Where's my Pro Logic?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve been in California visiting my mom, and she decided to get a home theater audio system to go with her new DVD player. We decided on a JVC system from Circuit City, and our understanding was that we’d be able to get surround sound from VHS tapes as well as DVDs. The system supports Dolby Digital, dts, and Dolby Pro Logic.

The DVD player is hooked up to the receiver with fiber optics, and it works great. The VCR is hooked into the TV’s audio in, and the TV’s line out is hooked up to the receiver’s “TV sound” input. (I’ve also tried hooking the VCR directly to the receiver, with the same results…)

But when I stick in a tape with the Dolby Surround logo (Scent of a Woman), the receiver tells me it’s only getting left and right signals. With surround decoding turned off, I get sound from only the left and right speakers; with surround turned on, I get sound from the center and occasional little bits of sound from the left and right.

Where should I start looking for the problem? Do we need a VCR that’s surround-aware, perhaps?

2

For best results you should connect your VCR directly to the receiver. Check your VCR’s setting to make sure it is set to output in stereo; many VCRs have a mono setting in case you’re playing back into a TV or monitor that only has a single audio input. Also check on the VCR’s display to ensure that it’s picking up the HiFi signal on the tape. If you’re getting all your information through the center channel it means your receiver is getting a mono signal from the VCR. To check this out, try listening to music on the radio with ProLogic turned on; you should get sound through all three front speakers and probably from the rear as well.