Need help with surround sound problem?

Question

I have a el-cheapo surround sound system my wife bought me a few years ago for Christmas. It is an Audiologic brand system with Dolby Digital and DTS. We recently got digital cable and I thought that with digital signals you could hear surround sound through the cable....my problem is I'm not sure I can do it with my system. Here are the inputs/outputs I have.

For the DVD player I have 3 ports labeled PR, PB, and Y
1 Red and White Audio Out
2 Red and White Aux INs
1 Audio Digital Out

The Digital Cable box has
1 Audio to TV Right & Left
1 Audio to VCR Right & Left
S-video
Digital Audio Coax
Digital Audio Optical

With these specs, can I get surround sound through my system?

Answer 1

Hi there. Surround sound should still be possible for you. Unfortunately you don't have a digital input on your amp (assuming the DVD player you have listed is a DVD/Amp in one?). You'll need to connect the tv or vcr audio outs on the cable box to the red and white aux ins on the amp. In the sound menu somewhere on the cable box will be a setting called downmix, or something like that. make sure that digital output is set to off. On your amp, you'll need to adjust the audio settings to the way you like it. Most broadcasts don't utilise the rear speakers much, so I tend to turn them up.
Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

Is your DVD player part of the Audiologic system, or do you have a separate audio component that connects to the speakers? What does the digital audio out from the DVD player connect to? If you can provide model numbers, that would help. To get true Dolby 5.1 surround you need to use one of the digital audio outputs from the cable box (either Coax or Optical) into a receiver; otherwise the best you can do is Dolby (analogue) Pro-Logic.

Answer 3

You should be able to get surround sound except your cable co. is probably not broadcasting in surround sound but in stereo, unless you are getting HD, which is in 5.1 surround sound