Speaker/Channel Indicators; Night Mode - Harman Kardon AVR 7300 Owner's Manual

Operation
In the case of a message, you may
manually select a Dolby Pro Logic mode to add a
multichannel presentation to the stereo material.
In the case of the message, when
your system is configured for surround back
speakers you may manually select Dolby Digital
EX as the processing mode to add rear surround
speakers to the sound field.
It is always a good idea to check the readout for
the channel data to make certain that it matches
the audio logo information shown on the back of
a DVD package. In some cases you will see indi-
cation for "2/0/0" even when the disc contains a
full 5.1, or 3/2/.1 signal. When this happens,
check the audio output settings for your DVD
player or the audio menu selections for the spe-
cific disc being played to make certain that the
player is sending the correct signal to the AVR.
An message may appear in the
Lower Display Line . This is your indication
that the digital audio data stream has been inter-
rupted or is no longer present. When that occurs,
the unit's digital signal processor has no signal to
lock onto, and is thus "unlocked." You may see
this message when a DVD is first started until the
stream is playing and the processor determines
which mode to apply; or any time the data
stream is stopped or paused, such as when the
menus of some discs are displayed or when the
player is switching between the different sections
of a disc.
You may also see the message when a satellite
receiver, cable set-top or HDTV tuner is in use if
the digital audio is temporarily interrupted when
channels are changed or when a cable box switch-
es from a channel with a digital data stream to a
channel with analog audio only. The
message is normal, and does not indicate any
problem with your receiver. Rather, it tells you that
the incoming data has simply been paused or is
not present for a variety of possible reasons.

Speaker/Channel Indicators

In addition to the Bitstream Indicators, the
AVR features a set of unique channel-input indi-
cators that tell you how many channels of digital
information are being received and/or whether
the digital signal is interrupted.
These indicators are the L/C/R/LFE/SL/SR/SBL/SBR
letters that are inside the center boxes of the
Speaker/Channel Input Indicators
front panel Main Information Display
When a standard analog stereo or matrix
surround signal is in use, only the "L" and "R"
indicators will light, as analog signals have only
left and right channels.
Digital signals, however, may have one, two, five,
six or seven separate channels, depending on the
program material, the method of transmission
and the way in which it was encoded. When a
digital signal is playing, the letters in these
indicators will light in response to the specific
signal being received. It is important to note that
although Dolby Digital, for example, is referred to
as a "5.1" system, not all Dolby Digital DVDs or
audio tracks selected on DVD or other Dolby
Digital programs are encoded for 5.1. Thus, it is
sometimes normal for a DVD with a Dolby Digital
soundtrack to trigger only the "L" and "R"
indicators.
NOTE: Many DVD discs are recorded with both
"5.1" and "2.0" versions of the same sound-
track. When playing a DVD, always be certain to
check the type of material on the disc. Most discs
show this information in the form of a listing or
icon on the back of the disc jacket. When a disc
does offer multiple soundtrack choices, you may
have to make some adjustments to your DVD
player (usually with the "Audio Select" button or
in a menu screen on the disc) to send a full 5.1
feed to the AVR or to select the appropriate
audio track and thus language. It is also possible
for the type of signal feed to change during the
course of a DVD playback. In some cases the pre-
views of special material will only be recorded in
2.0 audio, while the main feature is available in
5.1 audio. As long as your DVD player is set for
6-channel output, the AVR will automatically
sense changes to the bitstream and channel
count and reflect them in these indicators.
Important Note: When a digital surround
source (Dolby Digital, DTS) is played, the letters
SBL/SBR for the Surround Back channels will
appear only when a DTS ES DISCRETE 6.1 source
is played. Then this surround mode will be
indicated in the front display and on-screen
display. With all other recordings the icons for the
surround back speakers may light (when those
speakers have been configured) to indicate that a
signal will be fed to them (Matrix decoded with
NEO:6, LOGIC 7 or 7 CH Stereo), but no letters
inside will light as the unit will not receive an
input signal for the surround back channels.
The letters used by the Speaker/Channel Input
Indicators also flash to indicate when a bit-
stream has been interrupted. This will happen
when a digital input source is selected before the
playback starts, or when a digital source such as
a DVD is put into a Pause mode. The flashing
indicators along with the
remind you that the playback has stopped due to
the absence of a digital signal and not through
any fault of the AVR. This is normal, and the digi-
tal playback will resume once the playback is
started again.
in the
.

Night Mode

A special feature of Dolby Digital is the Night
mode, which enables Dolby Digital input sources
to be played back with full digital intelligibilty
while reducing the maximum peak level and lift-
ing the low levels by
abruptly loud transitions from disturbing others
without reducing the impact of the digital source.
The Night mode is available only when the Dolby
Digital mode is selected.
The Night mode may be engaged when a Dolby
Digital DVD is playing by pressing the Night
Button on the remote. Next, press the
buttons to select either the middle range or
full compression versions of the Night mode. To
turn the Night mode off, press the
until the message in the lower third of the
video display and the Lower Display Line
reads
The Night mode may also be selected to always
be on as soon as the Dolby Digital mode is
activated at either level of compression using the
options in the
See page 22 for information on using the menus
to set this option.
IMPORTANT NOTES ON DIGITAL PLAYBACK:
• When the digital playback source is stopped, or
in a pause, fast forward or chapter search mode,
the digital audio data will momentarily stop, and
the channel position letters inside the Speaker/
Channel Indicators
message may appear. This is normal
and does not indicate a problem with either the
AVR or the source machine. The AVR will return
to digital playback as soon as the data is avail-
able and when the machine is in a standard play
mode.
• Some source devices, particularly cable set-top
boxes, will switch back and forth between digital
and analog audio outputs, depending on the
channel being watched. To avoid losing sound
with this type of product, it is recommended that
you connect both the digital and analog audio
outputs of the source to the AVR 7300, with the
digital audio input set as the default following
the steps shown on page 20. The AVR will moni-
tor the digital data stream and when it is inter-
rupted the sound will mute briefly and possibly
display an
to the analog audio input. This switching is not a
fault of either the AVR or the cable box, as it is
caused by the use of different audio technologies
on different channels by the cable company or
program supplier.
• Although the AVR will decode virtually all DVD
movies, CDs and HDTV sources, it is possible that
message
some future digital sources may not be compatible
with the AVR.
• Note that not all digitally encoded programs
and not all audio tracks on a DVD contain full
5.1 or 6.1 channel audio. Consult the program
/ to / . This prevents
1 4 1 3
/
buttons
/
.
menu.
will flash and an
message while it switches
OPERATION 39