Fiber Optic Audio From Satellite to Receiver

tomasulo · Post by **tomasulo** » Wed May 28, 2008 2:47 pm

I just upgraded to an HD Satellite Receiver. Correct me if I am wrong, but I hear that most if not all programs filmed in HD, have digital sound? I was thinking about running fiber optic audio cable from the output on my HD receiver to my audio sound system receiver. If I do this, will the receiver recognize the digital sound and adapt if it was, 5.1 surround for example?

I have always ran the fiber optic from my DVD player to the receiver, and it recognizes the 5.1 audio on movies and automatically kicks into 5.1 dolby digital mode.

What is the digital sound mode that HD is broadcast in?? I see on pay per view movies that the HD channels have boasts that it is in 5.1 audio. Is it just extra clear sound out of the two front speakers, or how is HD usually broadcasted?

Thanks

Andrew

Dave3putt · Post by **Dave3putt** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:17 pm

tomasulo,
Greetings. The audio on all the channels coming into the sat receiver are digital, just like the video, so by all means you should use a digital connection from the sat receiver to your audio system. That could be an optical, coaxial, or a HDMI connection. If your sat receiver has an optical output and your audio receiver has a spare optical input, that would be a great way to go. A coaxial connection would give you the same performance. For a HDMI connection, your audio receiver would have to be fairly new and have HDMI inputs. Check the back of the sat receiver and see what digital audio outputs it has.

Most HD programming is, in fact, DD 5.1. Your audio receiver will pick it up just like it does from the DVD player. SD channels are nearly all in stereo, but you can use the different modes on the audio receiver to use all the speakers, again just like the DVD player.

One suggestion, if you are now using the red and white plugs for audio, your sat box is converting the incoming digital audio to analog. This is probably not what you want. Hook up the optical cable and then, to avoid confusion about where the audio is coming from, pull out the red and white plugs. This way you will get no sound at all unless you have it hooked up and set right into your audio gear.

Also, what connection are you using for video between the sat receiver and your HDTV?

andrewleblanccox · Post by **andrewleblanccox** » Sat May 31, 2008 9:43 am

Pay per view movies on Direct TV's HD channel 99 are only Dolby Digital 2.0, not 5.1. Does anyone know why they
do this? Of course the audio on the premiums on Dir. TV [HBO, Showtime, etc.] is 5.1 Certain PPV films from Dir TV -
such as Paramount titles - are ONLY available in hd at this time from Dir. TV as no Blu-Ray versions are scheduled for
the immediate future [such as "Sweeney Todd"]

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sat May 31, 2008 1:44 pm

Dave3putt wrote:For a HDMI connection, your audio receiver would have to be fairly new and have HDMI inputs. Check the back of the sat receiver and see what digital audio outputs it has.

Believe it or not Dave there are NEW receivers being released with HDMI inputs that support video ONLY. Readers need to confirm the product supports at least SD bitstreams via HDMI and PCM is desired as well.

Dave3putt · Post by **Dave3putt** » Sat May 31, 2008 8:08 pm

Richard wrote:there are NEW receivers being released with HDMI inputs that support video ONLY

Never heard of that before, Richard. I have never seen anything but HDMI v1.3 on receivers sold in about the last 6-9 months. That should enable all the audio formats to be carried. Are you saying their circuitry just disregards the audio? Any examples?

Dave3putt · Post by **Dave3putt** » Sat May 31, 2008 10:56 pm

Never mind an example. I found one with "HDMI Pass Through". Another thing to look out for, usually in the lower end models.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:50 am

Per an ISF client one of those NEW lower end models, Harmon Kardon, was $600... I told him to exchange it!