Digital Cable Box Audio Output (1 Viewer)

[PaulBur]

I have a Denon AVR 1700 That has a digital in section on the back where there is an input for an optical cable and two separate coaxial cables. On the back of my digital cable box I have a digital audio out with a coaxial output. I connected one of the digital coax cable inputs to the audio out on the cable box and then went into my receiver's setup and set the coaxial cable #1 to TV/DBS. I thought that this would give me digital sound while watching certain programs, but to my dismay, I get no sound whatsoever. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Denward]

Welcome to HTF, Paul.

You are encountering a common frustration with "digital" cable companies and their boxes. Many boxes come with a Dolby Digital logo on front but no output on back. It's possible that you're being teased even further by having an output but no signal. There are many stories, including mine, about HTFers contacting cable companies on this issue and getting no response or a nonsensical response.

However, you might try hitting the Setup key on your cable remote. You may need to switch on digital output from there (although I wouldn't bet the farm on it). You also have to remember that many channels on your digital cable are actually analog so you won't get any 5.1 effects from those.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Paul,

First, welcome to the Forum!

It sounds like you did everything right as far as the Denon receiver is concerned. Perhaps there is a set-up procedure for the cable box as well. I suggest referring to the cable box’s manual or call the cable company’s tech support line for help.

Regards,

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Paul,

As you can see Denward “beat me to the punch” by a couple of minutes!

However, it occurs to me his last sentence might be the explanation to your problem. Possibly you will only get a digital signal on premium or pay-per-view channels that offer 5.1 Dolby-Digital-encoded movies.

Again, the cable company should be able to clear this up for you.

If this is the situation, go ahead and hook up both analog and digital audio connections. If your receiver has an preferential or automatic digital-recognition function it will switch to digital if and when a digital signal is present.

Regards,

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[justin_c_m]

I have digital cable also. I'm using a Motorola DCT 2000 Digital box. What I was told by the cable company is that you only receive digital sound on digital channels. In my case I have digital channels after channel 115 I think. Before that is all analog. They told me that if you are trying to use the digital audio, on an analog channel that you will get no sound, which is true. I have to switch what input to use on my DD receiver from digital coaxial to RCA to hear analog channels. Hope this helps

Justin