Can I get 5.1 surround sound from HD cable box? (1 Viewer)

[RobEd]

Tweeter delivered a new Samsung HLM507 yesterday and the cable company installed a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3100HD cable box today. The cable box has a coaxial digital audio output but my Yamaha RX-V630 only has optical audio inputs. Is it possible to get true 5.1 surround sound with the equipment I have? Any suggestions?

 

[Lee Bailey]

You would have to find an external convertor of some kind to change from the digital coax to fiber. I find it very unusual to NOT have at least one digital coax connection. According to the Yamaha website, there is 1 digital coax connection on your unit. That would be the one to use.

 

[RobEd]

Thanks for the response. There is a digital coax input, but it's labeled as CD. If I use that input, is there a special cable required, or will a standard coax cable with RCA connections work?

 

[PaulT]

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=15%2D1228

 

[Mike Matheson]

Hi Rob,

Assuming your CD input really is a digital coaxial input, you'd need a digital coaxial interconnect to hook your cable box to your receiver. Digital coaxial interconnects are specifically 75 ohms--which coincidentally is the same as a standard video interconnect (composite video). So either buy one of RS's digital coaxial interconnects (the last one I saw I think was orange) or one of their video interconnects (probably some yellow around the ends somewhere).

 

[RobEd]

Thanks for the suggestions. I stopped at the local Tweeter where I bought the Yamaha receiver and learned that I could assign the one digital coaxial input as a digital cable audio input. They took me thru the process step by step in the store and then sold me a digital cable at half price. Everything works as it should and I'm blown away to finally get 5.1 for cable broadcasts.

 

[Mike Matheson]

Rob,

Just a reminder--only a few broadcasts will actually be in 5.1 surround. Most will be 2.0. (based on how the shows are encoded)

 

[Dan Hine]

Hey Rob,

I'm glad you've got everything working. I just wanted to jump in here to say it's nice seeing more guys from this area on the board!