So Yesterday, I got my hands on an Onkyo Integra TX-DS989 with the intent of both having an AC3/DTS receiver and to play any DTS CDs I have (the only one I could test with was Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1996) [12354 AS] at the moment). However, despite plugging the cables in properly and combing through the settings, I can't get the DTS soundtracks to come out of my TV speakers as anything other than white noise. I checked the cables, unplugged everything that wasn't the digital out, tried the various audio out plugs on the receiver, and even tried using the tape/MD inputs to see if I could trick the unit, but nothing seems to get the DTS tracks to recognize.

This is more of a cry for help if anything since I just sank $300 for a model that came with the remote for it, but I just wanted to see if there was anything I could be missing to get it to work. Perhaps the receiver was designed in such a way that the only way to get DTS is through the speaker outputs, but I was never told this anywhere before I got this thing (not even in the manual ), so I'm beginning to get at my wit's end here! My only hope at this point is that someone here can help me clear out the fog involving this whole debacle (can you tell it sucks being stuck in a desert city like Williamsburg?).

At any rate, it's getting late where I'm at, so I'm just going to put this on the back burner and come back to it later. This isn't worth losing a night of sleep or popping a blood vessel over...

What player are you using and what cables are coming from where and going to where?
Do you have a remote for your player?

Try connecting headphones to your receiver to check if you have proper audio through them.
Also, normally in the display of the receiver a "dts" logo should show once a dts signal is detected.
(Might be not the case for your model, I am not familiar with it).
Also make sure you read the manual of the receiver, it might be just a simple thing you are doing wrong.

I happen to be using a Pioneer DVL-700 (with its original CU-DV001 remote) and for the audio, I was using the AC3RF port, coaxial and optical digital out with the coaxial lead fed to the DD/PCM port on the LD player, and one of the analog pairs (RCA stereo). My original plan was to reset the receiver to its factory defaults, then use the manual to establish the proper connections ((it took me a while to figure out what went to the TV). I was swapping out the different cables and figuring out the different places for them (including the PCM only coax-digital out that I never needed until now), but nothing worked in my favor. For all I know, the DVL-700 is simply too under equipped to output the DTS tracks in a way that would've mattered to anything else.

Also, I was able to get the AC3 tracks and normal PCM/analog audio to read perfectly fine through my setup, so it can't be a case of anything being broken either.

On most AV Receivers with multiple codecs available, there should be a button or menu setting that allows you to force what codec you want to prioritize or listen to.

I would look up something in the manual about surround formats.

Also, why are you connecting left and right audio cables of the LD player to your TV (at least it sounds like you are doing that when you said you hear white noise on your TV speakers)? All the connections should go to the AV Receiver and then you just send video only to the TV to just serve as a video monitor.


Addendum: see page 57 of the manual regarding the use of the “surround” button on the remote to choose your surround codec

https://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/ma ... nual_e.pdf

I don’t have a speaker system at the moment and the space/cost of finding one means I likely won’t be finding one for a while, so at the moment the TV speakers are what I’m using (in fairness, it’s a Vizio HDTV40A, which can replicate a surround system fairly accurately). And again, the other things I plugged into the receiver were able to work perfectly fine, so it stood to reason that this wouldn’t be a hassle either.

You probably should have mentioned that in the first place . That is so highly unconventional.

What set of audio outputs are you connecting the AV Receiver to the TV?

I hesitated to say this earlier but there is NO POINT AT ALL in using AC-3 or DTS without a multi channel speaker setup. Zero point. It’s totally totally pointless. If you want to use TV speakers just use the analogs.

The DVL-700 may not output DTS for DVDs but it should for LDs. Just plug is straight into your TV. The receiver it’s maximum pointless without any speakers hooked to it.

I totally agree with Zeta on this as I to continue to get my head around what you are trying to do. And basically, it is no different than simply connecting the player directly to the TV.

If you really want to experience Dolby Digital and DTS, you need to get five speakers and a subwoofer as intended for this AV Receiver. If cost is a factor, it shouldn’t be. People give away free speaker systems all the time on FB Marketplace, Nextdoor, Craigslist, etc.



Forgot to comment on this.

If you really feel the TV can truly replicate surround fairly accurately, then you don’t need an AV Receiver. But I’ll tell you this much, I have never seen a TV do what you are claiming it can do (even with fake expansion technology used on a lot of TVs). Two speakers do not equate surround sound.