Sat Receiver Digital Audio Out? (1 Viewer)

[LennyS]

This is my first post so please be gentle. I currently have a basic Hughes receiver for my DirecTV with the standard s-video out and RCA out for audio. I'd like to upgrade to one with a digital optical out to take advantage of the movies that are broadcast in Dolby Digital. My question is this. If I use the optical out on the Hughes receiver, what happens when I tune to a channel that's not broadcast in DD. Do I need to run an RCA in addition to the optical? Or will I receive audio through the optical, just not in a digital format? The model I'm looking at is this one:

Executive Director Receiver Hughes
Manuf. Model: GCEBO-Rec

Thanks for any help and please forgive me if I've confused anyone.

-Lenny

 

[jeff.wright]

Just like a DVD player, a digital audio cable can output as whatever mode is provided or selected. There is no need for a double audio connection.

 

[Robert_J]

If you can spare a few more dollars, look at the Hughes HDVR2 (aka DirecTivo). It has an optical out for DD but even better, it can record DD for playback later.

-Robert

 

[LennyS]

Thank you both for the responses. I will definitely check out that receiver.

-Lenny

 

[JayDaniel]

On my Scientific Atlanta set top box for Digital cable (not Satellite), I must have BOTH the digital coax and RCA composite audio connections made. This is per SA's instructions. I tried it w/o the RCA jacks first and NO sound (then I read the instructions). Apparently on their system, the analog broadcasts default to the RCA composite connection. I leave my receiver's input on "auto select", and it switches to digital when a digital broadcast is available.

 

[Robert_J]

I forgot to answer the second question. The digital audio connection delivers all sound. DD, stereo, mono. That's the only audio connection required.

-Robert