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Digital Cable (1 Viewer)

Matthew BW

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 10, 2002
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53
In the audio setup for my digital cable box it has settings for high compression, low compression, and none. I was reading that it says to set to high compression if it is going to be hooked up to a reciever with Dolby capapbilites. Does this seem right? It seems to me that you would want the least amount of compression possible.

It also says to set it on stereo matrix if it is hooked up to a dynamic stereo system. The other choices are stereo or mono. I am just trying to get the right settings.

My cable box does have the s video and digital coax outs.
And it is hooked up to a keenwood VR 507 reciever.

I am wondering if I have the settings correct because on the premium channels I get a digital signal but my dolby digital light never comes on. it just uses PLII. I know not all movies are dolby digial 5.1 but mine has never come on.
 

Vince Maskeeper

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 18, 1999
Messages
6,500
Matthew,

I haven't has a digital cable system in years- but I'll tell you what I recall:

1) The compression setting only worked on the digital channels- and was very drastic (you should notice like a 3db boost in level just from turning it on!). I preferred the lowest compression setting (off), although on my system this meant the digital channels were slightly lower in volume from the analog band.

I'm not sure why the manual would suggest kicking up the compression for dolby systems-- but I would agree with your logic that the opposite would be true.

2) The matrix stereo option made no difference that I could tell on my box from plain stereo. The only thing I could think of was if you had a box that got 5.1 signal and only used the analog output- I thought maybe the matrix setting would give you a 2.0 downmix of the 5.1-- but since my system broadcasted in raw 2 channel- I could never tell a difference.

3) Understand that you must have a digital connection between the box and the receiver to get 5.1 audio. You post said it has coax output- but I just wanted to make sure. My old cable box was for the digital cable system, even had a Dolby Digital logo on it- but there was no digital audio output, just the analog ones. So if you have the box connected with just analog cables (2 channel) you'll never get 5.1.

So first you have to have a box with a digital audio output, which has to be connected to your receiver. Then to get 5.1 your cable system has to offer it. Most don't in my experience. You should check with the local office and see if they know anything.

-V
 

Jonathan Smith

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 26, 2002
Messages
122
Many of the dolby digital stations have a DD 2.0 signal. In that case, your receiver would still use DPL to get surround sound. On all (I think) of the digital stations that we get, my DD light comes on, but Pro Logic decoding is still used since it is only 2 channel digital audio.
 

Matthew BW

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 10, 2002
Messages
53
Thanks,
I do have the digital out but I probably am just getting dolby digital 2.0. Thanks again.
 

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