HBO goes Dolby Digital (1 Viewer)

[BlaineJ]

HBO begins broadcasting select movies in Dolby Digital 5.1 beginning Saturday July 14.
http://www.dolby.com/press/pa.pr.0107.hbo.html
Yes, I know this is the hardware forum but this means that you'll have to upgrade to a Dolby Digital cable/DBS receiver to benefit from this. Luckily, I had just bought a DD DirecTV receiver a few months ago - but have yet to hear a DD broadcast. That'll change tomorrow!

 

[CRyan]

Thank you very much for this information. I had been hoping they would jump on this and now it seems as though they might. Now if we could only get them to do widescreen as well.
Thanks,
C. Ryan

 

[Steve Hauben]

Cool!
-Steve

 

[NickSP]

Blaine, thanks for sharing that with us. Now Showtime has some company. Do you know how many HBO channels will do this?

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I'm not going to hold my breath for it. Showtime has had Dolby Digital for a long time and it still isn't available on DirecTV.

 

[Jeff Keene]

What? No dts? I AM very disappointed in HBO and will not be buying any of their products in the future!

 

[Scott Gaffney]

As long as the serial number of the main processor of your cable box has a D as the 4th character. In addition it needs to be the cable box with a 2.5" space between the volume controls and the channel select. It may or may not have a mute button, but, it CANNOT have an input for a PlayStation 2. Unfortunately, the shipping boxes for both the good and the bad cable boxes are the same and General Instruments has said they cannot comment further.
I just went down to Best Buy and got mine. The DTS works well! Just watch out, as the Ultimate edition of the cable box will likely come out next year when you can buy the boxed set of the cable box and Tivo. This will provide DTS-ES.
Hope this helps.
sdg
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[BlaineJ]

NickSP- according to the above link:
"Dolby Laboratories is proud to announce that HBO's primary channel will debut programming in Dolby Digital 5.1 with the pay network premiere of The Perfect Storm. "
So, it looks like no HBO Signature or any of that stuff...

 

[William Anthony]

Who cares? They don't show them letterboxed. You are better off with a dvd.
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[Alf S]

Who cares?

I do! I'm not THAT fanatical about seeing EVERY darn movie in letterbox..Sometimes I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of video image to hear my surround system completely envelope me in 5.1 surround. Lighten up folks...
Alfer
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[Vin]

I think this is great news.....as soon as I read it I started shopping for a DirecTV receiver that can output the digital bitstream.
If anyone's interested Radio Shack has one for $200>http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=16%2D2590

 

[Nicholas A. Gallegos]

Great news.....
Now if my cable will hurry up and finish upgrading my neighborhood to the new fiber-coax hybrid network, I can finally get digital cable and start enjoying 5.1 audio on HBO.
(And no, satellite is not an option for me unfortunately, seeing that I'm an apartment dweller)
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[Wayne Bundrick]

See my earlier comment, Vin. Showtime already has Dolby Digital but DirecTV isn't transmitting it, so there is no reason to believe DirecTV is going to pick up the Dolby Digital on HBO. Only Starz East and some PPVs have Dolby Digital on DirecTV.
I'll be glad to be proven wrong when The Perfect Storm airs tonight and everyone's Dolby Digital indicators light up, but I don't think it's going to happen.

 

[Andrew P]

I just checked my program guide and The Perfect Storm is indeed in Dolby Digital tonight on channel 501, but not in HDTV (509) according to the guide. I could care less about the standard definition channels. Id rather watch the dvd.
Im hoping they do it for the HDTV movies.
Andy

 

[Vin]

Well, I just came back from all the local electronic stores, Radio Shack, Best Buy, 6th Ave Electronics, Circuit City, The Wiz.....all DirecTV receivers that can pass a digital bitstream are out of stock in all of these stores.
What they're telling me is that they're being discontinued.....guess why? They're trying to push the DirecTivo all in one boxes. It's funny, as I was standing in Best Buy looking at the Sony SATA55 which does have an optical output a salesman came by and put a new sale price of $170 on it (reduced from $190). I said for that price I think I'll go for it......"oh, we don't have any stock", he said.
It was even better at The Wiz.....the salesman told me that "we might have one but it will cost you an extra $100 for installation". "I don't need for you to install it, I'm just going to replace my current box", I said. "Sorry, we can't sell the box without the $100 installation charge".
Pretty ridiculous I thought.....until I remembered that The Wiz is owned by Cablevision!

I know the Sony SATA55 and the RCA DRD480RE are both available online for $200 or less but I think I'll hold off for a while and see how much DD 5.1 programming DirecTV/HBO will actually be offering.

Vin

 

[Jeff Adams]

I agree with Alf, I dont have the HBO, Starz package on Directv to watch my favorite movies. That is what my dvd player is for. I have it to be able to watch movies that I did not catch at the theater or did not care to see at the theater. And of course shows like The Sopranos. So this is very good news to hear that HBO will be broadcasting DD. Also I heard that the new show Band of Brothers will be in DD! Cool stuff. I talked to a Directv rep a couple of days ago and she said that it is not Directv who makes the decision to broadcast DD, it is the actual stations themself, so I guess we will see tonight. I have never been told that Showtime was broadcasting DD, I only knew of Starz and pay per view doing it and now hopefully HBO tonight! And as far as the DTS thing, come on guys, one step at a time.
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[Wayne Bundrick]

The program guide can't be trusted, Andrew. My DirecTiVo's program guide often indicates programs having Dolby Digital on Showtime, where none is to be found.
I hope for the best, but expect the worst.

 

[Alf S]

No 5.1 from HBO-Directv tonight. standard old PL1

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[Wayne Bundrick]

I hope I had sufficiently tempered everyone's expectations. BTW it seems that DD is also a no-show on Dish Network.
Maybe there's a digital cable subscriber out there who can report a confirmed sighting.

 

[Jay Cutler]

FWIW, I just got done enjoying the 5.1 presentation of 'The Perfect Storm' on HBO. I have Time Warner Digital Cable, and it came through loud and clear in 5.1. I was a bit surprised that it actually came through in 5.1 as I have very little confidence in my cable service, but it was very well presented.
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