Surround Sound 5.1
wolf
Newbie

I had surround sound (5.1) with Comcast and it worked great. I never had a problem. When I switched to Fios it didn’t work. All I have is stereo sound. I did all the right things, at least I think I did. I chose surround sound in the settings menu. I connected a digital coax cable from the DVR fios box to my surround sound system. The surround sound works with my DVD player. I called Verizon and they had no idea what surround sound is. I had to explain to the Women from Verizon answering the phone what surround sound is. Don’t they train these people? After putting me on hold many times she came back and told me she talked to her experts. They said I need a white and red RCA cable from the DRV to my surround sound for it to work. I finally gave up, I knew more about it than she ever will. Can someone help me or has anyone had a similar experience?

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Re: Surround Sound 5.1
PJL
Master - Level 3

@wolf wrote:

I had surround sound (5.1) with Comcast and it worked great. I never had a problem. When I switched to Fios it didn’t work. All I have is stereo sound. I did all the right things, at least I think I did. I chose surround sound in the settings menu. I connected a digital coax cable from the DVR fios box to my surround sound system. The surround sound works with my DVD player. I called Verizon and they had no idea what surround sound is. I had to explain to the Women from Verizon answering the phone what surround sound is. Don’t they train these people? After putting me on hold many times she came back and told me she talked to her experts. They said I need a white and red RCA cable from the DRV to my surround sound for it to work. I finally gave up, I knew more about it than she ever will. Can someone help me or has anyone had a similar experience?


My experience is that the 5.1 works just fine with a digital audio (optical) cable.  Not all channels broadcast this way at all time however; sometimes they broadcast only a stereo signal only, but it's still delivered via the digital audio (optical) cable.  You do not need a white and red RCA cable, in fact this would only provide stereo sound, not 5.1.

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Re: Surround Sound 5.1
HenryFarpolo
Contributor - Level 2

From the STB user guide:

There is no audio

from the center

and/or surround

speakers of a home

theater receiver

connected to the

DCT*

Not all Dolby Digital® programs feature full 5.1 surround

sound. In some cases, the programs may only contain

left and right stereo audio.

Verify that the SPDIF cable (coaxial or optical) is firmly

connected to the DCT* and the home theater receiver.

Verify that the home theater receiver is set to a surround

sound audio mode (Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II®,

Dolby Pro Logic®).

Verify that the receiver is properly configured to work

with all connected speakers. 

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Re: Surround Sound 5.1
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

@wolf wrote:

I had surround sound (5.1) with Comcast and it worked great. I never had a problem. When I switched to Fios it didn’t work. All I have is stereo sound. I did all the right things, at least I think I did. I chose surround sound in the settings menu. I connected a digital coax cable from the DVR fios box to my surround sound system. The surround sound works with my DVD player. I called Verizon and they had no idea what surround sound is. I had to explain to the Women from Verizon answering the phone what surround sound is. Don’t they train these people? After putting me on hold many times she came back and told me she talked to her experts. They said I need a white and red RCA cable from the DRV to my surround sound for it to work. I finally gave up, I knew more about it than she ever will. Can someone help me or has anyone had a similar experience?


I have been using both the coaxial and optical outputs from the HD DVR with no issues.  As others have stated, many channels only contain Dolby 2.0 (stereo).  You need to try a channel like HDNet or Universal HD as I believe that they always (or at least most of the time) send a 5.1 audio signal.

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