Most movies not 5.1 channel sound on Sky movies anymore

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rugrat

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# 208298 6-Feb-2017 03:23

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Watched the huntsman last night and week before Batman vs Superman. both these movies were only 2 channel, despite the Dobly digital logo in the info about program.
If I flick through all the movie channels at any one time at most only two of them are doing 5.1

Use to be that most movies were 5.1, is this another case of Sky degrading quality of their product?

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# 1715924 6-Feb-2017 06:36

Might be a stupid question but has to be asked: You are definitely watching the HD version of Sky Movies?

rugrat

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# 1715925 6-Feb-2017 07:00

Yes. The hd version.

In huntmans for the first 2 seconds all five lights on my reciver lit up, then it dropped to two lights.

After it finished I went through all movie channels, and the only one that would light up all five lights was the movies extra channel.

it's like they,ve got more channels then it can handle, so they're saving band width by cutting back the sound.

DjShadow

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# 1715928 6-Feb-2017 07:27

Have you been through the Audio options on the Sky Box to ensure it is passing the bitstream (dolby) audio channels?

Try giving the box a reboot? (kill the mains for 20-30 seconds to the sky box)

rugrat

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# 1715936 6-Feb-2017 08:12

I've rebooted box.

At 8 o clock this mourning,

Movies hd, movies extra, and family movie pop up channel are doing 5.1

The other ones are only doing two channel sound.

Source code and The telented mr ripley would've been made in 5.1, yet only playing with 2 channel.

If my sound settings weren't correct I wouldn't be getting 5.1 on any channels.

Maybe they don't have enough bandwith to do 5.1 on all channels at once, but very disappointing that they dropped the 5.1 sound on the premire movie last night and week before.

Goosey

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# 1715957 6-Feb-2017 08:57

Silly questions, what type of cable are you using between the sky box (or are you going via the tv out to the HT) and your HT? Optical + HDMI or just HDMI?

How old are these cables?

check this forum and perhaps re-check all your settings;

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=106&topicid=99687

rugrat

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# 1716061 6-Feb-2017 13:49

HDMI from Sky box to TV, then optical from TV to reciever.

In audio settings set preferred language English

Audio format Automatic
Audio output Stero
S/PDIF audio delay 0ms

If I change it to
Audio format manual
Audio output Stero
Hdmi format Dolby Digital
S/PDIF Audio format Dolby Digital

I'lve also changed the optical cable from going from the TV, to going straight to the recieverfrom the sky box still no difference.

Huntmans is on Sky movies and again it's only two channel sound.
Movies extra two channel surround then she found me
Movies action 2 channel
Movies great The watcher the full 5.1, if it's old cables doing the problem then how come I'm getting 5.1 here.
Classics 2 channel
Family 5.1
Disney movies 2 channel

Dunnersfella

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# 1716083 6-Feb-2017 15:10

Can I ask why you have the audio output set to stereo?

What other options are there?

Also, what AVR do you have?

Most TV's don't have the ability to take an HDMI source... then pass the audio from the TV to the amp via optical in surround sound. Due to EDID they typically downscale the sound to stereo.

Some newer TV's can do this, but most older versions do not.

rugrat

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# 1716096 6-Feb-2017 15:34

It only gives the option in the sky box of stero or mono.

I have an LG 2013 TV and it does output dd from HDMI in to TV out optical to reciever, Plus I did say in previous post that I took the HDMI out of equation by hooking optical cable straight from sky box to reciever.

Have PS3 connected through HDMI no problems there, and netflix outputs DD5.1 no problems, though thats through the applic on TV.

Reciver is Panasonic sa-he70.

I honestly believe the fault is with Sky and finding it difficult to believe no one else is seeing same thing. With same set up movies use to run good, but I only just subscribed to it in last month, with about 6 month gap.

RunningMan

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# 1716119 6-Feb-2017 17:22

rugrat: [snip]
Movies extra two channel surround then she found me
Movies action 2 channel
Movies great The watcher the full 5.1, if it's old cables doing the problem then how come I'm getting 5.1 here.
Classics 2 channel
Family 5.1
Disney movies 2 channel

The HD versions of those on the satellite all show as having a single audio track that is AC3 (i.e surround). The SD versions have an MPEG (2 channel) track only.

If you are receiving the HD (not SD) version then you must be getting an AC3 audio track. If you are only hearing stereo, then there's 2 probable causes:

1) The broadcast only has audio in the front left/right channels, and the remainder are silent

2) Something in your setup is converting to stereo

To rule out the first, can your receiver display what type of audio it is decoding? If it tells you the audio signal is AC3, but only stereo is heard, then it must be the broadcast. If it tells you it's not AC3, then either you are receiving the SD (not HD) broadcast, or something in your setup is converting the audio signal.

Can your TV display info on the audio signal it is receiving over HDMI? What does this say?

rugrat

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# 1716125 6-Feb-2017 18:15

Cheers running man.

I'm getting ac3 on all the movie channels, I.e the red Dolby light is on.

On some movies only left and right lights light up, then others I get all six light up.

Where only left and right light up the reciever is doing prologic, but even though this sound comes out all speakers it's not as good as it would be in true 5.1

I do believe Sky Re transmitting only two channel audio, but it seems like it's the newer movies which doesn't make sense, unless they've stopped buying 5.1 movies to save money somehow. The older movies are doing 5.1.

I'll have a look to see what info shows on TV when get home.

RunningMan

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# 1716138 6-Feb-2017 18:43

That does seem to suggest it is at the broadcast end, but it would be interesting to see what the TV reports the audio as - both when it is surround, and stereo.

What does the receiver report when you view an SD channel that is not supposed to be surround?

Dunnersfella

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# 1716145 6-Feb-2017 19:27

I wasn't aware that there were any 2013 LG TV's made that could decode surround formats via optical when an HDMI is connected to the TV...

What's the model code?

I wouldn't discount the Panasonic HTIB from being a little 'odd' just yet... I don't have Sky, so I can't test sorry.

davisg

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# 1716186 6-Feb-2017 21:10

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I thought this was going to be a setup issue but blimey the post is absolutely correct. Sky is clearly cost cutting and transmitting non 5.1 channel versions of movies.
Right now 8.40pm 6th Feb TV1 "Our Girl" and TV2 "Life on Pieces" are full 5.1 but all other HD channels (Prime HD, Soho, Sky movies 30-37) are either basic stereo or Dolby Digital using just the L/R channels. TV3 is 5.1 but just using L/R.

Along with low bit rate channels with excessive compression, and SD versions of HD material even On Demand (for heaven's sake) their whole attitude to their customers who are paying way OTT prices just sucks. It really does.

Where are the 4k channels? Where are the HD versions of Discovery, Nat Geo, History, BBC Knowledge, news channels? And where are the full Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks?

Their current business model is rubbish and their apalling service attitude in providing less than an acceptable minimum at a monthly price (for two decoders) that exceeds most annual streaming services will guarantee their demise.

A monopoly can be tolerated if it provides a proper service but Sky TV does not and deserves to have that monopoly taken away.

msukiwi

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# 1716188 6-Feb-2017 21:23

They get away with it because as this thread proves - 10 people give reasons why the thread starter is wrong without actually "checking" for themselves.

Finally someone agrees with the thread starter.

If this is the result for people on this forum do you think $ky care about the general paying suckers?

Hammerer

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# 1716189 6-Feb-2017 21:26

Thanks for confirming what I've perceived but had no hard evidence for.

I'm thankful that I still have the option of BluRay videos at 10 for $10 from our local video shop (United Video, High St, Lower Hutt). New releases are only $2 each on Tuesdays.

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