BigMouthBillyBass

Hi Folks,

After finally getting round to putting my 5.1 speakers up on the wall (Looks the business, sounds the business, Just need to hide the cables now ) i was wondering, are any sky boxes capable of outputting dolby digital sound? Either Sky+, Sky HD, or standard sky boxes i can pick up off ebay. Is any of it even broadcast in DD? Currently got a shitty amstrad box, looking for an excuse to replace it. If Sky+ boxes do DD then thats a good enough reason to go multiroom for me

Just need to run an optical out the back of the sky box into my amp if it's possible

Cheers

Dave

BM08

Ive got a normal sky digital box and on sky box office movies it says DS which i presume is Dolby surround? i havent got surround so i cant check for you but im sure thats what it is

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

It's not so much down the box (tho of course, the box needs a digital output, typically optical on most Sky boxes) but to do with that type of audio is being broadcast - very little (mainly only movies and *some* newer TV series) are braodcast with DD5.1 audiotracks.....

and they are ONLY on Sky and Cable - no matter what any digi box says, you CANNOT get DD5.1, or anything other than stereo, from a Freeview box

smudge_lad

some movies are broadcast in DD. Just go into services, system setup, sound settings and make sure your optical output is set to Dolby D.

If you hit the "info" button when you're watching a movie, or have it highlighted in TV Guide, it tells you in the top right of the banner, I'm sure most of them have DD.

The normal sky digiboxes don't have an optical out, so don't think you can get the DD unless you have sky+ or skyHD

BigMouthBillyBass

I think the Sky+ ones come with DD, might check them out

smudge_lad

aye, the sky+ boxes have an optical out, but you'll need an amp with DD.

the normal boxes don't have the opticals although they still receive the same films with DD soundtrack, the boxes just don't have the output for you to listen to the films in DD

BigMouthBillyBass

I've got a Sony DVD player/amp with 5.1 speakers




It has an optical input on the back which i assume will be suitable?? it does DD and DTS

smudge_lad

I'd imagine it would be fine as it has a built in amp, but not 100% sure.

The player/amp decodes the signal for the 5.1 speakers for your dvd's so I think it will do the same for the films, I'm sure it would tell you in the instruction book, or if you canny find that, I'm sure you could find out online how to do it and get it set up properly

cozmeister

iTrader: (1)

The nicer ones (normal Sky) do - my Thomson one does

BM08

Well thats cock eyed isnt it, whats the point having DD films and not being able to watch them on a normal sky box

smudge_lad

It was because the boxes were manufactured before sky were able to send a DD signal, so there was no need for them to have opticals at the time


cozmeister - yeah, forgot about them, the Thompson one's are one of the newer designs, that's why they have them

BM08

Mines a Grundig, fairplay though it must be at least 5 years old and its never let me down once Its constantly hot to the touch though especially with a vcr on top(yes i know i still have one but i dont record much)

smudge_lad

you shouldn't really have anythign on top of the sky box (says me with my dvd player than a PS2 on top of mine!) as they have been known to burn out because of this.

Good that you've got 5 years out of it, but if you're not really using your vid, I can't recommend sky+ enough!! It's a must imo, not just cos I work for sky, lol. I use mine more than once a day.

It's probably gonna be a good while before the price of HD comes down significantly, so sky+ might be a sound buy as it's not too expensive now.

Compare it to the price you porbably paid for your VCR whne you got it, bet it was around/more than £99??

Then, if yu decide to get HD later, you can re-locate your sky+ box to another room in the house!

smudge_lad

Oops, sorry, existing customers might have to pay £149 for sky+, I can't remember - I don't work in sales

cozmeister

iTrader: (1)

Sky+ is £99 one off charge for the receiver, and if you don't have either the Sky Movies or Sky Sports pack, it's an additional £10 on top of your monthly payment.

To upgrade your old Sky Digital Receiver to the current one, it's £49.

Multiroom is £15 on top of your monthly payment, + the one off cost of whichever extra devices you order.

smudge_lad

multi-room is only an extra £10 a month for the second subsription.

new sky customers get sky+ for £99, free install, but existing customers only get sky+ for £99 if they also take a multiroom subscription too

cozmeister

iTrader: (1)

Stand corrected

smudge_lad

and you're £5 better off, lol