I had an HDTV cable box hooked up through standard RCA type connections to my Sony receiver. Video is outstanding, but audio was just okay, it wasn't auto decoding the Dolby Digital signal. However, I used the cable box remote to control the volume level and everything worked fine.
Last night, I switched to an optical cable from my cable box to my receiver, and the difference was drastically better. However, now the problem is my cable remote won't control the volume, I have to do it directly from the receiver. I can't find any settings that woulf help me. Why would switching the connections from standard RCA to optical make the cable box volume not work all of the sudden?
The key word here is Digital. The receiver was not "auto decoding the Dolby Digital signal" because when you were using RCA audio cables, you were not feeding a digital signal, only an analog one subject to standard internal analog audio volume controls. Now with your optical connection you are sending a straight digital signal and volume can only be controlled on the receiver. You can not manipulate the level of a digital signal by utilizing internal volume controls designed to raise and lower an analog signal. In other words, the digital signal is fixed at point of broadcast and not subject to modification under normal circumstances. Best I can do.