Comcast Digital & 5.1 Surround

[aspaceintime]

OK, need some help here. I have a Motorla DVR with digital audio out from Comcast. Last night I was surfing and landed on HBO - Rome. I noticed my Yammy 2500 receiver lit up with all 5 channels indicating 5.1 surround sound was broadcast. Switched to next channel (Sean Connery movie, name escapes me) and it was 5.1 too. I then noticed the rest of the HBO channels were not in 5.1 on my receiver. I also watched world series, which I thought was broadcast in 5.1, but again not showing that way on my receiver. Don't get me wrong, the digital out sounds good, does digital cable not broadcast in 5.1 all the time like with the major networks or is my setup messed up? Or am I missing something?

 

[Thunder18]

You will only experience Dolby Digital 5.1 from HD sources. For Example, HBO HD, Showtime HD, but not HBO east/west or Showtime east/west. You'll notice there is also a TNT HD channel in addition to regular TNT, same thing there. The network channels will only be broadcasting mostly primtime programming in 5.1 surround(read 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.), other than that it'll mostly be Dolby Digital 2.0

 

[aspaceintime]

The HBO's I was watching last evening were not HD, yet they both were broadcast in 5.1. I don't have HD, yet. I thought I was missing something...thanks

 

[MDS]

The channels don't have to be HD to be broadcasting in DD 5.1. I have only 2 HD channels because I don't pay for the HD tier. The movie channels (HBO and Cinemax) are mostly in DD 5.1 but occasionally DD 2.0. The Music Choice digital music channels are always DD 2.0. This is with Timer Warner.

The channels in the digital tier are a mixed bag. It varies from channel to channel and day to day but sometimes they are DD 2.0 and sometimes they are only analog. Sometimes even the network channels like TBS, TNT, etc are DD 5.1 but that is only for a few select movies. Every once in awhile I land on a channel that is broadcasting 48 kHz PCM.

Comcast in FL, where my family still lives, is always 48 kHz PCM for every channel except the movie channels which are a mix of DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 just like mine.

If the lights on the display are indicating 5.1 for those stations that usually carry it, I'd say you have everything setup correctly.

 

[aspaceintime]

Thanks for the update. I never noticed the DD 5.1 on HBO before last night. I wish it was always that way, sounded very good.

 

[buckyg4]

If you get info on a program the ones with DD 5.1 will have the DD logo.

 

[aspaceintime]

Silly me...Prior to getting the Comcast DVR, I had an older Motorola Box that would only play audio of HD channels. Now that I have the DVR, the HD channels
show up with 5.1 if they are being broadcast that way, even though I don't have HD yet. I've added them to my favorites. Somtimes the answer is right in front of you...