QuestionQUESTION: I have a Denon AVR 3803. I have a video cable running from my plasma to the receiver and a video cable running from my time warner cable box to the plasma as well. I then tried to run an optical connection from the cable box to the denon for audio. Under the Denon setup, is the cable box the same as "DBS"? Also, for the optical audio connection to the my Denon, is that suppossed to go to a "optical in" or "optical out".
ANSWER: Cable should go to optical in. I've seen a question like this before and it seems to me that optical must be selected in the setup menu of the Denon. My guess is that factory default is analog audio.
DBS as you will see below does not refer to any audio signals.
Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception, also referred to as direct-to-home signals. The expression direct-to-home or DTH was, initially, meant to distinguish the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television distribution services that sometimes carried on the same satellite. The term predates DBS satellites and is often used in reference to services carried by lower power satellites which required larger dishes (1.7M diameter or greater) for reception. In Europe, the expression was common prior to the launch of ASTRA-1 in 1988 as there were two markets: the DTH market which required the larger dishes and the DBS (ASTRA) market which required smaller (0.9M dishes). As higher powered satellites like ASTRA came into operation, the acronym DBS gradually supplanted it.
The term DBS now covers both analog and digital television and radio reception, and is often extended to other services provided by modern digital television systems, including video-on-demand and interactive features. A "DBS service" usually refers to either a commercial service, or a group of free channels available from one orbital position targeting one country.
I suggest you use the reference part of the operation manual to set the optical. The other option is to call Denon tech support.
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QUESTION: Thanks for the great info. This is my first time using this forum - I'm quite impressed. So under my "digitial in" setup, I have the option to configure the following "TV, DVD, DBS, VDP, V.AUX, VCR, CD". For my DVD player I'm running an optical cable to the receiver so I configured the "digital in" to read "optical". I also have my time warner cable box running a optical cable to the Denon. Under the "digital in" menu, which of the 7 options stated above refers to the cable box ""TV, DVD, DBS, VDP, V.AUX, VCR, CD".
Also, on another note, for my TV, I'm running one set of video cables from my denon and another to the TW cable box. There's no sound coming out of the TV. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this? I'd like to have it so I'd have sound coming from the TV speakers and also have the options of using the speakers setup with the Denon. Would I have to run audio cables to the cable box to fix this?
Thanks again. I'm sorry if my question is really basic - I really don't know much about setting this up.
AnswerThere should only be cables running from the cable box to the Denon receiver. If you want sound to the TV you must use the audio output from the Denon receiver or you can use RCA Y adaptor cables (two Female to a Male) and then another pair of RCA cables (M to M) to the Audio Input of the TV. Just remember that whatever video inputs you are using they must conform to the audio inputs and you must be switched to that input on the TV.
