Yamaha YSP 2200 - Newbie needs help to some basic questions!

It has been about eighteen months since I had the opportunity to play with one of these for a couple of weeks, so I am attempting to answer only be memory and logic.

I own an older Yamaha sound projector which is in my son's custody (good luck ever seeing this again), so some of this is also based on the two years experience with the YSP.

I believe the light should turn BLUE when receiving the DTS-HD signal. This would probably not worry me as I am not sure that the YSP-2200 has the resolving ability to make a significant difference in sound quality whether DTS-HD or regular surround.

No. You should go into your TV settings and turn off the internal speakers.

See answer 2. Turn off the internal (TV) speakers and make sue that you have connected the soundbar to an HDMI input that supports ARC. On most TV's, there is normally only one HDMI input that supports HDMI. I know on Panasonic, this is usually HDMI2 istead of HDMI1 which would seem the most logical to me.

The YSP2200 relies on a number of factors to simulate surround sound (remember this is simulated surround, not real surround). Part of this is the phase of the audio signal, time delays to certain speakers, and a number of other audio tricks that are beyond my electronic comprehension, but in the right environment certainly give the impression of surround. You might try the surround sound test if you own a THX encoded movie (The Incredibles) or a high definition test disc like HD Essentials or the Disney WOW disc. To achieve a realistic simulation of surround, you do need side walls and it is best if the soundbar and TV are approximately equidistant from the two sides and probably no more than 8' to 10' from the side walls (closer is better).