Cable and HTiB (1 Viewer)

[carl_b_byrne]

Hello all, I just recently purchased a Sony DAV-FC7 HTib for the bedroom and it has an optical in. I want to hook up my digital cable box (motorola DCT2100 I believe)too the sony in order to take advantage of some of the 5.1 broadcasts. Can I completely eliminate the use of the rca cables and just use the digital out? I assume all the sound is digital, whether it be 2.0 or 5.1. I tried the digital cable yesterday, but left the rca ones hooked to the tv. It did not work! Any suggestions at all?? Should I just leave the Sony for movies/sacds??

Thanks alot

 

[Nathan Stohler]

Carl,

You may need to go into your the menu for your cable box and set it to output the digital signal. You also may need to adjust your Sony receiver to use the optical jack for the TV input.

I'm not sure why you would still be running the RCA audio cables to your TV if you want to use your speaker system for sound. Of course, you would still want to run the video (composite, s-video, whatever), but not audio, unless you plan on using your TV speakers.

--Nathan

 

[carl_b_byrne]

Nathan, I was just messing around with the various ways to do things (even though I probably shouldn't) and left them both in. I had planned on removing the RCA cables tonite, but did not even think about doing a config on the cable box. I'll try it after work!

Thanks alot

 

[Ted Lee]

yes. you can use just the optical cable to handle *all* your audio source connections. it's a good setup.

 

[carl_b_byrne]

*sigh* I don't get it. My cable box (actually motorola DCT 2500) has the optical out, but no option to switch to DD. Its all very frustrating. And silly me, the setup is as follows: cable into cable box, out into VCR and then into tv. No RCA cables, no digital sound.:frowning: Any suggestions at all??

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

The only RCA cable that should be hooked up to the TV is the video feed from your HTIB.

The thing is, digital cable is more about extra channels than it is about Dolby Digital 5.1. You will only be getting Dolby Digital 5.1 with some premium movie channels – and only then if your local provider accommodates it. You will only get digital 2.0 sound from the other so-called digital channels, which from what I understand are the higher numbered ones. If there are any non-digital channels coming in, you’ll need regular RCA cables between the cable box and the HTIB for that.

You might get a better response if you post your question in our Audio/Video Sources Forum. Let people know where you live; there’s probably someone who can let you know what to expect from your local cable provider and their equipment.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Ted Lee]

i'm confused wayne. doesn't his cable box have an optical out ... and his htb an optical in? if so, that should be all he needs...?

at least that's how my directv receiver is setup. i don't even have the analog audio cables hooked up ... and i get sound from every channel. are cable boxes different??

 

[carl_b_byrne]

I just tried to output the video signal as such:
cable hook up to box - rca video out to vcr - rca video out to tv...all I got was a blue screen! I give up (for now!)

 

[Ted Lee]

looks like you should go step-by-step.

skip the vcr for now....just to see what's going on.

cable box (video out) --> tv (video in)

switch your tv to the aux video input and see if you get a picture.

as far as sound goes, run the optical like i said.