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| FAQ |
Motorola HD Cable STB Info Pages |
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Audio This section goes over the outputs, set-up & troubleshooting of the audio.
Audio Outputs
The DCT has multiple audio outputs these include:
RF - This is the Coaxial Cable output that carries Video & Audio (Analog)
Baseband L/R - Stereo RCA style jacks Left/Right (Analog)
Coaxial (SPDIF) - Coaxial cable - RCA style connector (Digital)
Optical (Toslink) - Fiber Optic cable - Toslink connector (Digital)
Audio Menu Setup
To access the Audio Setup Menu:
Press Menu > select Main Menu > go to Setup > then to Audio The Screen will look like this:
Your options are:
Set volume to optimal stereo > Yes or No Audio Output > TV or Stereo or Advance Compression > None or Light or Heavy Stereo Output > Mono or Stereo or Matrix Stereo
Setting Volume to Optimal Stereo
The Motorola DCTs have the ability to control the volume of their Audio Outputs. This can only be done by remote control. There is a optimum output level for the STB, it is noted by the word "stereo" when the volume level is displayed on the screen. If volume control changes, the level can be restored by setting this option to "YES". The volume level indicator looks like this at the top of the screen:
In order to have the cable box control the Volume of the Audio Outputs, with the remote that comes with the box you will need to unlock the volume from the TV, & program it to the Cable Box. You can see how to do this here.
Audio Output, Compression, Stereo Output
The Compression & Stereo Output options are only activated if the Audio Output is set to Advanced.
These compression settings refer to the Dolby Reference levels for Audio output on the DIGITAL Channels only when using ANY ANALOG audio output. These settings DO NOT effect the sound when using the Digital Audio outputs (Optical or Coax) & DO NOT effect the sound on the ANALOG Channels regardless of audio outputs used (Analog or Digital).
Here is a link to a write-up on this specific topic by a user on the AVS forum by the username "hwk".
Audio Troubleshooting
Audio Volume Level
A fairly common complaint of using the Digital Audio Outputs of this STB is that the volume output on the Digital Channels is much lower than the volume output on the analog channels using either the Coax or Optical Digital audio output.
My testing has proven that the level difference is exponential, but can be as much as 13dB at normal listening levels (approx 75dB being measured by a Radio Shack Digital SLM). For example reading 75dB on the RS Meter watching channel 180 (ABC-HD) and then changing the channel to 6 (ABC-analog) the reading on the meter goes up to 83-85dB!!!! This doesn't happen on the analog outputs.
While there hasn't been an actual explanation from Motorola or Dolby Labs (that I have seen anyway) on why this is, but there has been very logical explanations. The generic opinion is that this has mostly to do with the dynamic range of Dolby Digital signals This includes the one that is linked above.
Audio Popping/Crackling
Most recently the biggest problem has been Audio crackling/popping while using the digital outputs. This problem has seem to be fixed with Firmware 7.10.
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