digital audio from cable box (1 Viewer)

[scott_seth]

Hi everyone,

My cable box has a digital audio out as well as a standard left/right rca jack audio out. Right now I have the right/left hooked up to the AV receiver.

Does anyone think hooking up the digital audio out is worth it ?. Does the quality coming form a cable company warrant it ?. Also, what type of cable do I need ?. I have some unused video cable with RCA plugs, will they be ok or is there a cable specific for digital audio.

As always, appreciate the advice.

Thanks,
SLS

 

[jeff peterson]

I have Time Warner Cable's 3250HD box and yes, it's worth it for the music channels as well as the 5.1 broadcasts. Digital audio cable should be 75 ohms, your video cables should work just fine.

 

[Mark Rich]

Yes I'd agree the digital out is the way to go. I'm sure sure the DAC's within your AVR are superior to whats inside the cable box.
A good quality (well shielded) 75ohm rca cable (video) will work fine for this appication.

 

[JayDaniel]

The digital connection is worth it IF your cable co. sends 5.1 broadcasts and/or other digital channels. And just so you don't go thru the same headache I did, note that you usually have to keep the RCA composite connections hooked up as well as the digital. If not on my Scientific Atlanta box, you'd get no sound at all.

Try it and see if you like it. You are only going to be out a few bucks for the cable.

 

[RobertCharlotte]

I have TimeWarner also, and I had to hook up both sets of outputs on mine because by and large only the digital cable-tier channels have digital audio feeds. However, on many of the movie channels I do get 5.1 audio (Showtime seems especially good at providing this).

 

[scott_seth]

Have to keep the composite connection as well..hmmm...

That may explain why when I briefly tested the digital audio, disconnecting the other cables, I didn't get any sound at all. But I was not on a digital channel...I have Cablevision service by the way.

If you have them both hooked up then how can you be sure you are listening to a feed from the digital output and not just the composite feed ? Would you switch to a digital music channel and disconnect the composite to see if it works ?

 

[Mark:F]

I have both digital and optical audio outputs on the HDTV box and my receiver can take either one. Which is better? Thanks.

 

[Jason_A]

Mark

Both are pretty good. Sometimes though the Optical cables may have jitter problems. Other than that I'd say pretty equal.

Jason

 

[JayDaniel]

Scott - on most AV receivers you must choose the input source - analog, digital, or digital auto-detect. Set it on auto detect and it will automatically select the digital signal when available. Also, on my receiver a small red light comes on when a digital signal is received.