508 & Digital sound

[Repcmm]

I just bought a 508 and hooked it up but can not receive digital sound. I have it set at Dolby/PCM. If I hook up the analog cables I get sound. If I unplug analog and just leave in Optical output- no sound. any suggestions.

[Steve Mehs]

Hi Repcmm

There should be a setting on your a/v receiver that lets you select digital or analog for the source. Check your manual for details

Also check out this thread in which the user had the same problem
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8370&highlight=optical

[Bill Mullin]

Originally posted by Repcmm
If I unplug analog and just leave in Optical output- no sound. any suggestions. Can I assume you have an optical cable connected?

I had the same problem when I first got my dish receiver. Turns out there was a digital switch in the receiver I had to set so that the receiver would use the input from the optical cable rather than the coax.

Good luck, Bill

[Repcmm]

Yes I have optical cable, I set my sony a/v receiver to select only an optical input for sat\tv. If I plug the cable in to my DVD and switch a/v reciever to DVD the opt light comes on, but when I plug it in to 508 then my receiver and select sat/tv the optical light does not come on. My receiver is set to only take optical input on sat/tv mode. Is it possible the 508 is broke.

[Bill Mullin]

Originally posted by Repcmm
Yes I have optical cable, I set my sony a/v receiver to select only an optical input for sat\tv. If I plug the cable into my DVD and switch a/v reciever to DVD the opt light comes on, but when I plug it in to 508 then my receiver and select sat/tv the optical light does not come on. My receiver is set to only take optical input on sat/tv mode. Is it possible the 508 is broke. It's possible, but I think you've got something set wrong in your receiver, especially when you tell me:

>>>If I plug the cable into my DVD and switch a/v reciever to DVD the opt light comes on<<<

then tell me

>>>My receiver is set to only take optical input on sat/tv mode.<<<

If in fact your receiver will only take optical input in sat/tv mode, how does the light come on when you switch the receiver to DVD and plug the cable into the DVD player?

In any event, have you dug into your manual for a possible answer? If so and you've had no luck, maybe you could take your 508 to a friend's house who has a similar setup and see if your 508 works there. Or vice-versa borrow someone's receiver, although not too many would be willing to disconnect the mass of wires typically connected to their receivers! :lol:

Good luck, Bill

[Repcmm]

On my receiver when you switch functions - sat/tv, dvd, video 1, etc., you can push input mode to auto detect input or optical fixed for each function all mine are on auto. I switched the sat/tv to auto then to optical fixed and still no sound. Im tryin to find someone w,dish to test it but all my friends have directv. My friend has same receiver and his is set exactly like mine except he has DTV.

[Mark Lamutt]

Repcmm, first of all, Welcome to DBSTalk. :hi:

Now, plug your optical cable into your 508 and make absolutely sure that you have it set to output Dolby/PCM. Don't plug the other end into your receiver yet. Now, power on the 508. If you see the other end of the optical cable light up (mine is red), then your 508 isn't the problem. If you don't see your cable end light up, then your 508 may be the problem. On my 501, the toslink output is always active (on) when I have it set to Dolby/PCM.
(Of course, maybe I have a problem with my 501! :))

[cnsf]

Originally posted by Mark Lamutt
Repcmm, first of all, Welcome to DBSTalk. :hi:

Now, plug your optical cable into your 508 and make absolutely sure that you have it set to output Dolby/PCM. Don't plug the other end into your receiver yet. Now, power on the 508. If you see the other end of the optical cable light up (mine is red), then your 508 isn't the problem. If you don't see your cable end light up, then your 508 may be the problem. On my 501, the toslink output is always active (on) when I have it set to Dolby/PCM.
(Of course, maybe I have a problem with my 501! :))

Don't point the light at your eyes, your head may blow up.....

Seriously, the light level is low, but it is light, so try not to point it directly at your eyes.

[TopCat99]

Have you tried resetting the receiver? Yank the smartcard for a few seconds and reinsert. Although if you're not getting a light, not sure if that would help...

My 501 is like Windoze98--it needs to be rebooted if you even look at it wrong :lol:

[Matt]

I have noticed that if I use the optical output on the PVR that my Audio receiver has to re-sync with the optical output every time I use the skip ahead or back function. This extra delay in audio is getting old real quick.

Has anyone brought this to E*'s attention? Looks like the PVR shuts down the output LED when using the skip/pause function.

[BobaBird]

Matt, is there a difference between using skip or changing channels? I would first suspect your A/V receiver to be the source of the delay. My first digital processor was noticeably slow with PCM format but my new rcvr is nearly instantaneous even with auto source detect occurring before auto format detect.

[DarrellP]

Originally posted by Repcmm
Yes I have optical cable, I set my sony a/v receiver to select only an optical input for sat\tv. If I plug the cable in to my DVD and switch a/v reciever to DVD the opt light comes on, but when I plug it in to 508 then my receiver and select sat/tv the optical light does not come on. My receiver is set to only take optical input on sat/tv mode. Is it possible the 508 is broke.
If you leave the cable in your 508 & select DVD do you get sound from the 508? Have you gone through the setup portion of your Optical inputs on your A/V receiver and assigned the input to the sat input? This must be done or you will not get anything through the input.

[Matt]

Yes I have everything setup properly.
This can be demonstrated by pausing the PVR, once you resume play you will notice that your processor has to re-sync with the PCM stream. I understand some processor's sync quicker than others.
My point being E* should not shut down the output LED when we pause or use the skip function. I know this sounds minor but it is irritating. To my knowledge other devices don't have this problem.

[Robert F. O'Connor]

Matt, I don't think the sat. receiver is "shutting off" the output, rather, you are interrupting the data stream every time you pause, skip or change channels and the AV receiver has to start processing the encoded stream over again every time it is restored. I am glad to hear that newer receivers pick that up faster.

-Robert