Does digital cable produce digital sound? (1 Viewer)

[SteveHicks]

New question, I have digital cable service. I have noticed that anytime I watch television, it gives me analog and not digital, as with DVD's. Is this normal, or is there a way to hook up my cable box to the receiver to receive digital sound?

 

[JasenJ]

This is normal. I suspect you have the line level outputs from the cable box connected to your receiver. Those line level cables are analog. You MIGHT have a digital out on your cable box; you'd have to look and/or ask your cable company.

- Jasen.

 

[Jake K]

If you're cable company is as crappy as mine (Adelphia) then you might not even be able to get a box with digital outputs. The box I had didn't have S-Video or digital audio outputs, and that's the only one they offered, it even had a Dolby Digital logo on the front.
I guess the deal was I could send the box to them and they would solder on the connectors, which is just plain stupid. I went to DirecTV though.

 

[SteveHicks]

Unfortunately, I do have CrapAdelphia

 

[Jake K]

If you don't want to get multichannel audio from movies on TV, then the analog outputs are fine. I had a hum problem with my box which started after Adelphia "fixed" our old cables. That's one reason I wanted a digital output so much.

 

[Johnny Mo]

Digital outs won't always help either. I have a 5.1 out on mine, but they don't always broadcast 5.1. Only on advertised programs will you get a 5.1 feed out of them.

 

[Michael Reuben]

You're not the only one who's found this confusing. Some examples:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=cable
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=cable
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=cable
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=cable
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=cable
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=cable

M.

 

[SteveSott]

I have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000 (Cox Cable) It has RCA outs for Video/L/R (stereo), S-video, USB, Ethernet and AC-3 out. The on line manual says the AC-3 out is for Digital 5.1 surround but to use the RCA outs for regular sound. After looking more closely at the back of the cable box it has a regular RCA type connection.
My question is with the set up for the best sound/video.
i'm thinking, S-video and Digital cable to the receiver, RCA Video L/R out to the VCR and straight cable to the TV. I should then be able to watch premium channels/all channels through either the VCR or TV modes from the receiver through the surround speakers. Normal TV news and such will still be available through just the TV.
Thanks for any feed back.
ST

 

[Johnny Ayala]

The AC-3 connection will only give you 5.1 if the program is shown in that form. I ended up taking my cable box back and just using the RCA analog connections from my TV. Even when I did see a movie in 5.1 (pay-per-view), the sound was never like you'de expect like a DVD.

 

[jason maxwell]

I have Adelphia cable and I am using the Scientic Atlantic 3100 cable box, it has a coaxial digital out.I have it connected to my receiver as well as analog because the digital only works on channels above 70.So I have to manually switch if I want digital sound.It was so much easier with my ols dish network receiver.

 

[Chun Lam]

I have Comcast and as a previous poster said, only certain channels broadcast in digital. I have both the RCA composite audio and the digital coax hooked up to my Denon 1804 receiver. I have the audio on the receiver setup to auto so the preference is to use the digital coax, then fail back to analog if that's not available.

Even with digital out, I've found only HBO and other premium channels take advantage of 5.1 DD and only with certain movies.