Parasound Operating Your P/DD-1500Digital Surround Decoder, Input Selectors, Dolby Digital

10 P/DD-1500 Owner's Manual

Operating Your P/DD-1500 Digital Surround Decoder

Refer to Figure #2

Front Panel and Remote and Controls

You can control all of the operations of the P/DD-1500 with either its front panel controls or hand held remote. The remote control gives you complete access to the functions of both your P/SP-1500 and P/DD-1500. These same keys include On, Off, and input selection. Refer to the P/SP-1500 owner's manual for more details about using the remote control to operate your P/SP-1500. Other keys on the remote dedicated to the P/SP-1500 will not affect the P/DD-1500 and pressing any mode other than 5.1 will always disengage the P/DD-1500. Also note that the only on-screen display that applies to the P/DD-1500 is 5.1 mode indicator. Therefore, you will need to refer to the front panel of the P/DD-1500 for its control status.

Input Selectors

You can select the RF and three digital inputs from the remote control or on the front panel. When you choose an input, a corresponding green LED on the front panel will illuminate to indicate which input you selected. Note that the four AV Inputs on the P/SP-1500 correspond automatically to the inputs on the P/DD-1500: (RF = Video 1, Toslink = Video 2, Coax 1 = Video 3, Coax 2 = Video 4). If you want to select different "non corresponding" inputs for the P/DD-1500 and P/SP-1500, use the input selector buttons on the front panels instead of the remote control.

P/DD-1500 Processing Modes

You can select three different processing modes from the remote control or on the front panel. When you first turn the unit on and before your digital source is playing, the green LED above the Dolby Digital button and all the L, C, R, LS, RS, LFE channel indicators in the front panel display will light to show you that all six channels are ready to receive a signal. Once the P/DD-1500 receives a signal, the LOCK indicator in the display will illuminate. The P/DD-1500 detects whether the material was recorded in 5.1 or 2 channel and select it automatically:

Dolby Digital

If the source you are playing was encoded in 5.1 channel Dolby Digital, the internal decoder automatically selects Dolby Digital processing. The green LED above the Dolby Digital button and all of the amber L, C, R, LS, RS, LFE channel indicators will illuminate to indicate 5.1 channel Dolby Digital processing.

Pro Logic Surround

If the source material you want to listen to was encoded in Dolby Surround (LT, RT matrix) you can decode the signal into Dolby Pro Logic by selecting this mode. You can also use this mode to listen to standard two channel material to obtain surround effects that, while not Dolby Pro Logic, may still be quite enjoyable. When you select this mode, the L, C, R indicators will light amber, the LS and RS indicators will light red to indicate standard Pro Logic mono surround channels, and the LFE indicator will stay off. If the program material has been encoded in 5.1 channel Dolby Digital, the Pro Logic mode will not operate because the P/DD-1500 will automatically select the Dolby Digital mode.

Two Channel

This mode instructs the decoding circuitry to automatically route or "downmix" the center, left and right surround channels to the front left and right channels for two channel stereo playback. In this mode, the P/DD-1500 operates much like a two channel D to A converter such as the Parasound D/AC-1100 HD.

Even if the source material has been encoded in Dolby Surround or 2 channel Dolby Digital, the P/DD-1500 will playback the material in stereo. As a result, only the front left, right and subwoofer channels are active in this mode and only the amber L and R indicators will light. You can select the two channel stereo mode from the remote control or on the front panel.