Only 2 channel audio on The Movie Channel

[Joe_S]

I don't visit here often and when I see a problem I usually wait a day or two to see if it goes away, but this time I'm really annoyed.

A couple days ago I noticed that my AVR showed that The Movie Channel was providing two channel audio when it should be 5.1 Channel Dolby Digital. I did check several times during the day to be sure that it wasn't because it was an old movie or something. Lat night they ran "The Aviator", a fairly recent movie that has 5.1 channel audio. It came through as 2 channel. The other premium channels show 5.1 DD, even the sports channels do, so it should be a no-brainer that a premium movie channel would have the best audio available. I just don't get it! Is Comcast saving money doing this? It makes me want to drop my premium channels and use a ROKU or delve into the world of pirated video.

[Rustyben]

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@Joe_S wrote:

I don't visit here often and when I see a problem I usually wait a day or two to see if it goes away, but this time I'm really annoyed.

A couple days ago I noticed that my AVR showed that The Movie Channel was providing two channel audio when it should be 5.1 Channel Dolby Digital. I did check several times during the day to be sure that it wasn't because it was an old movie or something. Lat night they ran "The Aviator", a fairly recent movie that has 5.1 channel audio. It came through as 2 channel. The other premium channels show 5.1 DD, even the sports channels do, so it should be a no-brainer that a premium movie channel would have the best audio available. I just don't get it! Is Comcast saving money doing this? It makes me want to drop my premium channels and use a ROKU or delve into the world of pirated video.

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is the set top box connected directly to the TV or to the receiver?

[Joe_S]

The box is connected to my receiver via the optical connection.

It's not a connection issue- the other premium channels have DD 5.1 audio for recent films.  I know that TMC had working DD 5.1 audio the previous week.  I contacted Showtime (who owns TMC) about this and am awaiting their reply. Can Comcast be  trying to save bandwidth? Is TMC not worthy"?

[tbill1]

After reading these posts, I checked TMC and can confirm it is in 2 channel stereo.

[Joe_S]

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@tbill1 wrote:

After reading these posts, I checked TMC and can confirm it is in 2 channel stereo.

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Yes, the question is "Is it supposed to be?"

I think not. A premium movie channel should be DD 5.1.

[tbill1]

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@Joe_S wrote:

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@tbill1 wrote:

After reading these posts, I checked TMC and can confirm it is in 2 channel stereo.

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Yes, the question is "Is it supposed to be?"

I think not. A premium movie channel should be DD 5.1.

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Shouldn't just about all HD channels be that way (DD 5.1) ?

[Joe_S]

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Shouldn't just about all HD channels be that way (DD 5.1) ?

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Exactly! I'm still waiting for answers from Comcast and Showtime/Movie Channel.

[Joe_S]

A miracle!  This morning I checked The Movie Channel and it now shows as Dolby Digital on my Receiver. Hopefully it's real DD 5.1. Will have to wait for the right film to hear the difference.