# Sony STR-DE635 outdated??



## gjjbmoore

I bought a 50" Samsung Plasma together with a SOny Blu-ray player. I was so excited to have a HT system that sounds awesome. Well.... need help.

I have the Sony STR-DE635 with 4 Extended Definition Satelite speakers with a Sub. I have never heard the incredible surround effects that I've been reading about. Is my receiver incapable, or too old? Should I replace it with one that has HDMI inputs? I hooked up the amp using the digital coax cable. I've tried every setting on the blu-ray....But I just can't get the separation I'm looking for. The sound just sounds loud coming out of all the speakers. 

Any advice is appreciated. :help:

Thanks for your help,
Greg


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Welcome to the Forum!

That receiver should work for you, at least for the audio side of things. It only has a couple of digital inputs (one optical, one coax). In those older receivers that had several analog inputs and limited digital inputs, there was usually a setting in the menu to assign the digital port to the input you want it used for. I assume you have the DVD player connected to the DVD input, so make sure the digital port is assigned to the DVD input.

Next there may be a setting in the DVD player menu for audio output. Make sure it's set for Dolby Digital 5.1 (IIR - someone correct me if I'm wrong there).

There should be an indicator light on the receiver to let you know you're getting a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal.

For video, if your player and TV support HDMI, run a cable from the DVD player to the TV. You should be in business.

Here's a link to the receiver's manual in case you don't have one.
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=STRDE635

Regards,
Wayne


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## gjjbmoore

Thanks for such a quick response Wayne. 

"Audio Settings"

Audio Output Priority- I set it to, Coxial, Digital Out.
Audio (HDMI) I left it to the default setting, which is Auto. ( I don't think it matters, since I'm not using HDMI hookup.)
BD Audio Setting- It has, MIx, or Direct. I set it to Direct. I really don't care about interactive audio, or secondary audio.
Dolby Digital- Downmix PCM, or Dolby Digital. I set it to Digital
DTS- Downmix PCM, or DTS. I choose Downmix, because I don't have a DTS decoder.

The rest is easy to understand. (I think...)

The funny thing is...is after I get this all setup, and close the menu. Something strange happens. I go back to my Blu-ray video. After a few seconds of loading, the DVD menu comes up. The Blue Dolby indicator bar lights up, the 5 speaker display comes on, telling me that I'm using LF, Center, RF, LR, RR, all 5 speakers. The Sub's level indicator bars are displayed....everything looks great. The sound is bellowing from the speakers like I'm in a movie theater ready to watch a blockbuster hit... I push play for the movie to start and... aaawwwww......NO SOUND!!! I can't believe it. What in the world am I doing wrong?? 

It's hard for me to understand if the new Blu-ray is converting the newer HD signals for the output, or is my older receiver trying to understand the upgraded Blu-ray signals to output??

Any thoughts on buying a new receiver? I bet that would fix all my audio problems. Are there any good deals on your web site? Thanks for all your help. 

Greg


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## tonyvdb

gjjbmoore said:


> Audio (HDMI) I left it to the default setting, which is Auto. ( I don't think it matters, since I'm not using HDMI hookup.)


I think you need to change that setting to off or what ever other options you have available as it may be trying to send the audio out through HDMI instead of your optical. 
Make sure your not selecting the uncompressed audio mode on your bluray players movie menu. It sometimes will default to it rather than dolby digital. The previews and menu screen of all movies only use Dolby digital at best. That is probably why you hear sound until you start the movie its self.


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## gjjbmoore

I will try your suggestions when I get home from work...I'm excited that the "HULK" might come alive tonight! The kids are anxious to hear it in surround.


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## gjjbmoore

Update...Friday night was a bust. No thundering sounds from the Hulk... 
As soon as the movie would start, no sound came from any speaker. I had to set the Blu-Ray player on Dolby 2.0 for the receiver to switch to Pro Logic out. It sounded like loud stereo sound coming from all 6 speakers.

I was all ready to go out this weekend a buy a Dolby True HD receiver when I read a post concerning the True HD sound coming out of the Blu-Ray player. They said you don't need the signal decoded again with an upgraded TRue HD receiver. My mistake was that the receiver had to know which input to use. I never realized how "auto" might not be doing the trick. I set the input on the receiver to Digital Coax. Immediately the display said "Locked" Hummmmm I thought. I went straight to the internet and looked up how to unloack it. I had to make sure the player was pumping sound out to the Digital Coax at the same time the locked was displayed. Then hit the input button......WOW...Digital sound started coming from all around me. The display read "Digital Input" THe large blue bar illuminated above the information display. My sytem came alive. All the speakers displays and sub were lit. I was so excited. All 5 speakers and my sub turned my living room into a movie theater. It all sounds soooo good. Now I can buy my wife something else for Valentines Day other than a new receiver...ha,ha 

Thanks again for all your help.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Glad to hear you found the problem, Greg! I've been saying for years, if they can send a man to the moon, why can't they invent a plug-n-play home theater system? :huh:

Anyway - enjoy!

Regards,
Wayne


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## nova

That receiver is a bit out dated,... to get the most out of your Blu-ray player and the new audio formats you may want to consider an upgrade at some point.


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## gjjbmoore

Truthfully, I'm disappointed of the lack of Blu-ray discs to rent at Blockbuster. The regular DVD's I own, I have tried in the new BR and they seem to sound good. But I bet if I had a new receiver, especially with the True HD built-in, I would hear a considerable difference in sound. 

My Extended Difinition Sony speakers are older also, Model sa-v835ed, but they sure seem to be built well, and sound good. Do you have any thoughts on newer speaker technology being superior also? 

I need about $1500 to play with...:daydream:


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## tonyvdb

gjjbmoore said:


> Truthfully, I'm disappointed of the lack of Blu-ray discs to rent at Blockbuster.


Th Blockbuster by my house has a great selection of BluRay movies. They will not stock older movies but have all the new releases since last spring.


> My Extended Difinition Sony speakers are older also, Model sa-v835ed, but they sure seem to be built well, and sound good. Do you have any thoughts on newer speaker technology being superior also?
> 
> I need about $1500 to play with...:daydream:


It depends on what brand of speakers your talking about. Sony is not known for there speaker building quality however if your happy with them then why upgrade.


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## nova

Dunno that speaker tech has come very far the last 20-30 years :bigsmile:, maybe some of the new materials and processes could be considered better. But like most things related to speakers its very subjective and debatable.

As Tony says, if your happy with the Sony's, keep 'em.


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