Toshiba A2 Audio Help Needed

I just watched Fast and the Furious and it sounded great at -10db on the receiver. Nice and loud.

However when watching Superman Returns, I had it cranked to 0db on the receiver and some of the voices were still hard to hear.

What movie were you watching? I'm using my A2 to my Pioneer Elite 82.

I think the audio on that HD-DVD was known to be mixed lower than it should have, so that would explain your problem. Chronicles of Riddick sounds awesome too.

How low can you go?

I have my A2 connected to my Dolby Digital VXS557 Pioneer receiver by Toslink and the sound is very low. I have to turn the volume button up twice as high to get a decent output as before when I had the Toslink audio out connected to my Panasonic DVD player.

Dolby Digital audio is also on the Hd DVD movie disk. But when I play movies on my A2 as connected above, with the player audio output set to SPDIF set to PCM, my receiver only show Dolby Pro-Logic. Who else has this problem and can offer any solution.

Thanks

OH! I am also one of the many that have HDMI/DVI connection problems. A2 limite HD to 480p. Been using Component since to output 1080i until Toshibe fix this issue.

8ohms

8 OHMS,
I am having the same exact problems you are having. I'm hoping toshiba comes up with firmware fix for these problems. I don't understand when running the audio in bitstream mode it will not recognize Dolby Digital...I hope they find a fix. I really don't want to purchase a new processor. I called Toshiba and talked to a service rep about these problems and they told me they would get back to me this week. Will see what happens. Also, I purchased the A2 from Robert at Value Electronics and told him in detail what is happening and he told me to email him everything that is going on and he will pass it on to the people at toshiba. Again we will see what happens.

Sorry to hear you're in the same situation as me. When my Panasonic DVD was connected to my Pioneer receiver I had it set to Bitstream to output DD by Toslink. With the A2 set to Bitstream we both discovered that nothing comes out. My A2 was acquired from VE, and Robert has been in contact with me as well as Toshiba. I have got to commend this man for his hard work and dedication not only to his business, AVS forum members and commitment to Toshiba, but also to his personal attention in satisfying his customers after sale. I hope he has enough clout to make Toshiba stand up and pay attention to all our concerns.

8ohms

I only have to turn the volume way up when I'm playing an HD-DVD. If I flip the disc over and play the standard DVD side, I have to turn the volume down because it's "normal." I'm using the optical audio connection. I think it has something to do with HD-DVD's being converted to DTS. I've played with all the HD-A2 settings such as bitstream and downmix pcm, etc and nothing changes it. I think people are only having this problem if they use optical audio, not hdmi audio, but I could be wrong.

Make sure you have the dynamic range control set to off. If this is set to on or auto it will make the volume lower.

I only notice a slightly lower volume with the HDMI audio.

I found that on Hulk I had to pump the volume level up ridiculously high in order to discern dialog correctly (I am using HDMI into my Yamaha receiver). I did a bit of searching around and found that by changing the digital audio output to bitstream, this bafflingly boosts to levels back to normal.

I had it set to PCM originally as I'd read this was only way of passing a 96 signal. Remember, this is me tinkering with the output I am not even using ! and it has a noticeable and large affect to audio via HDMI. Very odd.

gocam.......you changed it from PCM to Bitstream and that seemed to work?

I'm having the same issue. HDMI connection to my Denon 2307 and all HD disks have to be cranked up pretty loud in oder to hear them. Even SD have to be played louder on the master vol. scale than I'm used to but not as loud as an HD disk. I have it set to PCM and Auto though.

I had low audio using TOSlink and had DRC on auto. turned it off and the audio got a good bit louder.
However every movie is comming up DTS on bitstream. none are showing DD.
While this is mostly good since DTS tends to sound more natural I have all my speaker settings setup for DD soundtracks.

Yes - I flipped to bitstream on the optical out and the levels were much more reasonable - give it a whirl and let me know what you find ! I still see MPCM on my receiver so it is still seems to do the right thing in that regard.

Well, I joined the my HDA2 low volume club, too.

I watched Charlie & the Choc Factory and set my volume at +7!

