Surround Sound questions

[Tunesman22]

I just recently installed my first surround sound system. It sounds great but I was just wondering about a few things. I've read in an audio video magazine that surround sound is used sparingly in most movies. I wanted to see what it sounded like because I've never had my own surround sound system until a few days ago, so I pulled one of my DVDs off the shelf and played it. There were times when I could hear the surround speakers in certain points in the movie, but it seemed like it was few and far between. My system is hooked up exactly the way it's supposed to be, with the optical digital wire from the DVD player to the receiver and all the speakers are hooked up properly. I did a tone test from my remote control to make sure that all the speakers have sound coming from them and they do.
As I mentioned, I did hear sounds coming from the surround, (the two rear speakers,) every now and then, but I was under the impression that you were supposed to hear sound coming from all the speakers all the time with surround sound. I suppose different movies have more going on in surround sound than others. That movie I said I played was the first movie I've seen using my new surround sound system.
One more question: do movies that you record from your cable tv have surround sound, or can you only hear it from DVDs you buy at the store? I record all my tv shows on my Panasonic DVD recorder. Thanks for any responses.

Tunesman22.

[Fook Yu]

Surround is mainly for the sounds effects. You will notice that speech is mostly coming from the front speakers. Whereas the sound effects will be played over all 5. If the scene of the movie corresponds with this of course. Helicopters are normally great on a surround system . If you feel that you have too little volume on your back/side speakers adjust the DB. I did that with my subwoofer and the side speakers. All dvd (except the really old movies) come in surround. You can even go to 7.1 but I haven’t seen too many of those.

Regarding to you TV shows....I’m afraid it’s stereo. At least were I come from movies are more regularly broadcasted in wide screen format....still forget everything about the surround.

[Tunesman22]

Thanks for the reply. I have another question: Is it possible to record a commercially made VHS movie from a vcr to my Panasonic DVD recorder, essentially just a dub from one deck to the other, and still have the surround sound intact? Now that I've gone completely to DVD, I still have several VHS movies that I've bought over the years and I'd like to be able to transfer them to DVD-Rs, but I just want to see if it's possible first.

Tunesman22.

[Tunesman22]

Update: I recently tried to record a VHS movie that I have from my vcr to my Panasonic DVD recorder, and,...success!!! I played the DVD and I could hear surround sound coming from my speakers. Evidently, the surround sound encoded audio is transferred intact and is decoded by your surround sound receiver. I don't know how people listened to surround sound in the past with vcrs, because none of my old vcrs have a coaxial or optical digital output. Since they don't, and my DVD recorders do, the only way I can hear surround sound is if I transfer my tapes to DVD. The other way is of course to buy a DVD movie, but that can be rather expensive after awhile, especially with new DVD movie releases going for as much as $21.95.
Anyway, just thought I'd let you folks know that my idea worked.

Tunesman22.

[novicenovice1]

TV screen shrinkage

Hello. Along with getting an in-depth answer to the DVD question posed here, I need ask a question about the HDMI TV input. I purchased a Sony Bravia HT-SS2000 home theater system and after installation my TV screen size shrunk. I don't know the technical specification but the screen's east and west sides shrunk in but leaving the north and sound ends at normal. First off, what is that called and secondly, why does this happen and can I fix it so the screen stretches back to the full screen. I know that on most (not all) HD channels, the screen shrinks on my TV, but the screen shouldn't shrink when I'm watching normal channels. I am using HDMI cabling for the theater system, playstation, cable box and TV. Thanks!

[RFBurns]

VHS never had surround sound. What your getting out of the DVD recorder is a Psudo Surround Sound, basically a phantom or created surround sound.

Which is the case when connecting a 2 channel audio source to a 5:1 or more surround system. The amplifier or surround sound system will fake a true 5:1 and then place the audio across the system speaker outputs.

It works quite well for what it is.

[fitter33]

sound issues

recently my surround sound only plays the music and sound effects thru the tv, cant hear the talking, any ideas on whats going on?

[UncasMS]

how many different titles did you test / is it just one particluar movie?

what's the format?

how exactly does your equipment look like?
avr? / how many speakers?