UMC-200 : Cool Facts and Features

[KeithL]

The UMC-200 was designed to be powerful, yet simple to use.

I'm going to avoid calling the UMC-200 "entry level" because that implies entry level performance. The simple reality is that most people don't need a huge selection of features that they don't actually use, but that make setup and operation more complicated. What the UMC-200 is is *streamlined*.

However, just like with a new car, some of the "convenience features" of the UMC-200 may seem a bit confusing - until you get used to them.

This thread will be dedicated to talking about some of the cool things that the UMC-200 does, and explaining how they work.

[KeithL]

This is one of those "features" that you don't turn on or off - it's just inherent in how the UMC-200 works.

You already know that, when you start playing something, many pre / pros (including the UMC-200) will pick "the best valid mode" to play it in. (So, for example, if you start playing a disc in TrueHD mode, the pre / pro will, by default, play it in TrueHD.)

The UMC-200, however, is a bit smarter than everyone else when it does this. The UMC-200 will actually pick the best mode based not only on the source type, but BASED ON YOUR SPEAKER SETUP.

So, for example, if you only have two speakers, and play a TrueHD source, the UMC-200 will default to playing it in stereo, which is the best mode to use with the speakers you have connected. If you play a TrueHD source, and you have 7 speakers and a sub, the UMC-200 will come up as PLIIx (which may seem slightly confusing). What's actually happening in that case is that the UMC-200 "knows" that you have seven speakers (and TrueHD is only providing five channels), so the UMC-200 is playing that source in TrueHD + PLIIx, which plays the main five channels in full TrueHD, but uses PLIIx to derive surround audio for your rear surrounds, so you get surround from all your speakers.

Of course, you can still change the mode to a different one if you prefer and, if the UMC-200 is set to Last Used, it will use the mode you selected last for that type input the next time it sees it.

Also, of course, this will only work if you (or EmoQ) has told the UMC-200 which speakers you have actually connected. EmoQ will do this automatically. If you don't run EmoQ, then you need to go into the Speaker Setup menu and set the speakers that aren't really there to "None".

[SticknStones]

Don't stop now your on a roll!

[edrummereasye]

Dec 19, 2012 10:34:11 GMT -5 KeithL said:

If you play a TrueHD source, and you have 7 speakers and a sub, the UMC-200 will come up as PLIIx (which may seem slightly confusing). What's actually happening in that case is that the UMC-200 "knows" that you have seven speakers (and TrueHD is only providing five channels), so the UMC-200 is playing that source in TrueHD + PLIIx, which plays the main five channels in full TrueHD, but uses PLIIx to derive surround audio for your rear surrounds, so you get surround from all your speakers.

;D Now, THAT...is freaking AWESOME!!! I'm starting to get itchy ordering finger, lol...

<<warning: outdated .sig, lazy poster>>

[amt]

How does the UMC-200 know if you have front-height speakers and to then take 5.1 TrueHD source and apply PLIIz instead of assuming they are rear surrounds and applying PLIIx? Is there a way to identify speaker channels 6 & 7 as rear surround or front height?

[denver80203]

Should the need arise, will we be able to update the on-board software via the USB port?

[bootman]

Dec 19, 2012 14:50:29 GMT -5 denver80203 said:

Should the need arise, will we be able to update the on-board software via the USB port?

Yes. page 27 in the manual.
• (1) USB data input (reserved for firmware updates)

[KeithL]

Yes

Under the Speaker Setup menu you configure those speakers to be height speakers and, once you do, the UMC-200 will know to switch to PLIIz instead of PLIIx.

Dec 19, 2012 12:10:33 GMT -5 amt said:

How does the UMC-200 know if you have front-height speakers and to then take 5.1 TrueHD source and apply PLIIz instead of assuming they are rear surrounds and applying PLIIx? Is there a way to identify speaker channels 6 & 7 as rear surround or front height?

