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General question about 5.1 sound (comcast)

post #1 of 7
7/14/09 at 9:10am
Thread Starter 
riddle me this!

i have two options for watching a local broadcast HD channel through comcast (nj)

1) - watch it through my cable box>HDMI>TV (channel 200something) and there is NO 5.1 surround
2) - watch it directly from the coax>TV (strangely on channel "9.1") and get 5.1 surround

in both cases my audio is going optical from my TV>receiver


what gives?!?!?!
why can i not get 5.1 when watching this through my cable box?

thanks as always!
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post #2 of 7
7/14/09 at 1:40pm
Perhaps I am misunderstanding something.. I have DVI to my TV and digital audio via coax to my receiver.  I have Comcast in NJ and I have no issues with this when viewing broadcast HD channels.
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post #3 of 7
7/14/09 at 3:02pm
Perhaps there is a setting on the cable box to send audio to optical OR HDMI but not both.  PS3 works that way.
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post #4 of 7
7/14/09 at 3:24pm
I understand the problem a bit better now.  It does sound like a config issue.  Why are you passing the optical audio through the TV rather than plugging it directly into the receiver?
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post #5 of 7
7/15/09 at 2:08am
What model cable box do you have?  I do the same as Hanson - DVI to the TV, optical to the receiver.  I would suggest Googling the model cable box you have.  There may be a setting internally that you need to set to trigger the audio.  Or, just run a line to your receiver rather than passing through the TV.
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post #6 of 7
7/15/09 at 3:14am
Most TV's do not pass a 5.1 signal it gets via HDMI out to its audio outputs. It sends it out 2 channel Pro Logic. They WILL pass 5.1 when it receives the signal via it's own tuner, either OTA or it's cable card. To get 5.1 via your HDMI you must route the HDMI from your cable box thru your AV receiver and then to the TV. The AV recevier then strips out the sound before sending the video on to the TV.  The other option is the way you have it. HDMI to the TV with a seprate digital audio cable to your receiver. You then must mute your TV's sound system.  
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post #7 of 7
7/15/09 at 7:25am
Thread Starter 
yeah mark B seems to have nailed it here


it amazes me that my tv has digital audio inputs....and digital audio outputs.....but it can't pass through that 5.1 signal.  really lame if you ask me.

sadly i cannot route the audio directly to my receiver due to limitations with the SD tivo i have.
as long as that is still in the mix it kind of messes things up for me :(

thanks all
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