Harman Kardon AVR 140 Owners Manual - Page 30

OPERATION

separate from the other channels, but since it is inten-

tionally bandwidth-limited, sound designers have given it

that unique designation.

Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital is a standard part of DVD, and is also

available on specially encoded LD discs and satellite

broadcasts, as well as being a part of the high-definition

television (HDTV) system.

An optional, external RF demodulator is required to

use the AVR 140 to listen to the Dolby Digital sound-

tracks available on laser discs. Connect the RF output

of the LD player to the demodulator and then connect

the digital output of the demodulator to the

Optical

or

Coaxial Inputs

*(

·d

of the AVR 140. No

demodulator is required for use with DVD players or

DTS-encoded laser discs.

DTS

DTS is another digital audio system that is capable of

delivering 5.1 or 6.1 discrete or matrix sound field

reproduction. Although both DTS and Dolby Digital are

digital, they use different methods of encoding the sig-

nals, and thus they require different decoding circuits

to convert the digital signals back to analog.

DTS-encoded soundtracks are available on select DVD

and LD discs, as well as on special audio-only DTS

discs. You may use any LD or CD player equipped

with a digital output to play DTS-encoded discs with

the AVR 140. All that is required is to connect the

player’s output to either an

Optical

or

Coaxial Input

on the rear panel

·d

or front panel

*(

.

In order to listen to DVDs encoded with DTS sound-

tracks, the DVD player must be compatible with the

DTS signal as indicated by a DTS logo on the player’s

front panel. Early DVD players may not be able to play

DTS-encoded DVDs. This does not indicate a problem

with the AVR 140, as some players cannot pass the

DTS signal through to the digital outputs. If you are in

doubt as to the capability of your DVD player to handle

DTS discs, consult the player’s owner’s manual.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Many DVD players have a default

setting that does not pass through the DTS data, even

though the machine is capable of doing so. If your

DVD player has the “DTS Digital Out” logo but does

not trigger DTS playback in the AVR 140, change the

player's settings in the “Audio” or “Bitstream” configu-

ration menu so that DTS playback is enabled. The

method for doing this will vary with each player. In

some cases, the proper menu choice will be “Original,”

while in others it will be “DTS.” Consult the owner's

manual for your player to find the specific information

to find the proper setting.

Selecting a Digital Source

To utilize either digital mode, you must have properly

connected a digital source to the AVR 140. Connect

the digital outputs from DVD players, HDTV receivers,

satellite systems or CD players to the

Optical

or

Coaxial Inputs

*(

·d

. In order to provide a

backup signal and a source for analog stereo recording,

the analog outputs provided on digital source equipment

should also be connected to their appropriate inputs on

the AVR 140 rear panel (e.g., connect the analog stereo

audio output from a DVD to the

DVD Audio Inputs

i

on the rear panel when you connect the source’s

digital outputs).

If you have not already configured an input for a

digital source using the on-screen menus as shown

on page 17, first select the input using the remote or

front-panel controls as outlined in this manual. Next,

select the digital source by pressing the

Digital

Select Button

q#

and then using the

/

/

¤

Buttons

n

on the remote or the

‹

/

›

Selector

Buttons

)

on the front panel to

choose any of

the

OPTICAL

or

COAXIAL

inputs, as they

appear in the

Upper Display Line

P

or in the on-

screen display. When the digital source is playing, the

AVR 140 will automatically detect which type of digital

data stream is being decoded and display that infor-

mation in the

Upper Display Line

P

.

The AVR 140’s Auto Polling feature searches both the

digital and analog audio inputs assigned to a source

for an incoming signal. Although the digital input is the

default, if the digital stream is not present or is inter-

rupted, the unit will automatically switch over to the

analog inputs. If you wish to disable the auto-polling

feature for any source, follow the instructions shown in

the Input Setup section of this manual on page 17.

Digital Bitstream Indications

When a digital source is playing, the AVR 140 senses

the type of bitstream data that is present. Using this

information, the correct surround mode will automati-

cally be selected. For example, DTS bitstreams will

cause the unit to switch to DTS decoding, and Dolby

Digital bitstreams will enable Dolby Digital decoding.

When the unit senses PCM data from CDs or LDs, it

will default to Logic 7 Music mode, although you may

select any of the standard surround modes, such as

Dolby Pro Logic II or Logic 7. Since the range of

available surround modes is dependent on the type of

digital data that is present, the AVR 140 uses a variety

of indicators and messages to let you know what type

of signal is present. These messages will appear shortly

after an input or surround mode is changed, and they

will remain in the

Lower Display Line

ı

for about

five seconds before that portion of the display returns

to the normal surround mode indication.

Surround Mode Channel Indications

For Dolby Digital and DTS sources, a three digit indi-

cation will appear, showing the number of channels

present in the data. An example of this type of display

is 3/2/.1.

The first number indicates how many discrete front

channel signals are present.

• A “3” tells you that separate front left, center and

front right signals are available. This will be displayed

for 5.1- and 6.1-channel Dolby Digital and DTS

programs.

• A “2” tells you that separate front left and right

signals are available, but there is no discrete center

channel signal. This will be displayed for Dolby

Digital bitstreams that have stereo program

material.

• A “1” tells you that there is only a mono channel

available in the Dolby Digital bitstream.

The middle number indicates how many discrete sur-

round channel signals are present.

• A “2” tells you that separate surround left and right

signals are available. This will be displayed for 5.1-

and 6.1-channel Dolby Digital and DTS programs.

• A “1” tells you that there is only a single, surround-

encoded surround channel. This will appear for

Dolby Digital bitstreams that have matrix encoding.

• A “0” indicates that there is no surround channel

information. This will be displayed for two-channel

stereo programs.

NOTE:

The surround back channels in 6.1/7.1-chan-

nel bitstreams, such as Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES

Discrete and Matrix programs, are not indicated using

this numbering system. Instead, a message will appear

to indicate whether EX or ES information is present

(see below).

The last number indicates whether there is a discrete

low-frequency effects (LFE) channel. This is the “.1”

in the common abbreviation of “5.1” sound and is a

special channel that contains only bass frequencies.

• A “1” tells you that an LFE channel is present.

This will be displayed for Dolby Digital and DTS

programs, as available.

• A “0” indicates that there is no LFE channel infor-

mation available. However, even when there is no

dedicated LFE channel, low-frequency sound will

be present at the subwoofer output when the

speaker configuration is set to show the presence

of a subwoofer.

The information in the right side of the display will tell

you if the digital audio data contains a special flag

signal that will automatically activate the appropriate

30 OPERATION

Harman Kardon AVR 140 Owners Manual - Page 30

Dolby Pro Logic II or Logic 7. Since the range - manual optical 3

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