I'm hoping someone can help me understand an audio problem that seems to come from the DVD player--a Samsung, relatively low end DVD/VCR combo. I'm confident it's a crummy player that needs to be replaced, but I want to be certain that it's the source of the problem and also just understand what causes this.
On a number of my DVDs, not all but some, the movie gets a terrible static/crackling sound in the audio. What is strange is that at least in some cases, it's ONLY on the movie portion. For example we put in a two-disk set. The "Bonus disk" plays fine, completely--interviews, making-of stuff etc. On the main disk, the preview play fine. The Disney logo, which does have "dynamic" sound playing on it, plays fine. Soon as the film starts, the static and distortion starts.
Seems like something to do with Dolby or Surround or something that is only encoded into the movie itself--though in one or two cases, DVDs of older movies and TV shows have also done it.
By the way, no problem on TV or divX disks or audio CDs that play through the same system or same DVD player--just a movie problem.
I will probably replace the DVD player, but any ideas what causes this just so I'll be sure it's not going to happen on a new one, too?
From the way you describe the problem, it sounds like the static is occurring when the DVD is using a digital audio track. (either 5.1 or DTS) So the problem could be the DVD player's digital output, or the receiver could be causing the issue. It's possible it could also be a bad connection or audio cable.
You might want to check some of the audio settings on the DVD player.Make sure it's set to digital out and not pcm. Another thing to try is go into the audio menu on the DVD and select 2.1 or pro-logic and see if the problem persists. If your dvd player has a optical and a coaxial output, try using both to see if one works better.
You didn't say if this problem just started happening, or if this is new equipment, so it's tough to pin-point the issue with the limited information supplied.
It's a relatively new problem. I've had the receiver a couple of years and the DVD player maybe a year.
DVD audio settings offer only Bitstream and PCM, of which PCM is all that works. I don't have a Digital Out option. Dynamic Compression and PCM Down Sampling are set to On. Those are the only three items in Audio Setup.
Bitstream is the same as digital out. PCM is 2 channel stereo. What kind of audio cable are you using? Are you running separate audio cables to the TV and if so, does the crackling static occur on the TV? Does your receiver decode Dolby Digital?
If it's a Samsuck player, you can pretty much bet that's the problem. You should be using a digital output, coax or TOSLink, with the player set to bitstream, if the receiver has a digital input.