Can't get 5.1 Surround Sound

[boston13]

I have a Moto QIP 7100 HD box with HDMi running from it to my HDTV. I also have an optical cable running from the TV SPDIF output back to my Dolby Digital Receiver. However, I don't receive any 5.1 content from the FIOS STB. This setup works fine for my blu ray player that is connected in a similar manner (HDMI from blu ray to TV and optical audio back to rcvr via SPDIF on TV). I did a tech support chat with Randy of FIOS who did not try to help and ended the chat with out answering my questions. This was very poor customer service from Verizon Live Chat.

Does anyone else get 5.1 sound with the above setup? Where can I find out which broadcasts are in 5.1 as I don't see that info in the FIOS TV Guide.

Thanks for your help.

[Hubrisnxs]

hi,  not everything on fios HD is 5.1.   so you have to find the 5.1 stuff, which will have a DD dolby digital logo next to it when it is doing 5.1   

That DD will be in the program description   so if you hit info on a program it will show that DD logo.    some of the Free VOD has it - so that might be a good place to look or on the movie channels.    

[boston13]

Thanks for the reply. I can't find any programming that states DD in the guide. Does my setup look correct? Do you know of any programs that come in on 5.1? Randy from FIOS stated that Verizon doesn't change the audio format from the broadcasters so supposedly if they send out 5.1 then Verizon delivers 5.1 but I can't find anything in 5.1. All of my channels state Dolby Digital 2.0 or PCM 48 KHz on my receiver.

[Hubrisnxs]

well a lot of stuff on HBO is 5.1   like true blood was, so if you have hbo on demand look for some true blood episodes, they should show (when you click on info) the DD logo.   I can't think of much more other than the movie stations off the top of my head.   I'll check tomorrow for some, and then you can try it, and if it doesn't work you can look at some of your settings on your revceiver.  Randy was right - fios doesn't alter the sound that comes from the stations, so if it is delivered in 5.1 then you should get it. 

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@boston1 wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I can't find any programming that states DD in the guide. Does my setup look correct? Do you know of any programs that come in on 5.1? Randy from FIOS stated that Verizon doesn't change the audio format from the broadcasters so supposedly if they send out 5.1 then Verizon delivers 5.1 but I can't find anything in 5.1. All of my channels state Dolby Digital 2.0 or PCM 48 KHz on my receiver.

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[boston13]

I have found a workaround. It seems that 5.1 surround sound is not coming over HDMI. If I run the SPDIF out of the STB direct to my receiver then I get 5.1 surround with many programs (I found some VOD on HDNET that has Dolby Digital). I on't understand why my HDMI configuration doesn't work with the STB as it does with my blu ray player.

[boston13]

I have found that this may be related to how the TV is decoding the Optical signal coming out of the TV SPDIF. I noticed that my Blu ray that is connected to my Vizio HDTV will output 5.1 out of the SPDIF for a Dolby Digital audio source but not for a DTS Encoded 5.1 audio. It seems the Vizio TV doesn't decode DTS or pass it thru the SPDIF?? Does anyone know if the Motorola STB is DTS as this may be the issue I am having when using HDMI?