Selecting A Digital Source; Digital Bitstream Indicators - Harman Kardon AVR 7300 Owner's Manual

Operation
To take advantage of the AVR's MP3 capabilities,
simply connect the digital (SPDIF) output of a
computer sound card able to feed the MP3 format
to its digital output, or the digital (SPDIF) output
of MP3 compatible CD or DVD players or of a
portable MP3 player with a digital output to
either the rear panel Digital Inputs U V or
the front panel Digital Inputs *Ó.
NOTES:
• The AVR is only capable of playing signals in the
MP3 (MPEG 1/Layer 3) format. It is not compati-
ble with other computer audio codecs.
• The MP 3 DSP mode found in the new AVR
requires an MP3 SPDIF stream. Presently, only a
few units provide this but in the coming genera-
tions of motherboards and operating system
updates this will follow, since SPDIF is the stan-
dard for audio & video hardware.
• The digital audio input signal may be either
optical or coaxial, but the signal must be in the
MP3 SPDIF format. Direct connection of USB or
serial data outputs is not possible, even though
the signals are in the MP3 format. If you have any
questions about the data output format from your
computer or a sound card, check with the device's
Owner's Manual or contact the manufacturer's
technical support area.
• If your computer or sound card's digital output
is not capable of direct connection to the AVR or
if the output is not capable of delivering MP3
data stream, you may use an optional, external
transcoder, such as those available from Harman
Kardon to convert the USB output of a computer
to a format compatible with the AVR. Contact
your Harman Kardon dealer for additional details.
• Due to the wide variation in MP3 formats and
encoding speeds, it is possible that the AVR 7300
may not be compatible with all MP3 input signals.
Some may produce unacceptable results or may
not be decoded. This is not a fault of either the
computer or the AVR 7300, but rather a by-prod-
uct of the unpredictable nature of MP3 playback.
• Even when your computer does not have a digi-
tal output that is compatible with the AVR 7300,
you may connect the analog audio output avail-
able on virtually all computers to one of the AVR's
analog audio inputs using an optional adaptor
cable that converts the stereo mini plug common-
ly used for computer audio connections to the
left/right RCA jacks used on the AVR. Connecting
your computer to the AVR will enable you to take
advantage of the high-quality audio reproduction
possible with a home theater system, as well as
enable the use of surround processing modes
such as Logic 7, to greatly enhance downloaded
or streaming audio playback.

Selecting a Digital Source

To utilize either digital mode you must have
properly connected a digital source to the AVR.
Connect the digital outputs from DVD players,
HDTV receivers, satellite systems or CD players to
the Optical or Coaxial inputs on the rear or
front panel UV*Ó. In order to provide a
38 OPERATION
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 rear panel
(e.g., connect the analog stereo audio output
from a DVD to the DVD Audio inputs 5 on the
rear panel when you connect the source's digital
outputs).
To select a digital source such as DVD, first select
its input using the remote or front panel Input
Selector 4% as outlined in this manual in
order to feed its video signal (if any) to the TV
monitor and to provide its analog audio signal for
recording. When the digital input associated with
the input selected (e.g. "DVD") is not selected
automatically (due to the input settings made ear-
lier during the system configuration, see page 21),
select the digital source by pressing the Digital
Input Selector button G Û and then using
buttons E on the remote or the
the
/
⁄ ¤
Selector buttons 7$ on the front panel to
choose any of the or
OPTICAL COAXIAL
inputs, as they appear in the Upper Display
Line ˜ or on-screen display.
When the digital source is playing, the AVR will
automatically detect whether it is a multichannel
Dolby Digital or DTS source or a HDCD, MP3 or
conventional PCM signal, which is the standard
output from CD players.
Note that a digital input (e.g. coaxial) remains
associated with any analog input (e.g. DVD) as
soon as it is selected, thus the digital input need
not be re-selected each time the appropriate
input choice (e.g. DVD) is made.

Digital Bitstream Indicators

When a digital source is playing, the AVR senses
the type of bitstream data that is present. Using
this information, the correct surround mode will
automatically be selected. For example, DTS bit-
streams 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 and LDs and some music DVDs or
certain tracks on normal DVDs, it will allow the
appropriate surround mode to be selected manu-
ally. Since the range of available surround modes
depends on the type of digital data that is present,
the AVR uses a variety of indicators to let you
know what type of signal is present. This will help
you to understand the choice of modes and the
input channels recorded on the disc.
When a digital source is playing, the AVR will
display a variety of messages to indicate the type
of bitstream received. These messages will appear
shortly after an input or surround mode is
changed, and will remain in the Main Infor-
mation Display ˜ for about five seconds
before the display returns to the normal surround
mode indication.
For Dolby Digital and DTS sources, a three digit
indication 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 dis-
played for Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 pro-
grams.
• 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 bit streams that have stereo pro-
gram 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
surround channel signals are present.
• A "3" tells you that separate, discrete left sur-
round, center surround and right surround sig-
nals are present. This is available only on discs
with DTS-ES digital audio.
• A 2 tells you that separate surround left and
right signals are available. This will be displayed
for Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 programs.
• A 1 tells you that there is only a single, sur-
round encoded surround channel. This will
appear for Dolby Digital bit streams that have
matrix encoding.
• A 0 indicates that there is no surround channel
information. This will be displayed for two-chan-
nel stereo programs.
The last number indicates if there is a discrete
Low Frequency Effects (LFE) channel. This is the
".1" in the common abbreviation of "5.1" sound
and it 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 5.1 and
DTS 5.1 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 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 acti-
vate the appropriate 6.1 or 7.1 mode. This will
be shown as EX-ON or EX-OFF for Dolby Digital
bitstreams and ES-ON or ES-OFF for DTS bit-
streams.
When Dolby Digital 3/2/.1 or DTS 3/2/.1 signals
are being played, the AVR will automatically
switch to the proper surround mode, and no other
processing may be selected. When a Dolby Digital
signal with a 3/1/0 or 2/0/0 signal is detected you
may select any of the Dolby surround modes.
When appears as a message, it indi-
DS-OFF
cates that there is no Dolby Surround data flag in
the audio bitstream. Similarly,
EX-OFF
cates that there is no Dolby Digital EX data flag.
indi-