything to add?

@rrock22: As long as the HDMI cable is 1.3a compliant, I think there really isn't a difference when it comes to HDMI cables with the exception of price. In my opinion, I wouldn't pay too much for an HDMI cable myself ! Find one that you like and is in your price range.

Duly noted. For what it's worth, I have one of the last gen tubes.
Sony 34" XS955 if I remember correctly. No 1080p, just goes up to 1080i.

Also please remember that DRC is USELESS unless you have BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI) set at Linear PCM. If you read the discription of DRC it states that,
"Makes it easier to hear the dialogue at low volume. This setting is used when the system outputs Dolby audio in LINEAR PCM"
What it also does is raise the volume even more than you are (let's say you raise your volume to 16, the DRC option raises it to about five or ten more itself). As with the DRC through the CT100 itself,
"Useful for enjoying movies at low volume. AUDIO DRC only applies to Dolby Digital sources"
Applies to the same thing above and actually, unlike what others have mentioned and believe, DRC only works with DOLBY DIGITAL. Not DTS nor 5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound. Having the CT100's AUDIO DRC set at STD (standard),
"Reproduces the sound track with the kind of Dynamic range that the recording engineer intended."
That's why I set mine at STD and you can actually hear the difference as everything is actually louder. NEVER set AUDIO DRC to MAX though, you'll notice right away that this option sounds so compressed, quiet, and muffled that you'll never do it agian :P! Hope this info is informative.

This looks good. Only suggestion I would make is to try RGB Full Range (Bold) to Limited or Full to get better blacks. On my TV, "Limited" setting works better.

I'll try that out rault, thanks.
Wait a sec...
We are kinda getting off topic here !

How are you doing with the CT100 and it's settings I recommended aerowk?
Any new tests with you rault?
EDIT: Well, did my signature on this forum finally...

Now that you mention it.

I found having Center on -1 and SW on -1 is a sweet spot for sound in my room.

Got my ct-100 on black friday from bestbuy. Hooked it up to my S350 via hdmi, popped in Transformers(also from bestbuy) and it didnt really sound that great. Went into the S350 settings and changed BD Audio Setting to Direct and restarted it, wow it sounded so much better. As an added bonus when i hit the bd button on the ct-100 remote the S350 powers up. Im still playing around with the settings but right now i think Movie, center +1, sw +1 are working good.

I changed the upscaler from normal to full but I do still have the widescreen setting at letterbox. I thought pan and scan was like back when there were full screen dvd's? I'm sure I'm remembering incorrectly, though. Still tinkering with subwoofer level, but definitely not having volume problems anymore.

Well I'm the type of person who likes to see the whole picture of the movie/ fill the whole screen (I'm not a letterbox type of guy). That's why I have it that way on my settings. Glad my sound settings helped you out !

Settings for S350 and the CT-100, I just picked up the CT-100 at Best Buy today and I have it hooked up to the Sony S350 Blu-Ray now I know that the CT-100 does not decode DD True HD but I was wondering what settings I should have my S350 on to get the best sound with the CT-100 I decided to go with the CT-100 because I have a 3 1/2 yr old and don't want to deal with all the wires, this thing sounds great right now but I want to make sure I have the settings ideal for watching my Blu-rays.

Any suggested settings would help. Thanks.

Tim

This guy was in your shoes and I'll quote him:

I recommend stopping on my post on the page before this one (25), I have settings for the CT100. Here's a link to make it easier though:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=745

Due note that though the CT100 does not decode HD audio, your bluray player does decode 5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound. So technically you can get HD formats that way via through PCM. I recommend Direct/PCM for your Blurays and Bitstream/ DD 5.1 for your DVD's.

I am getting video but not getting sound from my HD-A30 over HDMI.

My PS3 works perfectly over HDMI, as does TV audio to the CT-100.
I do not have another TOSLINK cable to test it.

The A30 works fine going directly to the TV over HDMI so I don't think it's the player.
I've also tried using the PS3 HDMI port and still no sound.

