I need to run a digital coaxial cable from my Comcast HD Cable box to my receiver to get the Dolby Digital sound. I have a good quality Monster Cable video cable. Would that work fine as a coaxial digital cable and give me my 5.1 digital sound?

I need to run a digital coaxial cable from my Comcast HD Cable box to my receiver to get the Dolby Digital sound. I have a good quality Monster Cable video cable. Would that work fine as a coaxial digital cable and give me my 5.1 digital sound?

It should work just fine.

On a side note, I wish I had $1 every time this question was asked. ;)

Yes.

A video cable is a 75ohm coax. A digital audio coax is a 75ohm coax. Being that both are 75ohm coax, they are identical thus they are interchangeable.

Analog audio cables may not be 75ohm coax. You can use a 75ohm cable just fine for audio, but the inverse is not true unless the cable is indeed 75ohm (or you may run into degradations with video or dropouts with digital audio.)

hope that helps!

Oh and you can get better cheaper cables than monster usually...

Yes.

A video cable is a 75ohm coax. A digital audio coax is a 75ohm coax. Being that both are 75ohm coax, they are identical thus they are interchangeable.

Analog audio cables may not be 75ohm coax. You can use a 75ohm cable just fine for audio, but the inverse is not true unless the cable is indeed 75ohm (or you may run into degradations with video or dropouts with digital audio.)

hope that helps!

Oh and you can get better cheaper cables than monster usually...

Thanks CW and W99. I appreciate the responses. I was pretty sure there wasn't any difference but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. As for the Monster Cables, I didn;t pay much for it as it was in a suprlus purchase I made. I'd never pay their retail prices. Have you heard of NXG Saphire cables? I'm picking up a combination component cable and toslink digital cable to go from my cable box to my receiver for $20.00 brand new. Seems like a pretty good deal, but I've never heard of them. Did a search and they go for about $55.00.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=2864&seq=1&format=2&style=

same site but these specifically mention 75ohm
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&style=

if there are arrows on the wire make sure you hook them up in the right direction.

Yeah, because the electrons will flow better in one direction rather than the other way... :rolleyes: