I'm confused about hooking up my digital cable box (1 Viewer)

[Frank**F]

Specifically, the audio.

Right now the box is just hooked up to an old direct-view TV, using the traditional RF coax output to the back of the TV.

All of my new HT junk is on order/en route (hee hee!), and I'm going to go buy cables this weekend. Of course, I'm going to use the separate audio/video channels that are available.

My digital box has digital coax output, as well as L/R analog audio out.

I've read everything I can find regarding what cables connect to what, I've searched, I've lurked for weeks, and I can't figure out one thing:

If I hook up the digital coax audio, will that only provide sound on certain shows (for instance, shows with Dolby Digital)? In other words, do I need to hook up BOTH the digital line and the analog lines?

 

[Jason GT]

Answer:

maybe. It depends on your box, as I have heard of STBs that need an analogue connection for analogue source channels.

On the other hand, the box that I have (Motorola DCT 5100) passes all signals through digital, thus I only use the digital out on the box.

 

[Frank**F]

Ah. I see. Trial and error, then. I can do that.

 

[Johnny Ayala]

When I used the coax output from my Explorer 2000 cable box, I could only get a signal from those channels that were "Digital" and nothing from the others. Still haven't figured that one out, and the cable company wasn't any help. I went back to using just the analog outputs of the box, and it sounds just fine. Good Luck.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

If I hook up the digital coax audio, will that only provide sound on certain shows

I have a Scientific Atlantic box. It only provides digital audio on the digital channels (100+). So, I have the analog going into my TV and then my TV's analog output going to my receiver's VCR input. I then took the digital coax from the cable box to the SAT/TV input on my receiver and specified within the receiver's setup to look at the coax input for that selection.

It's kind of a pain, but this way, I can watch everything and listen to the analog input, and, If I find something in DD I switch the receiver over to SAT/TV.

 

[Johnny Ayala]

Thanks for the hint, I changed mine and now i can enjoy the DD signals as well. Do you find that you cannot control the volume level with your cable remote when there is a DD signal?