Blu ray not playing sound on older DVDs, what's the problem?

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Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
I pulled out my old Boston Legal seasons on DVD but my newer blu ray player will not play the audio on them. It plays the audio on other older DVDs, but for some reason not Boston Legal, and I tried other Boston legal discs as well.

Is there something I am missing that could be the problem when playing audio on some DVDs like Boston Legal?



Don't know offhand, but what's the Blu-ray player's model? You can usually find the manual online, and searching by it usually reveals whether other people are having the same problem pretty quickly.



I had the same problem recently with a Toy Story DVD and an XBox 360. Are the Boston Legal discs in fine condition? If not, that might be the issue.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I pulled out my old Boston Legal seasons on DVD but my newer blu ray player will not play the audio on them. It plays the audio on other older DVDs, but for some reason not Boston Legal, and I tried other Boston legal discs as well.

Is there something I am missing that could be the problem when playing audio on some DVDs like Boston Legal?

I had a similar problem with my "Monk" DVDs. I could see the picture perfectly, but there was no sound. (I also had no problems with any other discs. Only the "Monk" discs had no sound.)

I hooked up some external speakers to the Blu-Ray player, and I was able to hear the sound through the external speakers, but not through the TV. (I don't know why that worked, but at least I could hear the sound.)



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
The Boston legal discs are in good condition yes. I always keep them in the cases, and they play fine on my friends DVD player in comparison.

The blu ray player is a Panasonic DMP-BD75. So not new, but newer to me.



Directly from the Panasonic website:


"You will need to check the sound options available on that disc (these will normally be Dolby Digital or DTS). If they are in a different sound format, then your Home Cinema may not be able to process one of the formats. You will need to go into the menu on the Blu-Ray unit and change the digital audio output for that format from Bitstream to PCM."



You mean me? Kei's cousin?
I experienced this same phenomenon just last night with the Kiki's Delivery Service Blu-ray. Turning the player off and then on again with the disc inserted did the trick. This has also worked with DVDs in the past.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Well I took the boston legal discs and my disc player over to my friends place to compare an they play through her system just fine, sound and all, coming through my disc player.

So I think the problem is, is that my TV is not accepting the sound coming through the blu rayer player, and it's not the player itself. However, it is only for boston legal. Why does my TV have a problem with boston legal's sound but not other movies?



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Well this is really strange. Has anyone ever had this type of problem before where the blu ray player or the tv has a problem with sound on one series, but that series plays just fine anywhere else?



You ready? You look ready.
Directly from the Panasonic website:


"You will need to check the sound options available on that disc (these will normally be Dolby Digital or DTS). If they are in a different sound format, then your Home Cinema may not be able to process one of the formats. You will need to go into the menu on the Blu-Ray unit and change the digital audio output for that format from Bitstream to PCM."
Yup, this right here. If your TV can't decode Dolby Digital or DTS then you will either get screeching static or silence. Thankfully, DVD players have the ability to convert these audio tracks into an uncompressed audio track (PCM or LPCM), which all TVs should accept.

EDIT: It's also possible that the audio track is one of the newer ones (Dolby Digital+ or DTS-HD MA), which I have experienced problems with on audio equipment that isn't designed for it. However, those tracks are supposed to default back to the older formats that do work, and it's possible there's some glitch preventing it. But once again, switching to PCM should resolve the issue.

EDIT 2: I just realized you're talking about DVDs, so everything above is moot. I'd still give the PCM option a try and see if that resolves the issue. Let us know what you find out!
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