jpbpe Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 Can anyone tell me with certainty whether Time Warner's digital cable provides only Dolby Surround for its movies, or if they send Dolby Digital 5.1 for movies encoded with it??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 i did get the movie civil action in DD 5.1 once from the starz channel. it's up to the broadcasters/channels/stations to do it. time warner basically just provides the cable & box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheeseHead Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 I just got Time Warners digital cable and have watch lots of newer flicks on HBO...NONE of which were in 5.1. My receiver only detects a Dolby ProLogic (I think that's Dolby 2.0) signal coming from the cable box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chockstarfish@hotmail.com Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 ive had dc for a while and the only way you can get the 5.1 is to have the optical or the 6 rca outputs on the dc box "which it doesn't have" you can't send a 5.1 channel sound through 2 rca. you have to have seperate rca cables for each center rear front and sub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 I have a Denon AVR-4800 which will decode prologic, DD, THX EX, whatever you throw at it. I have never seen more than a digital 2 channel audio signal on any cable I have seen. I take the digital audio stream directly out of the cable box and pipe it into my receiver. I suspect they pay per view may be 5 channel DD. But everything else is 2 channel pro logic. By the way I posed this question to Time Warner, as to when they would support DD on digital cable. They have conveniently chosen not to answer. Even though the first line rep got back to me 6 times asking if 2nd level support had answered my question. Sounds like it will be pro logic for some time. Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted March 9, 2001 Share Posted March 9, 2001 it's the stations (source) I tell ye think of time warner & their dig box as your dvd player & the channel (like starz) as the dvd. if u put a dolby surround (2.0) disk in your dvdp, u can't blame the dvdp for not putting out DD 5.1. time warner service people in most cases aren't even aware that it's not them, it's their feeds (which they pull off of sat.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffgeorge Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 I have a Direct TV system that supports DD through a toslink cable. I have viewed very few DD programs. In fact, if you want to get DD on Pay Per View, you have to look for the newest movies and select it in letterbox (which I prefer anyway). The point is, the broadcasters (Stars, HBO, etc.) need to get with the times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myram Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 It's all up the each individual station, not Time Warner. I have watched a few movies on Showtime, Starz, and HBO that have come thru in DD 5.1. I am using the coax digital output on the back of the cable box, and it goes to my Denon 1601. Monday night football and the Super Bowl were both broadcast in DD 5.1 also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 like myram says, w/ a digital cable box w/ a single digital out rca jack (like the scientific atlanta explorer 2000 has), all you need to do is run a single line from that to the digital coax input of your receiver. then any digital signal feed is decoded by your receiver's decoder. if the signal is broadcast/encoded in DD 5.1 then you'll get that. that's a big if though. usually it's sent only dolby 2.0 which the receiver decodes in prologic. if it's an analog station/signal you get no digital signal/output. if your digital box doesn't have a digital out jack, u may want to ask the cableco if they can give u a newer box that does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilH Posted March 12, 2001 Share Posted March 12, 2001 On DirecTV, the first Starz channel is always in Dolby Digital, although the movie being played will determine the effect (yeaterday's Steve Martin movie you could hardly tell there were rear channels, then "Mission To Mars" verified they were indeed there). The PPV movie selections on DirecTV have gotten better over the last few months, going from only 1 movie in DD to about 3 at a time. HBO, Cinemax and Showtime need to wake up and give us at least 1 channel in DD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted March 12, 2001 Share Posted March 12, 2001 phil, are u saying w/ your receiver it always displays Dolby Digital 5.1 when u tune in the starz channel. that should only display for a movie encoded in DD 5.1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forresthump Posted March 12, 2001 Share Posted March 12, 2001 ok, here we go again. the terminology is as such: Dolby 2.0: dolby surround, dolby prologic Dolby 3.0(AC-3): Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital 5.1 so far these are the only digital formats I've seen offered on dig sat or cable. iow, the term "dolby digital" technically means 5.1. if it's not dolby digital, then it's in all probability dolby surround (2.0, prologic). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilH Posted March 13, 2001 Share Posted March 13, 2001 boa: Actually, I don't normally have Starz...I just barely had time this weekend to catch a few minutes of a couple of movies during their "freebie" weekend. I'll admit, I forgot to look at the display but that Steve Martin movie in the few minutes I had it on (while reading the paper) had no rear info. Later, when I tuned to "Mission To Mars" the left rear speaker was "singing" with sound effects, but I did not look at the display. On PPV movies, I do know the display always reads "Dolby Digital" on my Onkyo and the sound matches up when it is promoted that way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted March 13, 2001 Share Posted March 13, 2001 thanks phil; i was curious on that as just once on the starz channel (freebie weekend) w/ the movie Civil Action my sony lit up & displayed "Dolby Digital 5.1" w/ the lfe indicator display & the 5 other channel boxes all lit up. unfortunately that movie only had one explosion they need to send ALL movies encoded w/ 5.1 channels (usually they're just Dolby 2.0/Prologic where the rears play the same channels as the front L & R but w/ possibly some delay). if they would get more w/ the times i might even pay for one of their premium channels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlos Posted March 19, 2001 Share Posted March 19, 2001 you guys need to get Dishnetwork it has 5.1 on Showtime,they also just came out with a new box that is able to provide HDTV signals when they are avaliable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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