Dolby Digital Gone!

[Tony Trent]

:mad: There is a problem with Dolby Digital according to Dish Tech Support. As of August 20 at 11:30 PM Pacific time they admitted they are not currently transmitting Dolby Digital on ANY channels except the HDTV channels. They won't say what the problem is and won't say when they will be transmitting again. Bummer! The Sirius Satellite Radio channels were Dolby Digital 5.1 channel until a few days ago. Now they are PCM Stereo CRAP only. Not worth listening to anymore. I have a 6000 HD receiver, a 721 receiver, and a 7100. The only DD I get now is the 5 or so HD channels. I get silence from DD on all other channels all receivers. I had to put all my receivers in the PCM/DD mode to get any sound. I was actually listening to Sirius Radio in 5.1 channel when it suddenly went to stereo a few days ago. I have called several times and they still aren't talking about what the problem is, except they admit they are NOT transmitting DD on non-HDTV channels. Anyone else have any more info?? :nono2:

[toomuchtv]

My Starz - E (ch. 350) is in DD5.1 right now, I just checked. However, I don't think I've ever received Sirius in DD. I would hate to lose my DD feeds.

[Mike123abc]

The CSRs do not really know what is going on... I doubt that Dish lost DD on every channel at the same time. I could see equipment breakdown on a channel or an upgrade in progress or something keeping DD off a channel or 2 for a short time (like a day or two). I just ran through the movie channels and am getting DD on HBOE/W, SHOE/W and STARZE/W.

[garypen]

Dolby Digital Gone! Did you look behind the fridge?

[TNGTony]

As far as I know the sirius channels were NEVER in Dolby Digital on Dish. Frankly, Dish doesn't have the bandwidth necessary at 119°

If you aren't getting a DD signal on the 721, make sure that the "Language" setting under preferences is set to English. That took care of the issue for me.

I'm getting DD5.1 right now on my 7200 and 721

See ya
Tony

[SAEMike]

If it had never been announced, nobody would have noticed.

People get far too dramatic over such things. Dobly Digital GONE! President calls a state of emergency. PEOPLE ARE ADVISED TO STAY IN THEIR HOMES!
DO NOT HORDE SUPPLIES! And for goodness sake, DO NOT TURN ON THE TV, IT SIMPLY IS NOT WORTH THE RISK!

[garypen]

Kind of like those pointless terror alerts. What color is it today?

[SimpleSimon]

AFAIK, Sirius has NEVER been DD. My HDs, SHO-E & SHO-W have their DD just fine.

[James Long]

Kind of like those pointless terror alerts. What color is it today?
Lilac, with a hint of turquoise.

JL

[MikeW]

The Sirius Satellite Radio channels were Dolby Digital 5.1 channel until a few days ago. Now they are PCM Stereo CRAP only. Not worth listening to anymore.

The source music is 2 channel audio. Sirius has never been sent down as DD 5.1. Your ears are much more discerning than mine. Sirius sounds as good today as when they went live.

[MikeW]

As far as I know the sirius channels were NEVER in Dolby Digital on Dish. Frankly, Dish doesn't have the bandwidth necessary at 119°

If you aren't getting a DD signal on the 721, make sure that the "Language" setting under preferences is set to English. That took care of the issue for me.

I'm getting DD5.1 right now on my 7200 and 721

See ya
Tony

Congratulations Tony. I know you've been trying to resolve this issue for quite some time. Did you figure it out accidentally, or did a CSR (heaven forbid) help you out on this?

[SDiego]

I just bought a new Yamaha Reciever and I noticed when It says Dolby Digital, "must be working" I get 5 little boxes also on my reciever, so it must be working, though the rears volume is a little down, but then maybe I need to test it in a action movie. some of the other channels i notice only two boxes, which maybe just stereo. I don't remember if it said dolby digital at that time or not. Need to do more testing.

[TNGTony]

MikeW

I discovered how to resolve the 721's DD bug 100% by accident. One CSR told me my optical cable was "losing bits". I laughed at him!

I was working on figuring out how come the "Olympics Showcase" channel gave me audio when I looked at the 6 screens, but would be mute when I selected any of the channels to full screen.

I played with all sorts of settings one at a time and checked it out. Setting the language to English took care of the Olympics Showcase audio issue. Then I decided I didn't want to watch the Olympics after all. I tuned to channel 300 and SHAZAM! DD5.1! I fiddled with the language settings to make sure that's what it was. And sure enough, if any language is selected other than English on the 721, you do not get DD5.1.

Just so you know, I had Japanese selected since I watch TV Japan every so often and their English soundtrack is under "Japanese" language.

BTW I also discovered there is no "Alternate" alternate audio settings. There is no way I have found to hear the DVS sound track on TCM, Lifetime, TBS or USA on the 721!

See ya
Tony

[SimpleSimon]

I just bought a new Yamaha Reciever and I noticed when It says Dolby Digital, "must be working" I get 5 little boxes also on my reciever, so it must be working, though the rears volume is a little down, but then maybe I need to test it in a action movie. some of the other channels i notice only two boxes, which maybe just stereo. I don't remember if it said dolby digital at that time or not. Need to do more testing.
Yes - and take very close note of what the surround 'boxes' look like. On my Sony STR-DE695, each box has 3 values: Off, simulated, real. My box has a HUGE number of settings to play with. It took me a while to get it "right" for the types of audio feeds I have.