Thanks Da for the link to your settings. I have done some playing around with the CT-100 and it's great so far, I can agree with all the good reviews, this thing is great for what I was looking for in my living room.

I currently have a Motorola DVR box hooked up to it, in order to get 5.1 thru it I have HDMI hooked directly to the TV and Opt hooked into the SAT input on the CT-100.

I also have a S350 Blu-ray hooked via HDMI, with the settings tweaked for LPCM, sounds amazing. If I didn't already have my game room downstairs wired for true 5.1 surround I would have picked up two of these beauty's for my Xbox and PS3.

Any other tips I'll be looking around on here. Thanks.
Tim

OOOH boy, HD-DVD player... never owned one but let me see if I can help ya. Is there anyway to adjust the settings on your player? You need to set the audio output/setting to PCM on your HD-A30 in order to get your 5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound working (HD Audio). That's all I know, hopefully someone on this thread like Rault, Lkr, or Davyo has a HD DVD player and can share their settings with their know how...

@Shatterbox: Glad to help !

I haven't watched a HD-DVD in ages, but all I have is the 360 player. It just outputs Dolby Digital and DTS anyway, nothing good :P

Ah, The 360 HD DVD unit... that sucks that it can't output 5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound.
Crap, this might be the first time that I'm stumped.
Is there a way to output PCM with an HD DVD player (non 360 compliant)?
Rault?
Davyo?

Humm, not sure on the HD DVD PCM question,,, I have the Toshiba A-20 or A-30, Im not sure/forgot what model HD DVD the player is but I will check my settings and post back, its working, sound and picture via HDMI with the CT-100 but I have not gotten into the menus yet to make any changes as I rarely use my HD player.

Also Writer, I set my BD to PCM as you suggested and played some more with the CT-100 settings and PCM did make a difference, my CT-100 now sounds even better than before, so thank you very much for the PCM heads up.
Any second thoughts I might of had in keeping the CT-100 over the YSP's are now gone.

Being a past YSP junkie and now having the CT-100 better adjusted I am really shocked at how good the Sony sounds.

The Sony is a killer little soundbar !!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
Davyo

Black friday purchases:

Samsung ln52a650/Sony BD S350/Sony HT CT100/Sony STR DG720

will connect:

Comcast Digital HD box> HMDI>CT100
S350>HDMI>CT100
CT100>HDMI>A650

Question: My wife also wants stereo radio. How do I connect anything to the CT100 to get radio?

Read all 25 pages of threads and realize the DG720 receiver is not necessary to drive the CT100. I have read all the user manuals and do not see a connectivity path to bring the recever into the CT100.

Should I use an MP3 player with tuner via DM port (CT100), the DG720 (over air stereo radio and XM) or something else?

I have a free HMDI in on the CT100 and the DG720 has an HDMI out - would this work?

Confused and appreciate any thoughts. I can return the DG720 because of redundancy, but still have not solved the radio problem.

I'm certainly no expert, but you might consider returning the 720 and getting the Sony XDR-F1HD tuner instead, available from Amazon for $87. There's a fairly extensive thread about it in the HD radio section on this forum.

One thing you'd lose is a headphone jack, which was the deal-breaker for me.

Question from a HT noobie... I have a Sammsung 52" LCD. Coming from a mono CRT the Sammy actually sounds quite good to me but I would like to experience some surround effect and even better SQ. Looking at the specs on the ct100 I see it is only 31" long. Obviously I'd be loosing about 20" of separation between left and right channels. Would this be noticeable or would the ct100 more than make up for it with the virtual surround effect and better SQ?

Also, I do not have Blue Ray and have no plans to get one any time soon. Happy with regular DVD's for now. I've read that the ct100 is really made for Blue Ray. I assume it's still good with regular DVD's, am I right?

