Watching TV w/ a 3803 (1 Viewer)

[Todd Bohlke]

I'm still getting used to the great sound of my new 3803 (and great price-thanks 6ave!), but am having problems when watching TV. When running either DPL 2 or Neo, sound is only coming out of the center speaker so I'm forced to watch in 5ch stereo. I can understand that shows w/ a mono signal are going to come out of one spot, but surely Must See TV is in stereo! Watching DVDs I get great surround sound.

I don't have digital cable, but I have a digital cable box (due to a pkg deal that I got w/ the cable company, I get the digital music stations and the digital box). I've got RCA cables and a digital coax cable running from the box to the receiver. I wasn't getting sound when just connecting the coax cable so I have both connected.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Todd,

There are various factors that come in to play in order to get surround sound from regular television or cable broadcasts, and it only takes one of them being incorrect to collapse the whole effort.

I won’t go into the required hardware or connections because it appears like you have that right already.

Beyond the hardware and connections, the next thing in the “chain of command” for TV surround sound is that the particular program you want to watch must actually gets to you in stereo. There are factors beyond your control that determine this:

• The cable network (A&E, Disney, etc) must provide a stereo feed to the local cable provider.
• The cable provider must maintain the network’s stereo feed through its system all the way to your home.
• The program you are watching must have been recorded and mixed in stereo or surround sound at the production stage.

It takes only one “break” in the chain above to render programming in mono.

Beyond that, it’s up to the end user to make sure his equipment is set up and connected properly to utilize the stereo/surround feed – i.e., the receiver must be set to “Pro Logic” mode and the speaker levels properly matched.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt