What happened to DD 5.1 on HBO, Showtime....

[bnewt]

The non-hd channels. For the last month I have not been able to find a single movie broadcast in DD 5.1...............everything is just stereo. Why is this???? Is it another attempt to force everyone to HD programming?:mad:

[scooper]

You have to have both the channel itself in DD, then also the movie / program in DD. And DD doesn't have to be DD5.1 .

[bnewt]

I understand that. I have some recorded movies on my 625 that were being broadcast in DD, according to the guide information. For the last several weeks, I have not been able to find any movie being broadcast in DD - only stereo according to the guide. Even this past weekend, during the free HBO days - nothing on HBO east was shown as DD.

[Stewart Vernon]

I think you may be missing what Scooper said... Dolby Digital has many flavors (2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.1, and so forth).

Not everything that says DD means surround sound. Now if you aren't seeing DD and are getting PCM instead, then your question makes sense... but if you are getting DD and just not always DD5.1, then Scooper probably answered your question.

[Michael P]

Also if you are going by the guide data that has been known to be wrong. The proof is in the digital audio output of your receiver. Be sure that DD is selected in your preferences and not "PCM only".

[Jack White]

The non-hd channels. For the last month I have not been able to find a single movie broadcast in DD 5.1...............everything is just stereo. Why is this???? Is it another attempt to force everyone to HD programming?:mad:

A lot of channels are in Dolby Digital but Dish doesn't pass it along. It seems like dish only passes along the Dolby Digital info on the MAIN channels like Starz E/W, HBO E/W, etc. A lot of the other Starz, HBO, Showtime, etc channels are Dolby Digital, and IN FACT, before the movie it says "The Folowing Movie is Presented in HD and Dolby Digital 5.1 where available", but Dish does NOT pass the Dolby Digital Audio to their customers. SHAME on you Charlie.

[Jack White]

I think you may be missing what Scooper said... Dolby Digital has many flavors (2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.1, and so forth).

Not everything that says DD means surround sound. Now if you aren't seeing DD and are getting PCM instead, then your question makes sense... but if you are getting DD and just not always DD5.1, then Scooper probably answered your question.

Yes, but a lot of times the its says the following program is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, but Dish ONLY gives you PCM stereo, NOT even Dolby Digital 2.0.

[scooper]

On the main "Title" channels - E/W feeds - it's usually DD (in some form depending on the program), if DD2.0, then they typically encode it as Dolby ProLogic embedded in it. The "other" channels of a premium pack usually are sent as just PCM / Dolby ProLogic encoded. At least - that was my experiance when I subscribed to a premium channel pack.....

[Slordak]

If you want Dolby Digital, you need to watch HBO-E or SHO-E. If you're watching movies on the other HBO or Showtime channels, they're going to encoded in MPEG-2 stereo (which gets decoded to PCM 2-channel stereo).

With that being said, the vast majority of the movies shown on HBO-E and SHO-E should in fact be broadcasted in Dolby Digital. If you're not hearing it, you may have a problem with your equipment or settings (e.g. your stereo receiver is listening to the analog input instead of the digital one).

[bnewt]

I guess the problem is that I was going by the guide information. When I actually checked last night, I was receiving the DD audio signal. Wonder why the guide info is not correct anymore.