PCM Audio from set-top box?
yoeddy
Newbie

I would like to connect the digital output from my set top box (Motorola 6200) to a stereo DAC (not an AV receiver).  When I do this, I get noise instead of the actual audio.  I've been told this might be because the set top box is sending a dolby digital signal, whereas the stereo DAC needs it to send a PCM digital signal.  I've already gone to the settings menu and set the audio format to "stereo", but it still doesn't work right. 

Is there any way to do this on the Motorola 6200?   Or is the Motorola 7100 able to do it?

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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
yoeddy
Newbie
Anyone...?
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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
izub
Enthusiast - Level 3
The only thing I can tell you to try, is access the user menu on your dvr (I believe it's the menu button then select button twice) There is a place for audio where you can change the input...Hope that's of some help
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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
swbuehler
Enthusiast - Level 1

Similar issue here—I want to be able to go from the optical out of my Motorola QIP6200-2 box to the optical input on an Apple MacBook, but all I get is the box giving me raspberries.  I've tried setting the audio to Surround, Stereo, and Mono, restarting the box, restarting the Mac, but nothing.  Apparently the 6200 can only output Dolby Digital audio while the Macs can only receive PCM. 

As far as I can tell there is no way to force the QIP6200 to output PCM instead of Dolby Digital, by design. 

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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
yoeddy
Newbie
Does anyone know if the 7100 can output PCM digital audio?
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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
yoeddy
Newbie
Anyone?
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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
sunjitwhy
Newbie
Can anyone help with this?  I need to be able to output PCM -- i.e. 2-channel stereo -- from the SPDIF/Coax or SPDIF/Optical outputs.  Unless we get a fix, I'm sending this box back and canceling TV altogether.  My Blu-Ray player works fine.  Thanks.
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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
hamin
Newbie

I have been trying to troubleshoot this issue for 2 days now with no luck!  I am attempting to connect fios dvr to my computer soundcard which has a optical input. I tried both toslink and rca. Both give this loud cracking sound when connected. I connected the same cable to my dishnetwork box and it worked flawlessly. I figured it must be the box so i replaced my 6 series with the new 7 series and experienced the same problem. Even in that special menu (select, menu), under HDMI Settings theres an option to select audio output as either Auto, PCM, or Pass through. I tried all of them. Neither one worked. I mean this is obsurd obviously there should be a fix for this as this is a simple problem, yet so many of us are affected by it.

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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
sunjitwhy
Newbie

I got to the bottom of this.  Verizon tech support is pretty unhelpful, but with persistence, I finally got them to admit that the current boxes no longer output 2-channel PCM over SPDIF/optical or SPDIF/RCA.  You can ONLY get 5.1 out of these ports.  The menus should have been updated to reflect this change, but they have not.  So if you want to use the box with a 2-channel DAC, you are out of luck.  I have resorted to using the analog outputs for sound, which is a big compromise -- doesn't sound that great.  So unless they give me a box that works, I'm going to cancel the service entirely.  Life is too short to listen to sound through fatiguing, cheap analog outputs.

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Re: PCM Audio from set-top box?
hamin
Newbie

I agree. I mean common verizon makes us pay 20$ a month for this box and yet it doesnt have that little feature. My dish box is like 5 years old literally, and yet it has the functionality. Common fix this problem ASAP im pretty sure its in the software, not hardware.

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