Ray and Randy:
Thank you both for your help!
Randy:
As noted in my post above, I actually DID do a reset on the Denon and unfortunately, it did not help. Thank you for giving my problem consideration, though... I owe you a beer!
Ray:
I have experimented with the "Input Mode Selection Function" and hadn't gotten any results. I was not as clear as I should have been in my first post when I wrote that "I should read the manual". It sounds as though I hadn't read it at all. And really, I had gone through the majority of it. I wouldn't be so rude as to ask for help without first trying to help myself a bit. The only parts I hadn't studied were the pages of surround modes and parameter charts (pages 83, 84 and 93-100) to see if there was some little irregularity I was missing. I'm not puffing myself up; I guess I'm just explaining why I feel so guilty for posting: I hadn't exhausted all my options yet.
Thank you again, though for going "above and beyond". I really can't believe you took the time to get the manual (.PDF at Denon.com?) and read through it for me. It's beyond considerate; it's the sign of a true friend to go out of his way like that. Then again, maybe you were flying so high after yesterday's game that you were doing nice things for strangers on the street as well!
Either way, I owe you a
case of beer at this point!
The good news is that the problem is solved. Just as I was hoping someone here on the forum could provide a different viewpoint... someone else did. My wife Joyce! She had suggested late last night that resetting the cable box might do the trick, but I couldn't do it then as it was recording something on the DVR. Today I reset it, and
WHAM! my Dolby Digital indicator lit and the text display on my Denon screamed Dolby Digital! Well, it certainly seemed "screamie" to me!
The funny thing is, I usually troubleshoot
her editing system. In this case though, she had the good sense to follow the signal path as I've always told her... but somehow forgot myself!
I think it's my slight intimidation with the Denon that threw me. I've owned nice....but simple.... equipment in the past like my NAD separates....before all this "surround stuff". I think sometimes having SO many surround modes and sources and variables is more than I'm comfortable with yet. Not being confident in my mastery of this receiver led me to assume that's where the problem was, and that it was something I was doing in the settings (either remote or front panel). I need to stop tweaking and refining and just settle in to enjoying it and learning it as I go along! Hmmm, my edit suite doesn't intimidate me at all but my Denon
does!
And, I should have remembered my own advice to step back and look at the problem objectively, and follow that signal path, eliminating variables!
Thank you guys again! Now,
Go Pats! In Dolby Digital, no less!
