Can a home cinema system output surround sound with only stereo input from the TV?

Question

Hello, I have a basic 5:1 surround sound DVD home cinema system from LG. When I use a DVD it plays nicely in surround sound using all the 5 speakers and the subwoofer.

Unfortunately however, when i play the TV through the system, i can only get 2 of the speakers to work. Is it because the system is only getting a stereo sound as input from the TV. If so, i would expect it to 'up-scale' the stereo and output it as surround. Is this possible?

The DVD is connected to the TV via a scart cable.

Thanks

Answer 1

Take a look at your Receiver manual .  or see if it has different stereo modes.  many of the receivers out there have a synth surround mode.  This Takes the front left and right and sends it to the back left and right. similar to 4 channel surround.

Keep in mind, it wont sound as good as true surround but it will fill the room.

Answer 2

Your Home Theater System will decode a 5.1 signal into 5 speakers plus sub-woofer only when the input to it is 5.1 encoded. This is a compressed digital signal where all channels are mixed or combined. Each channel is then extracted by the HTS.

If you apply a stereo signal, which is just two discrete analog signals, you will of course get only a two channel output.

Answer 3

I'm not sure about your particular system, but of course a two channel signal can be made into a surround signal.  This has been around for years as Dolby Surround.  Advancements such as Pro Logic, Pro Logic II, etc. have been made through the years, but that is exactly what they do - take a two channel analog signal and make it a surround signal.  If you think about it, we had VCRs before DVD players.  So, all we had to output from a VCR was a two channel analog signal but we had surround sound (though it wasn't very good...)

Again, I'm not sure about your particular LG system, but a lot of systems allow you to tell it how to handle the signal it "sees."  If it sees 5.1 as a digital signal it will do surround, of course.  The reason you can usually choose what to do with a two channel signal is simple.  Say you're listening to a CD and want to listen to it in stereo the way it was recorded.  But if you're watching a movie on TV which also presents a two channel signal, you may want surround.  Just check the owner's manual of your LG system.  Good luck!

Answer 4

Your are right in your assumption that your TV is only broadcasting in stereo or 2 channels.

To get your TV to play in surround you must change the listening mode from to Dolby Digital to either Dolby Pro Logic or Dolby Pro Logic ll. Either one will take your 2 channels and synthesize it to surround sound. Won't be as good as DVDs but close.