Mike Shellito

Digital cable connection problems

I'm new at all this, but I'm pretty sure I have it all figured out. I have my cable TV (digital) running via digital out from the cable box to the receiver. I had to remap the digital input, as it only had the optical cable for DCTV, but I'm using that for the DVD, as the cable box doesn't have an optical out, but it's working fine. However, for the analog signals, I'm not getting any sound. I have the standard RCA cables from the cable box coming in to the DCTV input on the reciver, but for those not broadcasting in digital sound, I'm not getting anything. But when I go through the menus on the receiver and check for the signal info, it's stating that it's an analog signal, which leads me to believe the receiver is getting the signal, just not sending it out again to the speakers. I'm going to try new cable, and I'll also try sending it to another input (Video 2 or VCR or something), thinking maybe the inputs on the DCTV might not be working, but wanted to throw this out here, making sure I have everything set up correctly. Everything else is working fine.

FYI: it's a Yamaha 5860, B-stock, which leads me to believe it's a problem with the reciever. If so, then thankfully I still have a warrantee on it.

Thanks in advance to anyone that might have a suggestion.

Bob McElfresh

Hi Mike.

It took me a few minutes to decode your wireing description (and I am still unsure what "DCTV" means). But your problem sounds like a known issue.

Here is the problem: your cable box puts out digital ONLY for the digital channels (usually above 100). It puts out analog L/R signals when the channels are non-digital (below 100).

You would like your reciever to auto-detect as you bounce among these channels. But it does not.

Does that describe the problem?

If so - you have some choices:

A) Call your CATV company and get a different CATV box. Preferably one with a Personal Video Recorder feature. These tend to send ALL the audio out the digital output, and out the analog output.

B) Just use the L/R signals and tell your receiver to NOT look for a digital input. (Normal CATV audio is really crappy. Using the digital connection is simply a crappy signal digitzed). The only exception might be the HBO type channels.

Hope this helps.

Mike Shellito

Bob - I think I've got it. By DCTV, I meant DTV/CBL (I have Digital Cable). I had the digital out setting on my cable box set to Dolby Digital. There's only that option and "Other". I re-set it to Other, and my other channels worked, but my digital channels were no longer digital. I re-set it back to Dolby Digital, and now all my channels are working. Not sure why it's working now but it wasn't before, but it is so I'll leave it at that. But yes, you described the problem in that I wanted the receiver to auto-detect the signal as I'm bouncing around, which it's now doing. I've found that those channels that are broadcasting in digital are actually pretty good, I'm getting 5.1 in all my network broadcasts, and several others as well. Guess I'm in luck. Thanks for the reply.

Mike