Satellite not Dolby but receiver is -- what happens?
StevoG
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Ive got a question. I bought a used satellite receiver with "optical audio outputs" but I have come to learn it does not decode Dolby Digital signals. I hooked it up to my home theater receiver, which does decode dolby digital, through optical audio cables. My question is, will the AV receiver receiive/decode the dolby digital despite the fact that the satellite receiver does not? Does the dolby signal pass through to the receiver, past the satellite? Am I thinking about this correctly?
LaRon
Unregistered guest
Posted on
first of all The source (ie dvd, satellite ,Xbox) normally does not decode. The digital out put (optical, Digital Coax)just sends a digital signal to be decoded by the receiver. Second of all you have to understand the not all things on satellite is broadcast in dolby digital, infact the only channels that I ever see broadcast in dolby digital 5.1 are Showtime1 and hbo1. I don't have cinamax but I think they do to. Anyway that means that most of your channal will be in PCM Stereo, witch is digital stereo. Also you can have somethings that are broadcast in Dolby Digital but not in 5.1, so they will have great sound but are not in surround sound.
StevoG
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Thanks. So, what your saying is that if the broadcast is dolby digital, but the receiver is not equipped with the decoder for DD, it will go to the TV as just digital stereo. But, if I send the signal through an AV receiver with DD, then it WILL decode the dolby digital there and play it as DD, regardless of whether the satellite receiver has DD or not. I appreciate your thoughts.
that is essentially correct, the sat box just passes the signal it receives through the audio optical out to the receiver.
If the show is broadcast in pcm stereo, then the receiver decodes it into stereo, any of your receivers DSP's, PLII, or DTS Neo6 will simulate surround from the stereo source.
If the show is broadcast in mono, like the Maltese Falcon that I watched the other evening, my Onkyo decoded it and I watched it in the Onkyo's "Mono Movie" mode.
Some movies, coming in on my local affiliates, and HBO, Cinemax, and Starz, occasionally broadcast in DD. In that case, my receiver generally decodes them automatically into DD.