[bootman]

Dec 19, 2012 15:35:09 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Yes

Under the Speaker Setup menu you configure those speakers to be height speakers and, once you do, the UMC-200 will know to switch to PLIIz instead of PLIIx.

Dec 19, 2012 12:10:33 GMT -5 amt said:

How does the UMC-200 know if you have front-height speakers and to then take 5.1 TrueHD source and apply PLIIz instead of assuming they are rear surrounds and applying PLIIx? Is there a way to identify speaker channels 6 & 7 as rear surround or front height?

That is very cool.

[KeithL]

Here's another cool little feature.

I'm sure you all know that, when you turn the UMC-200 back on, it remembers and returns to the volume setting that was in effect when you turned it off. (It ramps up somewhat slowly to that volume, and sending it any command while it's ramping up will stop it from continuing on.)

Here's the cool part. When you first turn it on, the UMC-200 flashes the previous volume setting for a few seconds, THEN the volume display drops to zero and starts ramping up. This is so you know what that previous setting was (like if you had it turned way up when you turned it off after the party last night); that way you have a chance to dive for the remote and hit a button to interrupt the ramp before it gets too loud.

[edrummereasye]

Dec 19, 2012 15:41:46 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Here's another cool little feature.

I'm sure you all know that, when you turn the UMC-200 back on, it remembers and returns to the volume setting that was in effect when you turned it off. (It ramps up somewhat slowly to that volume, and sending it any command while it's ramping up will stop it from continuing on.)

Here's the cool part. When you first turn it on, the UMC-200 flashes the previous volume setting for a few seconds, THEN the volume display drops to zero and starts ramping up. This is so you know what that previous setting was (like if you had it turned way up when you turned it off after the party last night); that way you have a chance to dive for the remote and hit a button to interrupt the ramp before it gets too loud.

...so...itchy....

[bootman]

Dec 19, 2012 19:46:45 GMT -5 edrummereasye said:

Dec 19, 2012 15:41:46 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Here's another cool little feature.

I'm sure you all know that, when you turn the UMC-200 back on, it remembers and returns to the volume setting that was in effect when you turned it off. (It ramps up somewhat slowly to that volume, and sending it any command while it's ramping up will stop it from continuing on.)

Here's the cool part. When you first turn it on, the UMC-200 flashes the previous volume setting for a few seconds, THEN the volume display drops to zero and starts ramping up. This is so you know what that previous setting was (like if you had it turned way up when you turned it off after the party last night); that way you have a chance to dive for the remote and hit a button to interrupt the ramp before it gets too loud.

...so...itchy....

I hear you.
With my 40% this thing is almost too good to pass up.
And even if we pull the trigger we still get a discount on the XMC...evil I tell you.

[AudioHTIT]

TrueHD + PLIIx for 7 channels ... Nice! I sure hope this is in the XMC-1 as well.

Dec 19, 2012 20:14:53 GMT -5 bootman said:

I hear you.
With my 40% this thing is almost too good to pass up.
And even if we pull the trigger we still get a discount on the XMC...evil I tell you.

Yeah, maybe that's the plan, get us to buy one of these to relieve the pressure for the XMC-1.

[dvcdude]

Dec 20, 2012 2:32:00 GMT -5 AudioHTIT said:

TrueHD + PLIIx for 7 channels ... Nice! I sure hope this is in the XMC-1 as well.

Dec 19, 2012 20:14:53 GMT -5 bootman said:

I hear you.
With my 40% this thing is almost too good to pass up.
And even if we pull the trigger we still get a discount on the XMC...evil I tell you.

Yeah, maybe that's the plan, get us to buy one of these to relieve the pressure for the XMC-1.

And it is working...check the number of recent posts in the XMC-1 areas of this forum.

[rogersch]

Dec 19, 2012 15:41:46 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Here's another cool little feature.

I'm sure you all know that, when you turn the UMC-200 back on, it remembers and returns to the volume setting that was in effect when you turned it off. (It ramps up somewhat slowly to that volume, and sending it any command while it's ramping up will stop it from continuing on.)

