Do Cable TV HD movies have surround sound, all 5 speakers work?

[traveler582]

Thanks, yes I saw the odd shape with ridges and one flat side etc., it just doesn't stay in, in either the cable box or HTiB, it appears the ridges to keep it snapped in place are just not big enough, or jut out enough.
It's ironic because when I went back to the website where I bought it from; Part Express, Item 181-044, it says: "Inferior Toslink connectors can damage equipment permanently—or justnot fit your audio components sockets at all!".
I have a feeling my paying just $7.50 for no-name brand means they're just plain ole cheap quality.
Although I refuse to pay $50-$80 for 'Monster' fiber optic cables, maybe I do need to invest in a little higher quality?

Rob

As always, Thanks

[MrBoylan]

Thanks, yes I saw the odd shape with ridges and one flat side etc., it just doesn't stay in, in either the cable box or HTiB, it appears the ridges to keep it snapped in place are just not big enough, or jut out enough.
It's ironic because when I went back to the website where I bought it from; Part Express, Item 181-044, it says: "Inferior Toslink connectors can damage equipment permanently—or justnot fit your audio components sockets at all!".
I have a feeling my paying just $7.50 for no-name brand means they're just plain ole cheap quality.
Although I refuse to pay $50-$80 for 'Monster' fiber optic cables, maybe I do need to invest in a little higher quality?

Rob

As always, Thanks

I buy stuff from Parts Express all the time and have had no problem with their cables. Not sure what to tell you at this point. Your experience is definitely different from mine. Trying a cable from a local store is a good idea so then you can return it if it has problems too.

Good luck...

-CB

[traveler582]

Ok Chris, finally, I got the Belkin brand Fiber-Optic cables and they fit! They properly 'snap' in, I paid $10 on amazon.com, and that's not too bad a price. It had to be the no-name brand cables, they just didn't fit right or seat right into the 'socket'. I'll return them to Part Express, and actually I do like their service etc, I also bought 100ft 16 gauge speaker wire, so it's not like I'm writing them off because of one incident.
Now when viewing certain cable TV movies all five speaker lights light up!!!!
Thanks for that advice!

Now about surround sound, I have Time Warner cable TV and I've noticed that when selecting a channel (I'm referring to movies like on Cinemax and HBO) and then pressing the 'more information' button about the movie I'm watching, at the bottom it'll say: Program type: Movie/Suspense, surround sound, HD, CC, SAP. But I've noticed not all movies that say surround sound have ALL five speaker lights go on, I would say the later movies appear to. Maybe there are different versions of surround sound that cause only two lights (speakers) to go on?? Maybe that's the 5.1 you were referring to?

And lastly, I'm kinda glad I didn't spend $700+ on HTiB, at least right now I'm thinking the whole idea is kind of overrated, the whole surround sound thing. I guess I had greater expectations, and maybe you've heard the expression: "expectations are planned disappointments". Hopefully as I'm exposed to more movies it will grow on me, and I'll notice the surround sound more; I do get jolted out of my seat occasionally as a rear speaker will have the sound of a gunshot going off or something, I think I was expecting more out of those rear speakers...

Once again, thanks for ALL your help.

Robert

[MrBoylan]

Ok Chris, finally, I got the Belkin brand Fiber-Optic cables and they fit! They properly 'snap' in, I paid $10 on amazon.com, and that's not too bad a price. It had to be the no-name brand cables, they just didn't fit right or seat right into the 'socket'. I'll return them to Part Express, and actually I do like their service etc, I also bought 100ft 16 gauge speaker wire, so it's not like I'm writing them off because of one incident.
Now when viewing certain cable TV movies all five speaker lights light up!!!!
Thanks for that advice!

Hi, Robert,

Glad you were able to get things working. Belkin was recently busted for paying people to review their routers on Amazon, but I've used some of their network cables and found them to be very reliable (bought them on Parts Express, of all places).

Now about surround sound, I have Time Warner cable TV and I've noticed that when selecting a channel (I'm referring to movies like on Cinemax and HBO) and then pressing the 'more information' button about the movie I'm watching, at the bottom it'll say: Program type: Movie/Suspense, surround sound, HD, CC, SAP. But I've noticed not all movies that say surround sound have ALL five speaker lights go on, I would say the later movies appear to. Maybe there are different versions of surround sound that cause only two lights (speakers) to go on?? Maybe that's the 5.1 you were referring to?

Some movies may be Dolby ProLogic encoded but not Dolby Digital 5.1. This means the actual sountrack is two-channel (stereo) but the center and rear channel information is matrixed into the signal. A good HTiB system can extract the center and rear channels from this signal, but it's never as realistic as a true Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack.

And lastly, I'm kinda glad I didn't spend $700+ on HTiB, at least right now I'm thinking the whole idea is kind of overrated, the whole surround sound thing. I guess I had greater expectations, and maybe you've heard the expression: "expectations are planned disappointments". Hopefully as I'm exposed to more movies it will grow on me, and I'll notice the surround sound more; I do get jolted out of my seat occasionally as a rear speaker will have the sound of a gunshot going off or something, I think I was expecting more out of those rear speakers...

Once again, thanks for ALL your help.

Robert

As for surround sound, the effects and effectiveness of surround do vary considerably from movie to movie. Over cable and satellite, the Dolby Digital soundtrack does tend to be a bit compressed compared to Blu-ray Discs or even DVD. But actually if you had spent more on a home theater receiver and speakers, surround sound might be a bit more impressive than it is with an inexpensive HTiB system. Surround sound isn't usually about whiz-bang sound coming from all over the room. It's about creating a realistic and immersive sonic experience that draws you into the movie, show or musical performance.

The better home theater receivers have built-in calibration systems which measure the levels of all of your surround channels and subwoofer and make sure that everything is set properly in order to achieve the highest performance. Inexpensive, packaged systems tend to have less impressive bass, and not always the best integration between subwoofer and satellites. And also, setting the levels of the front, center and surround speakers can be a bit tricky without a built-in calibration system.

Also, the actual speaker placement can have a big impact on sound quality. Simply by making sure that all speakers are on ear level (when seated), with nothing blocking the speakers and with all speakers roughly the same distance from your ears (plus making sure the subwoofer is positioned properly) can really make a difference in your overall experience of surround sound.

Before paying for a receiver or speaker upgrade, do some reading about ideal speaker positioning and calibration and you may find that surround sound is a bit more impressive and a bit more involving than it is currently.

Anyway... glad things are better now and enjoy the system!

-CB

[MrBoylan]

Note - new posts on upconverting multi-region DVD players have been moved to a new thread.

-CB

[Daylightdon]

When I watch most HD movies from my Direct TV HR22 DVR there is often audio coming from my rear speakers in addition to my left and right surrounds. So I get 7.1 from direct TV
I am using a Denon AV 3808 receiver.