Comments

RexA wrote on 5/3/2004, 11:17 AM
It is only available in Digital TV signals.

First you need either a cable or Over the Air (OTA) receiver (STB - set-top box) that can hjandle HDTV. One of the outputs from this box is the digital audio stream. It is either a coax or optical cable. This goes to a Surround Receiver. That receiver decodes the AC3 signal from the STB and drives the speakers (usually 5 + a subwoofer).

That describes the US implementation. I think other countries are basically the same except encoding may be different.
dvdude wrote on 5/3/2004, 11:49 AM
Digital TV, including high definition, allows for Dolby Digital audio in 5.1 and 2.0. What's neat about it is that if you have a regular antenna and live in the service area of one or more digital stations, you only really need an HDTV set to receive HD, the programming is free!

I believe most HDTV sets with integrated ATSC tuners have optical and/or coaxial outputs for digital audio. If you want more than the broadcast networks you receive, you'll need a cable or satellite receiver and the subscriptions that go along with them.

FWIW, the overwhelming majority of primetime network broadcasts are now in HD, only Fox are dragging their feet over it and even they've announced their scripted (non-reality) material will be in full HD this fall.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 5/3/2004, 2:15 PM
UPN isn't HDTV yet, is it? FOX went digital (not HDTV) a few years ago, so they might be happy with that for now. That should still be able to transfer 5.1 sound.

Can you get 4 ch (pro-logic) from the HDTV transmissions sent in 5.1? I know you can from TV stations/cable/satellite that transmit in Stereo (not mono though). That might be good enough for 329 (can't tell the difference with some things).
JJKizak wrote on 5/3/2004, 3:03 PM
Most of the TV stations are Digital but only transmitt HD starting about 8:00 PM. The quality variations are considerable.

JJK
bbcdrum wrote on 5/3/2004, 6:06 PM
Thanks everyone!
TheHappyFriar wrote on 5/3/2004, 6:13 PM
Yeah, the net's broadcast in HDTV. It's still to expensive for syndicated shows to do it (plus convert all older shows to it!) :)