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Question for Denon 5800 owners...

552 Views 7 Replies 2 Participants Last post by MikeM, Oct 13, 2000

Patrick G

Discussion Starter · Oct 12, 2000

Do you have the Auto Flag Detect Mode (AFDM) set to ON or OFF, and why?

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MikeM

· #2 · Oct 12, 2000

Quote:

Originally posted by Patrick G:
Do you have the Auto Flag Detect Mode (AFDM) set to ON or OFF, and why?

If you leave the AFDM on, Denon themselves tell you that mistakes will be made since every dvd manufactirer does not properly flag their disks. In other words, you can;t trust the AFDM to do the right thing which is not the 5800's fault. Therefore, by leaving it off and the matrix mode on, all your DD 5.1 will be presented in a simulated THX-EX mode which is great and it will also detect properly encoded THX-EX disks. As for DTS-ES, the computer picks up the difference with or without AFDM on so you might as well leave it off. Denon recommends leaving it off anyway. You might want to ask why bother including the feature at all since it seems to be a negative in any case. I can't answer that other than specific and rare uses where a customer may want the thing on to access other options.

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Patrick G

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 12, 2000

Quote:

and it will also detect properly encoded THX-EX disks

How can it possibly detect a THX EX disc if the Auto Detect mode is turned off? Also, I currently have the AFDM set to ON, and it still plays back all 5.1 material in 6.1, utilizing the rear surrounds. Why is that?

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MikeM

· #4 · Oct 12, 2000

Quote:

Originally posted by Patrick G:
How can it possibly detect a THX EX disc if the Auto Detect mode is turned off? Also, I currently have the AFDM set to ON, and it still plays back all 5.1 material in 6.1, utilizing the rear surrounds. Why is that?

Because it's already using the back surrounds in matrix mode. When it's fed a properly encoded THX-EX disk, and since that feature is matrix again and not discrete, it picks it up. The difference is that on DD 5.1 only disks it pulls out its own matrix material based on calculations within the unit whereas THX-Ex disks are directing the matrix material through disk encoding as setforth by the movie sound engineers. Turn off the ADFM and make sure you are in matrix mode (actually I think if you turn it off, you are automatically in matrix mode)and you will then see THX-SURROUND-EX in the display window when you play 5.1 material. Turning it off requires you to manually set DTS-ES material manually denoting the difference between ES (which is agaian a matrix content) and 6.1 Discrete (which of course is a discrete channel feed like on The Haunting).

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Patrick G

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 13, 2000

Quote:

Turning it off requires you to manually set DTS-ES material manually denoting the difference between ES (which is agaian a matrix content) and 6.1 Discrete (which of course is a discrete channel feed like on The Haunting)

What exactly do you mean by this? I could swear that it always switches to the appropriate mode (DTS ES Matrix or DTS ES Discrete) when you hit the DTS button, regardless of whether the AFDM is set to ON or OFF. I know it won't switch to DTS ES Discrete mode automatically if you're in Home THX Cinema mode.

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MikeM

· #6 · Oct 13, 2000

Quote:

Originally posted by Patrick G:
What exactly do you mean by this? I could swear that it always switches to the appropriate mode (DTS ES Matrix or DTS ES Discrete) when you hit the DTS button, regardless of whether the AFDM is set to ON or OFF. I know it won't switch to DTS ES Discrete mode automatically if you're in Home THX Cinema mode.

Pat:

You got it. By manually, I meant to make sure that you hit the DTS button because with ADFM off, the unit cannot tell the difference between a DD disk and a DTS disk. After manually switching to DTS mode, if it's a DTS discrete 6.1 disk it will register as such, if matrix then it will go that way.

So, to summarize: with ADFM off you get THX-EX on both DD 5.1 and THX-EX disks without doing a thing. If you play a DTS disk, you have to switch over manually to DTS and it will pick up the correct signal to give you either matrix or discrete DTS. Just leave the ADFM off as it says in the manual.

MM

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Patrick G

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 13, 2000

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So, to summarize: with ADFM off you get THX-EX on both DD 5.1 and THX-EX disks without doing a thing. If you play a DTS disk, you have to switch over manually to DTS and it will pick up the correct signal to give you either matrix or discrete DTS. Just leave the ADFM off as it says in the manual

Ok, so summarize "with AFDM ON" now. Isn't the exact same thing true? You still get EX with 5.1 sources and if you're in Home THX Cinema mode, you still have to switch manually to DTS to get DTS ES Discrete.

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MikeM

· #8 · Oct 13, 2000

Quote:

Originally posted by Patrick G:
Ok, so summarize "with AFDM ON" now. Isn't the exact same thing true? You still get EX with 5.1 sources and if you're in Home THX Cinema mode, you still have to switch manually to DTS to get DTS ES Discrete.

Pat, if you keep that thing on, you run the risk of leaving a vital decision to the unit which it may or may not be able to make since the dvd manufacturer is not obligated to flag the material. So, you open the possibility of getting an incorrect 5.1 assessment on a THX-EX encoded disk because with the ADFM on, you also may have "non-matrix" triggered which you don't want to do unless you don't have back surounds. The key thing in all this is to make sure that you are not in "non-matrix" mode if you still choose to run the AFDM. Otherwise, the display may say one thing and your speakers are doing another. Read page 21 of your manual very carefully...with AFDM on, the unit will do the right thing if the software is properly flagged, but it clrealy states that the surround back channel will not be deployed with regular 5.1 material. Then, if you set AFDM on, you have to look at another setting which apears as an option only in this mode which is for non-flag sources. There you have to choose either OFF, non-matrix or THX-EX/DTS ES. Note that your choices aren't very good for regular 5.1 material since you either have no back surround or you simply transfer the side surrounds to the back in non-matrix. Or, you take the chance in THX-EX/DTS-ES mode that non-flag sources will be output that way. I don't understand why you simply don't turn the whole thing off as they suggest and then get everything you want.

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