I have a DirecTV tivo unti (RCA) and I am wondering if the optical out on it works or is it disabled like the USB ports.

Thanks!

Optical out works great. Plug it in to the back of the TiVo and you'll see the red light on the other end of the cable...

Of course, it will only work if you have an AV receiver that accepts optical inputs.

Just out of curiousity, is there a difference in sound quality between optical and the RCA outputs? I'm thinking my AV receiver may have optical but I've never even used them.

On the SD units, I have found very little need... as the volume of SD and Dobly 5.1 is very low. Thus the analog outputs work fine.


On the HR10-250... different story... night and day.. .but that is more because that the HD content pushes 5.1 most of the time.

Right. The main reason to use optical or coaxial outputs is for DD5.1 delivery.

Double ditto on that one. HBO (East & West feeds only) is the only thing that really matters on my line-up. I have not done a PPV since early 2004 and don't recall if they have DD5.1.

What is a SD unit? I have a RCA DVR80 unit. Do you think it will matter? I think I am going to do it because it will bug me to know that I might be able to get better sound....

SD means standard definition. What we use to differentiate between regular DVRs and the hi def versions. Your DVR80 is an SD unit. Which will output DD5.1 if it is broadcast.

yarzy,

Your unit is an "SD" unit, meaning that it is standard definition TV, not high defintion TV (HD unit).

I have not checked for quite a while, but there used to be only 2 or 3 PPV channels that actually offered DD 5.1 audio, and the program guide showed so. HBO and Showtime used to also on their main channels.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is the same as your DVDs typically provide, at least on the newer movies.

For non-DD 5.1 programs, the optical output provides 2-channel stereo, sometimes with matrixed Dolby Pro Logic surround, just like you get from the L+R analog audio outputs of your DirecTiVo.

a total DUH moment for me occured when i got my TIVO back in november -- i hooked up the optical output from it to my receiver and actually noticed for the first time that my DD light on my receiver actually lit up. where the hell have i been all this time??

but i have noticed better audio separation even on non DD channels since i hooked up the optical. i'm also running optical from my Panasonic DVD player/recorder as well, but still run the analog outs from my Pioneer DVD player for DVD-A/SACD.

IMO
Optical sounds better than analog even in 2.0...hook it up.

Much of the Starz/Encore programing is in 5.1

Yes. Because the decoders in most av receivers are better than the decoder in the TiVo unit. It is also generally better to listen to DVDs or CDs through the av receiver's decoder than the player's.

Same reason.