Thanks in advance for your help. David

I'm a complete novice with this stuff so please bare with me (I'm not even certain I'm posting this correctly or in the correct place). I purchased a Sony BDP-550 Blu-Ray player and hooked it to me Sony 46XBR4 LCD using HDMI. The was low, especially with dialog -- I had to crank the TV volume to like 80 to hear it well. So I bought the HT-CT100 based on good reviews and hooked everything up via HDMI. Well, the sound is better than through the TV, but still seems low (esp. compared to some reviews saying the output volume is quite good). To hear everything comfortably in my small den, I have the HT-CT100 cranked to max volume (50) with Center and Sub up to +6 each. I thought I might have a faulty S550, but when I hooked my old upscaling DVD player to the HT-CT100 via HDMI, the sound level is about the same. I bought everything via the web, so I'm, not eager to return components, esp. not knowing which, if any, is the problem. There are gazillion incomprehensible (to me) audio settings in these components. Can anyone who is using these components provide the proper audio settings for TV, S550 and Ht-CT100 to get this thing working correctly? Thank you so much for any help you can provide.

As an CT-100 owner I dont have an answer to your question but Im sure someone else will.

The reason for my post is I was curious as to why you have no plans to get a BluRay, the jump in picture quality between regular DVD and BluRay is not just slight,, BluRay is a huge jump in picture quality.

The new Samsung 1500 BluRay player can be had for between $200.00 to $250.00.

Just curious.

And welcome to the forum David.

Cheers
Davyo

Actually, the CT100 was not just meant for Blurays, it's just the only good reviewed soundbar that can output 5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound. It also does Dolby Digital 5.1/Prologic II (or DTS 5.1) which is great for games and DVD's! Also, the soundbar may look small but it produces BIG SOUND and a great surround with an excellent price to boot! So to answer your question, yes, the CT100 will more than make up for it's size with great sound and surround...when setup properly!

You have to first configure your CT100:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=745
Now when you start your DVD player and play a movie, go into your DVD's sound setup and change it to Dolby Digital 5.1. When you start watching the movie, look at the display on the Sub. It should flash 5.1 for a second, and DD should appear in the upper left corner, this means you are now enjoying Dolby Digital 5.1 sound! If it shows DD Prologic II for a long time, even in the movie, you're not enjoying the 5.1 surround feature on the DVD and aren't using the Ct100 to it's full potential. So go into your DVD PLAYER's audio settings and change it to Bitstream (or an option that forces the DD 5.1) and turn on the Dynamic Range Control (DRC) or turn it to Standard. Hopefully that helps.

When you get the ct100, I or the other Ct100 experts (rault, Lkr, and davyo) can walk you through it alot easier if you have any problems.

Please click on my link above and properly setup the CT100 and your Bluray/DVD to their proper settings. I have steps in getting the CT100 setup properly with good sound and when it comes to Bluray and DVD, I have a PS3. So I believe you need to somehow go into your bluray player and set it's audio option to Direct/ PCM audio in order to get 5.1/7.1 LPCM uncompressed sound (should flash on your CT100's subs display if you got it done correctly). As for your DVD player, go into it's audio settings and change it to Bitstream (or an option that forces the DD 5.1) and turn on the Dynamic Range Control (DRC) or turn it to Standard. Hopefully this helps, post back with results please, I'd like to know !

@Davyo: Thanks davyo, I don't have a HD DVD player so I was stumped at how to help the guy out (as I only have a bluray player/PS3). , I'm looking forward to seeing your results. Glad to have helped you out though ! I'm really glad I made my purchase of the CT100 too!

That sounds like a great idea. Looked into the XDR-F1HD tuner and it looks like a winner. Problem solved. Thank you!

By that, do you mean when even widescreen movies have the bars at the top and bottom, that you like the picture stretched to fill the screen? Or is that not what pan and scan means?

Not all DVD's stretch to fill the screen no matter what you do, so you might have to "zoom" with your TV. If it does stretch though, sometimes it looks good (I have a widescreen tv) and sometimes it looks bad (crops up, non-widescreen movies). It's a person preference really, some people want that theatre experience, while some want to fill the whole screen of their tv.

@wuberry: Might have to toss you into our help squad here ! I know nothing about adding tuners to the CT100. Thanks for helping ebm3433.