I have a Cox Cable digital HDTV box. I had it hooked up to my surround sound system through my receiver (Panasonic VSX-1016TXV). All channels, including HD ones only come through in stereo. I thought the HDTV channels come in surround 5.1. Did he not hook it up correctly?

I have a Cox Cable digital HDTV box. I had it hooked up to my surround sound system through my receiver (Panasonic VSX-1016TXV). All channels, including HD ones only come through in stereo. I thought the HDTV channels come in surround 5.1. Did he not hook it up correctly?

I don't know your products, but to get DD5.1 on television, I use the optical output from the TV receiver to my HT receiver. My cable box doesn't have digital audio out. I'm lucky that the HT receiver has 2 digital audio inputs allowing my DVD player to connect to the other.

I have a Cox Cable digital HDTV box. I had it hooked up to my surround sound system through my receiver (Panasonic VSX-1016TXV). All channels, including HD ones only come through in stereo. I thought the HDTV channels come in surround 5.1. Did he not hook it up correctly?

2 things i'd check:


make sure the box is connected to your receiver via a digital connection(coax or optical)

make sure the cable box is set to output digital surround audio. look in the setup menu for the cable box.

what is the make & model # of your cable box?

I am trying to get the guy to come out again, but they are slow to respond. It is through CC. It looks like there is no direct connection from the cable box to my receiver. I think the cable box goes to the TV, then from the TV to my receiver. Setting the cable box to dolby digital cuts out all sound through my receiver.

The cable box is Scientific Atlantic - Explorer 8300 HD

Thank you for your help.

yeah sounds like you have an analog audio connection to your TV from the cable box, then routing the audio to your receiver thru the TV's analog audio output.

you need either a coax or optical digital connection from the cable box to a digital input on your receiver. a coax digital jack is a single RCA jack usually color-coded orange. an optical jack is hard to describe-it kinda looks like a tiny door with an arched top-sometimes with the arch oriented at the bottom, sometimes oriented horz. with the arched part to the side. I'm pretty sure the SA 8300 has one of each.

I have no idea what jack(s) your Panasonic receiver has. check, & get the right digital audio cable for it. hook the cable box to your receiver, enable the digital jacks on the cable box AND the receiver, & you should be in business.

Edit: going by the model # you have a Pioneer receiver(a nice one too!) it has plenty of digital inputs.

so if the SA 8300 has a coax digital output just go to RatShack & get a digital coax cable-easiest way. it can be a PIA sometimes to line up that optical connector.