TV Surround Troubleshooting (1 Viewer)

[MikeLaT]

I have a 5.1 channel Panasonic Home Theater System set up in our college dorm room. We had some difficulty hooking it up, the dvd source sound works, but when we try to directly link it into the tv for cable channels, we do not receive the surround sound. We're thinking that this could possibly be because this is mono cable, rather than digital cable. It's simply a coax cable hookup from the wall. Do you have any advice on correcting this problem or are we simply out of luck? We would like to have this corrected by the Super Bowl, so your swift response would be appreciated.

 

[Ted Lee]

hmm...couple of guesses.

1. i assume you have some sort of stereo signal for your tv being sent to the receiver? are you coming out from the tv, cable box or something else? in any case, you may want to make sure the show is being broadcast in surround.

2. check to see that you've engaged some sort of surround mode for the input that the tv is on. most receivers have a default of 'stereo', but once you switch the surround mode for that input, then it remembers.

iirc, it doesn't really depend on what kind of physical cable you're using. even coax from the wall should be able to carry a surround signal.

 

[Robt_Moore]

Mike:

Do you have a stereo VCR?
Does your TV have a stereo audio out?
Do you have a cable box with stereo audio out?

You need one of the above to do surround sound (and then it will only be Dolby Pro Logic II)

Hook one of the stereo audio outputs of one of the above to an audio input of your receiver, which can then decode the signal.

If you are planning on buying a VCR, since they are dirt cheap, make sure it is VHS Hi-Fi STEREO.

Any other questions? Let us know.

Bob

 

[MikeLaT]

Thank you very much for your help. We did as you suggested and now have full surround.