Surround sound on UPC Horizon

Luck100

Does anybody know which channels on UPC horizon have real 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound (not upconverted stereo like Dolby prologic)?

I just got Horizon, hooked up my (rather old) surround receiver and was surprised to find that I was only seeing Dolby digital 5.1 on a couple of channels (like sky sports HD!). Other HD channels like RTE 1&2, FOX HD, etc were all coming in as PCM. I'm wondering if they use a different encoding that my receiver doesn't handle (DTS maybe?). I have the receiver connected directly to the horizon box via optical audio connector (my receiver is too old to handle hdmi so video goes straight from horizon box to TV via hdmi).

coylemj

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, I have the Horizon connected straight to a modern AV receiver (Onkyo 515) via HDMI and I very rarely hear surround sound. The only time I can guarantee surround sound is when I play the like of a concert from the iTunes Festival on my Apple TV but I get feck all surround sound from the Horizon box though most of the HD channels will light up the Dolby Digital light on the amp display.

One thing you could try different but it probably won't make any difference is to run the optical audio from the TV to your receiver.

Luck100

I already tried running optical from the TV to the receiver. It seems the tv won't pass any surround formats at all, just pcm stereo. BUT: you say you see the Dolby Digital light on your amp with a lot of the HD channels, and yet you don't actually hear surround? Which channels? I only get the Dolby light on a couple of Sky Sports HD channels, and in those cases I do actually hear surround sound. Problem is most channels don't trigger the Dolby Digital light. I was wondering if it they have a different (newer) format that my receiver doesn't handle.

coylemj

My AV receiver says that it's getting 2.0 stereo from BBC1 HD and BBC2 HD whereas Nat Geo Wild HD is sending it 5.1 stereo. In the case of all three channels the Dolby Digital symbol shows on the receiver display but I can only hear sound from the rear speakers when playing Nat Geo Wild HD.

Luck100

coylemj wrote: »

My AV receiver says that it's getting 2.0 stereo from BBC1 HD and BBC2 HD whereas Nat Geo Wild HD is sending it 5.1 stereo. In the case of all three channels the Dolby Digital symbol shows on the receiver display but I can only hear sound from the rear speakers when playing Nat Geo Wild HD.

Ok, thanks for that info. I'll give those channels a try tonight and see what happens.