Here's the cool part. When you first turn it on, the UMC-200 flashes the previous volume setting for a few seconds, THEN the volume display drops to zero and starts ramping up. This is so you know what that previous setting was (like if you had it turned way up when you turned it off after the party last night); that way you have a chance to dive for the remote and hit a button to interrupt the ramp before it gets too loud.

Maybe a nice feature but I prefer having the possibility in (optional) defining the maximum power-up volume. My previous AVR (Arcam AVR350) had this feature and I clearly prefer this method to the option of how it is implemented on the UMC-1 by using the volume level used before switching of.
In my case the UMC-1 is installed in a cupboard so I can't see the display. When I use in the morning my Harmony 900 remote to listen to FM radio, very often the volume level is much to loud because on the evening before I watched a movie......

[doc1963]

Dec 20, 2012 6:50:15 GMT -5 rogersch said:

Dec 19, 2012 15:41:46 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Here's another cool little feature.

I'm sure you all know that, when you turn the UMC-200 back on, it remembers and returns to the volume setting that was in effect when you turned it off. (It ramps up somewhat slowly to that volume, and sending it any command while it's ramping up will stop it from continuing on.)

Here's the cool part. When you first turn it on, the UMC-200 flashes the previous volume setting for a few seconds, THEN the volume display drops to zero and starts ramping up. This is so you know what that previous setting was (like if you had it turned way up when you turned it off after the party last night); that way you have a chance to dive for the remote and hit a button to interrupt the ramp before it gets too loud.

Maybe a nice feature but I prefer having the possibility in (optional) defining the maximum power-up volume. My previous AVR (Arcam AVR350) had this feature and I clearly prefer this method to the option of how it is implemented on the UMC-1 by using the volume level used before switching of.
In my case the UMC-1 is installed in a cupboard so I can't see the display. When I use in the morning my Harmony 900 remote to listen to FM radio, very often the volume level is much to loud because on the evening before I watched a movie......

Wouldn't a viable solution be to turn it down before you turn it off...?

Let's face it, there is no "one solution fits all" option to this type of feature. Either way, we're all going to need to adjust the volume one way or the other.....

[Deleted]

My el-cheapo Onkyo AVR has two nice volume-related settings: Power-on volume and Max volume. The first one keeps you from being scared out of your skin at power on and the 2nd keeps the babysitter's boyfriend from blowing up your system. These would seem to be fairly easy to implement in the firmware...

-RW-

[weigle2]

Dec 20, 2012 7:48:31 GMT -5 @rlw said:

My el-cheapo Onkyo AVR has two nice volume-related settings: Power-on volume and Max volume. The first one keeps you from being scared out of your skin at power on and the 2nd keeps the babysitter's boyfriend from blowing up your system. These would seem to be fairly easy to implement in the firmware...

-RW-

I could be mistaken, but I know the DMR-1 does the first item, and also the second. Since you will almost always adjust the volume on power up, why not have it come on at a 'reasonable' level then make it louder if needed. I have it set so when I turn eveything on, Pandora is already at the volume I want. Of course, when a really good tune comes on, I crank it up to rock concert level.

Think how handy it would be when running Emo-Q calibration, to not have the volume get to a level that may blow one of your speakers.

[calvinhobbe]

Dec 20, 2012 7:48:31 GMT -5 @rlw said:

My el-cheapo Onkyo AVR has two nice volume-related settings: Power-on volume and Max volume. The first one keeps you from being scared out of your skin at power on and the 2nd keeps the babysitter's boyfriend from blowing up your system. These would seem to be fairly easy to implement in the firmware...

-RW-

+1

As well these can be settings in the firmware... return to previous volume on power up or start at 0

[Deleted]

You only need 2 options:

1) Return to previous volume.
2) Go to preset power-on volume. This could be 0 or any other # you choose.

I would always choose a preset volume...

-RW-