I am running the audio over HDMI, settings on PCM & 'Auto' for PCM output.

Has anyone figured out how to fix this piece of crap?!

I had the same problem with Polar Express. Had to go to +4. I am using HDMI and set the SPDIF to bitstream and it fixed the low audio, back to -5.

Here here!!!!! This is almost becoming unacceptable. I am watching Kingdom of Heaven on BD and I'm at -13 on the receiver and it is blasting.

I watched KK on HD-DVD via A2 and at -7, it was still not very dynamic compared to KoH (BD).

Both are connected via HDMI and yes my DRC is off. Something is rotten in Denmark.

To me its like HD-DVD has been PQ, but BD has the better AQ. Maybe we just need to get a merger here and take HD-DVDs better PQ and BD better AQ and be done with it.

metalsaber - have you tried setting your optical out to bitstream and testing levels ?

I have "PCM" and "Auto" set up on BOTH my Toshiba A2 and Sony BDP-S1 player while using HDMI connections. The Toshiba has a very low volume, while the Sony registers at the normal level while playing PCM 5.1 Uncompressed. Dolby TrueHD seems to lower the volume even more on "Superman Returns". I really hope that a future upgrade will remedy this volume problem, because it can be annoying.

Btw, the "Dialog Enhancement" doesn't seem to do a damn thing.

yeah - audio thing is annoying, but it's not too awful in that when one tinkers with the volume it does get better but you need to really fire up the levels too high. Firmware needs to fix this - I'll PM Robert.

If there is no fix soon, my HD-A2 is going back.

This is really pathetic for a second gen player to be so poorly designed.

THere are few complaints about it as few here have HDMI capable receivers / processors.

While I'm connected via HDMI to my receiver, I have my HDMI audio set to "Auto" so that I'll be fine with SD-DVDs.

I have messed around with settings for the optical setting it both to PCM and Bitstream, with it currently being at Bitstream.

I'm still disappointed in the audio levels. This should equal or be very close to the audio levels of my PS3/BD player.

I mean -13db on receiver for KoH (BD) and others and -7 and higher for HD-DVDs.

Again I watched KK at -7db and it still wasn't close to KoH at -13db.

Is this something that a firmware upgrade can fix??? dialog through the center channel is way to low also. I am using a Yamaha 1600 straight HDMI throughout.

I don't see why a firmware upgrade can't remedy the volume problem (they were able to fix the CD sound on the A1 upgrade). So far, the A2 has played smoothly (knock on wood), except for the low volume.

The A2 has been a dream for me, the A1 was like a nightmare.

Make sure DRC is turned off on the A2

I noticed the low dialogue on Superman Returns. But what is wrong with just turning up the volume? Nothing is perfect. And since you think it's crap, send it back!

At +7 and higher, you lose some dynamics.. At +10 I start hearing some hiss as well.
The player is faulty in this regard..I'd just like it fixed. It should have worked out of the box for a second gen unit.

I switched my optical out connection to PCM instead of Bitstream and kept the HDMI connection on Auto.

It didn't change anything. I still have to crank up the volume to the -4 range and to me it still lacks some overall dynamics. It's especially annoying when we finish watching a movie and I switch back to tivo.....-4 on tv watching is WAY TOO LOUD!

Toshiba...you MUST FIX THIS ISSUE WITH FIRMWARE ASAP! So far it's the only thing I don't like about my A2.

That is my config as well.. Same results.

When I had it on Bitstream, I had no center channel.

No center? Weird......what really sucks about this is when I bought the A2 (to replace my skipping A1) I just had to go out and get a brand new HDMI receiver. So I dropped some more cash on a Denon 2307 to replace my perfectly functioning HK 435. Thinking it would be a massive upgrade in SQ with the A2/TrueHD & HDMI connections! So far......it's not worth it.

When I had the A1 I had it running with analogs to the HK and the sound was downright ridiculous. The A2 hasn't exceeded my expectations in this area.

Technically, the lower your wattage on your receiver, the higher the distortion you will hear if the volume is too high.