Sky+ Home Theatre compatible ?

golfnuts

Does anyone know if you can use a surround sound or home theatre system with the sky+ box?

Many thanks.
GNuts

JeanClaude

golfnuts wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can use a surround sound or home theatre system with the sky+ box?

Many thanks.
GNuts

Not an expert here but I have an LG home cinema system hooked up to my Sky+ box, so to answer your question...yes..:D. Maybe more knowledgeable boards members might be able to give you more in depth advice, on the different home cinema systems.etc etc..

bucks73

Yes you can. The Sky+ box has an optical out so all you need is an optical cable running from the Sky+ to the optical in on your home cinema system/av receiver.

golfnuts

bucks73 wrote: »

Yes you can. The Sky+ box has an optical out so all you need is an optical cable running from the Sky+ to the optical in on your home cinema system/av receiver.

Sorry for being so ignorant Bucks, but the only thing I know that I can recognise on a TV is a scart lead and where it goes. I dont know much about optical leads in or out or what type to buy.

watty

Unless you are renting some Sky Box office, you might as well connect the RCA or SCART stereo audio to your home cinema sound system. None of the regular channels transmit 5.1 Sound.

There are only two common sizes of optic cable. Sky+ and most Home Theatre use the larger square plastic plug. There is usually a blank plug on the equipment socket to keep dust out.

The smaller size fits an earphone socket.

Go for cheapest. There is no difference. A gold ring also does NOTHING despite the marketing lies on some packages.

In fact don't get me started on the nonsense on cable packs and gold.

golfnuts

Thanks for the advice kids much appreciated

GNuts

Brian68GT

This is dead easy. Connect an optical cable from the sky+ box to the amp.

In 'styem set up' scroll to 'sound' and change from'stereo' to 'dolby digital'. Thats it!

Theres lots of 5.1 stuff on sky, particularly on sky movies. When you click on 'info' if you see 'DD' in the top right hand corner of the banner then it's 5.1. Its very good, particularly on modern movies.

Shanegggg

Getting sky hd in 2 weeks and just wondering can it carry the surround sound through the hdmi (aswell as the video) to an av reciever or will i have to have a hdmi and optical cable runnning from the box to the reciever?

Thanks

mathias

I have Sky HD myself and can tell you that no , it doesnt carry the surround over the HDMI unfortunately , maybe it will in future , but for now it only carrys stereo. No surround , you have to connect the optical for that.

spockety

Does anybody else have problems using an amp with Sky HD over optical?

Any content for me that uses 5.1 (Sky Movies) Dolby Digital causes the sound to crackle somewhat, it's very annoying. Stereo over the optical is fine, it seems to be only 5.1 output that is problematic. Other 5.1 sources hooked up to my amp are fine (DVD player). Is this a known issue?

mustang68

Sounds like you need a new cable

spockety

Don't think it's the cable. It works perfectly for the DVD player.

Really really odd behaviour though. If I pull the optical cable out of the Sky HD box, and plug it into the DVD player, and play a DVD, then pull it out of the DVD player and put it back into the Sky HD box, the crackling is gone!

It seems to reappear though, i'm wondering is there some weird handshake issues between the HD box and my amp on startup?

watty

The cable either works or not.
Check for dust in the Sky box socket. (blow in it).

Pat Gleeson

spockety wrote: »

Does anybody else have problems using an amp with Sky HD over optical?

Any content for me that uses 5.1 (Sky Movies) Dolby Digital causes the sound to crackle somewhat, it's very annoying.

I've had a similar issue. I (somewhat rarely) get a severe crackling when I go from a channel to the Sky Guide.

Going back to a channel from the Sky Guide seems to rectify the problem, no cable switching needed.