ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I subscribe to an Internet TV streaming service, Viaplay from Viasat, that works best with Playstation 4. The problem is the sound. Viaplay offers stereo only, and in our 5.1 surround system the sound is sent to the front speakers on the sides. The center speaker is silent, which is quite annoying. The sound from other PS4 activities is excellent, but for Viaplay I need a way to distribute the stereo sound to the five speakers.
Does anyone know a setting on the PS4, or perhaps something hidden deep within the BV7?
Sigmund Tveit
On the BV7 speaker group for 'TV', can't you just activate all speakers? That's all I've done on mine for TV use. For my music group I deactivate the centre BL7.4 as it sounds terrible with music. For film, I have everthing on.
Do you have AST on or off?
Dave.
If Viaplay offers only stereo sound, you cannot make it into 5.1.
Even if you force the BV7 to distribute to all speakers, they sound will sound strange.
I do suspect that your setup is already sending the stereo sound as a 5.1, and that is why you are not satisfied with the sound.
Add "speakers" to your Beo4, and press 2 to check if the sound is diffent. Then chose 5 again to compare.
"You think we can slap some oak on this thing?"
All speakers are activated for video input, but for stereo music, just the front speakers. (Totally agree about the sound of music!)
In general, Playstation 4 handles 5.1 sound just fine. All channels are open and active. It's just the Viaplay streaming application that fills the left and right front speakers with sound, but leaves the center and back speakers with nothing.
Where is the AST (Adaptive Surround Technology) setting?
Sigmund
Sigmund:Where is the AST (Adaptive Surround Technology) setting?
Menu, options, sound. Under the sound settings, it's the bottom parameter. This may depend on BV7 type and MK?
Have you also tried the Viaplay support website?
Users with Netflix have a similar issue which is solved by opening the 'audio' bubble as it seems to be called and changing the audio options. Possibly there is something similar with Viaplay but I've never heard of it before so can't tell you where it is..
Playing a 2.0 signal through all speakers/through a 5.1 setup is called 'upmixing'.
Some like it - some don't!
Some upmixers do a good job, others a not so good!
Personally I would not let a BV7 (which MK are we talking, by the way) do such upmixing.
What the new audioengine (in BSys4 based systems) can do, is different - and might be more pleasing.
If the sound source from a video is 2.0, I would - on a BV7 - (manually) choose the default B&O 3.0/3.1 version for it - aka Speaker 3.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Thank you, Dave and leosgonewild, I'll try this out when I get home. Yes, the problem is really within Viaplay. I found nothing in their support pages, but I have contacted them, waiting for answer. Perhaps the most promising option now is to try out speaker combinations, although I fear that I'll be left with the choice between center only and front only, as the center will be silenced when I add front speakers.
What centre speaker do you have?
Thank you, Millenissen, for the word - upmixing. While not optimal, the current alternative with the center speaker silent is worse. It sounds like if the walls are speaking, not the persons on the screen. Your choice of Speaker 3 would probably leave the center speaker quiet, the same. Technically the sound input is 5.1, only that the center and back speakers are fed with the sound of silence! Another way to ask, how can BV7 ignore input from center and back and distribute left and right front channels over 3.1 or 5.1, whatever? The source of the problem is a misfit between Viaplay and PS4, and I doubt BV7 has a good workaround.
The BV7 is MK-V.
BeoLab 7-4.
With the (manual) choice of 'Speaker 3' you will force the center/the 7-4 to play with the right/left channel speakers - at least if you haven't done any AST settings.
It will play the parts of the right/left channels, that are equal - thus simulating a center channel (where mostly the dialog is).
You mean to say, that this does not work this way with your tv?
Millemissen: With the (manual) choice of 'Speaker 3' you will force the center/the 7-4 to play with the right/left channel speakers - at least if you haven't done any AST settings. It will play the parts of the right/left channels, that are equal - thus simulating a center channel (where mostly the dialog is). You mean to say, that this does not work this way with your tv?
This was why I asked about the AST. I suspect it's turned on. As MM says this should be possible by selecting the speakers you want - however, if AST is on, this becomes more of a problem. I know with mine if AST is on, you cannot select additional speakers via a BEO4. It's frustrated the hell out of me in the past.
Dave..
I tried, but no luck. First, AST is off. I tried to switch it on and was forced into a speaker setup, but backed out. As a result, only the center speaker was active – real men use mono! I suppose I could have gone through the whole speaker setup, but didn't bother. Set the AST back to off, and the speakers came back.
Next I went into speaker setting. I have Beo6, but the functionality should be the same. Sorry, Speaker 3 didn't make any audible difference. The sound from the back speakers (= nothing) is added to the front speakers, but the sound from the center (= nothing) is left alone. I can choose Speaker 1 and have a nice mono for speech, but too thin for anything else.
Technical support at Viaplay has sent a polite regret for the situation and passed the problem to the engineers.
In the meantime I can choose between thin mono (Speaker 1), talking walls (other settings) and flickering images (Mac, not PS4).
Thanks for all your help!