If I plug my cable box up to the receiver, but I'm only able to do it through analog cables, what happens?
The sound won't be as clear as digital audio, I know.
But does that mean other things, like I won't be able to listen to Dolby or Pro Logic II while using the cable box & watching television?
What is the difference between analog and digital audio - aside from listening quality?
Rob
Posted on
Unless you are listening to a cassette, reel to reel, vinyl LP, etc., it probably is digital. CD's, DVD's, MD's, MP3's, are all digital. Your cable box's signal is digital. Just because you use RCA cables doesn't mean it's not digital. If you use 2 RCA cables, you get digital stereo. If you use 6 RCA cables (if the cable box handles it), you get digital 5.1. Pro Logic II is for any format recorded in stereo, even if you are listening to a DVD, if it is recorded in stereo, you can use PLII. BTW, Dolby created PLII, so they're the same.
If your cable box only has RCA left and right audio outputs, there is NO WAY you can get Dolby Digital surround. In other words, you need a digital connection (either fiber optic or digital coax) to achieve this. Period. While the source material is indeed digital, once it's converted back to analog signals, there's only so much your receiver can do with it.
That said, you'll still be able to enjoy Pro Logic II. Pro Logic II essentially simulates Dolby Digital sound--it routes dialog to the center, full-range frequencies to the mains, and then matrixes the surrounds to simulate a discreet channel effect. And it's pretty darned good. Plus, there isn't that much material out there (other than stuff on premium channels) that is broadcast in Dolby Digital anyway.
Given the choice, I'd still go with the digital connection--it's much easier, there's only one cable, it's beautifully pure, and if you DO watch any DD stuff, you'll hear the full effect. Feed the data directly to your receiver (if it's possible with your cable box) and skip the crappy D/A converters found in most cable boxes.
Make sense?
Greg Lee
Posted on
William: You can get Dolby surround through the two analog connections to your cable box. You just put your receiver into some Dolby decoding mode. As A.Billmann says, ProLogicII works very well. Your receiver may have other options: ProLogic, Neo, Circle Surround, Logic 7.
A digital connection gets you better frequency response and more than two channels of audio information, maybe, depending on what is available on TV. It's possible to have a digital connection with digital TV received either over the air, by digital cable, or by satellite. Digital TV audio signals are either pcm (as from CDs) or DD (i.e., Dolby Digital). DD can have from 1 to 6 discrete channels of audio. Most digital TV channels have DD 2.0 -- two audio channels -- which for movies will often have Dolby Surround. Those can be decoded by a ProLogicII decoder, as two channel analog signals can be, but the sound quality may be better.
Only a very few premium digital TV channels have DD 5.1, so far.
Anonymous
Posted on
I have newbie question on the cable Dolby surround. I don't have a cable box but a coax cable which I connect to back of the TV. Can I connect the coax to my receiver to get the surruond?
Thanks
Anonymous
Posted on
Let me clarify my newbie question again. Currently, I connect the Cable TV Coax to my TV and then the TV audio out is connected to my receiver via 2 RCA plugs. I have a 6 years old YAMAHA, but the prologic 2 doesn't sound that good. Any suggestion? Thanks
Greg Lee
Posted on
The rf coax with the cable signal has to go to a device with a TV tuner. Your TV has one. A VCR has one. A cable set-top box has one. An A/V receiver doesn't have one (so far as I know). If your TV is your only device with a TV tuner, that's where the cable TV coax has to go.
Anonymous
Posted on
Thanks Greg. Yes, my cable Tv coax goes to my TV and the TV audio out to the receiver using 2 RCA jacks. The Tv audio surround produces by my Yahmaha is not that great (it many times inferior to those signals from the DVD player). Is that the best I can do?
Check to make sure your TV audio output isn't creating some sort of "virtual surround" or matrixed sound. I had the EXACT problem until I discovered my TV's default was "virtual surround". When I turned this off (via an onscreen menu), things sounded great. My bet is this is what's going on with your system. And you're right--it sounds like crap.
Greg Lee
Posted on
Yes, by all means try turning off any of the TV's special sound processing modes. (Or, if they're off, try turning them on -- you never can tell ...) Something else to check is a fixed versus variable audio output setting for the TV. If there is such a setting, try changing it. If it's set to variable, try changing the TV's volume control. If your receiver has an input attenuation control, experiment with changing that.
Anonymous
Posted on
A.Billmann & Greg Lee- Thanks I tried your suggestions last night. It sounds better. I can hear the dialog coming out from the center etc., but the quality of sound is good but not great. I guess it is at best Prologic 2. Thanks again
Anonymous
Posted on
A Billmann & Greg Lee Just a follow-up on the above post. My Yamaha was actually 7-8 years old. It only has Prologic and Enchanced Prologic. This may explain why the sound quality is not as good as I expected.
That's too bad. I paid over $500 for the reciever 8 years ago. Like any tech products, it's kind of outdated already. The good thing is that the Yamaha with 0.03% THD still sounds excellent when listening to music in Stereo or Prologic.