Network Channels stereo only?

[Feuerwehr]

Pardon my ignorance, I am interested in upgrading to dish HD and dropping my present cable service. Both my son and daughter have 722's and overall are very happy with Dish. After trying out both their setups my main concern is that there appears to be very little 5.1 audio available on movie channels and nothing but stereo on all network stations available as locals here in the Portland, Or. area.
I presently run both my HD TV's through Home Theater receivers using the optical outputs of my Motorola cable boxes. All network programming is in Dolby 5.1 (when broadcast) as are all movie channels, even the SD broadcasts.
To be fair neither one of my kids has a Home theater setup so they are limited to the stereo output of the TV's. My reason for thinking that the above mentioned broadcasts are in stereo only is that when I hit the "INFO" button on the 722 remote the audio info caption reads "Stereo" on ALL network HD broadcasts, including those that are I know are being broadcast in 5.1. I looked through 24 hours of programming on ABC, CBS and NBC and according to the "INFO" captions everthing is "stereo" only.
My question: Is the Info box wrong or are local stations really limited to stereo only? Also only a minority of HD movies are listed on the guide and in the INFO box with the dolby logo. That includes movies I know to have 5.1 audio.
The only thing that is keeping me from switching entirely from HD cable to dish HD would be the lack of 5.1 progamming. I am very impressed with the number of HD channels dish has available as compared with cable. Also HD video quality seems to be almost as good or just as good in most cases as cable.
A reply to my question would be very much appreciated!

 

[KAB]

Pardon my ignorance, I am interested in upgrading to dish HD and dropping my present cable service. Both my son and daughter have 722's and overall are very happy with Dish. After trying out both their setups my main concern is that there appears to be very little 5.1 audio available on movie channels and nothing but stereo on all network stations available as locals here in the Portland, Or. area.
I presently run both my HD TV's through Home Theater receivers using the optical outputs of my Motorola cable boxes. All network programming is in Dolby 5.1 (when broadcast) as are all movie channels, even the SD broadcasts.
To be fair neither one of my kids has a Home theater setup so they are limited to the stereo output of the TV's. My reason for thinking that the above mentioned broadcasts are in stereo only is that when I hit the "INFO" button on the 722 remote the audio info caption reads "Stereo" on ALL network HD broadcasts, including those that are I know are being broadcast in 5.1. I looked through 24 hours of programming on ABC, CBS and NBC and according to the "INFO" captions everthing is "stereo" only.
My question: Is the Info box wrong or are local stations really limited to stereo only? Also only a minority of HD movies are listed on the guide and in the INFO box with the dolby logo. That includes movies I know to have 5.1 audio.
The only thing that is keeping me from switching entirely from HD cable to dish HD would be the lack of 5.1 progamming. I am very impressed with the number of HD channels dish has available as compared with cable. Also HD video quality seems to be almost as good or just as good in most cases as cable.
A reply to my question would be very much appreciated!

Technically, 5.1 IS stereo...two or more independent audio channels. We have been conditioned to think of is as two channels only. So don't take the listing info at face value. Just about everything broadcast in HD is 5.1 and the 622/722 will receive it just fine. The info is provided by Tribune Media Services and why they use the term I can't say. Just don't pay attention to it.

 

[Hall]

Shows like all the CSIs, ER, and so on that are on during primetime do have DD5.1 audio. Now, it's possible that your local station can't transmit DD5.1 (yet). It seems like the movie channels still treat DD5.1 shows as special. Some will have it, most don't.

 

[adavis720]

If the program I am watching is not in DD 5.1, I use the Pro Logic II setting on my receiver with pretty good results.


I have a feeling that a lot of time when the cable guide says DD it is DD 2.0 and your AVR just decodes the LT/RT.

 

[Feuerwehr]

Thanks for the quick replys. My confusion stems from the fact that my cable box GUIDE lists network DD5.1 programming as such when appropriate, while the Dish GUIDE lists ALL network programming as "Stereo." However, I am somewhat perplexed that most DISH movies do not show the dolby logo. My cable provider shows all HD and SD movies in DD5.1 if they were originally 5.1 releases. It is possible that some of DD5.1 listings are actually DD2.0. Still, I think I will switch to DISH for the extra HD programming, guess I can "simulate" 5 channels with my AVR,s if necessary.
Thanks again!

 

[kb7oeb]

I never noticed (stereo) in the guide before, I just look at my receiver to see if its 5.1 or not. One or two my locals converts everything to 5.1 but the rest change depending on the program.

 

[caam1]

On the HD channels, Dish passes through the audio provided with the program. Most or the newer movies on HBO, HD Net, etc. have DD 5.1 audio. Almost all of the major sports broadcasts now have DD 5.1. All of the Voom channels have DD 5.1 if the movie or program has it. A&E is the only HD channel that I can think of that doesn't have any programs with DD 5.1. The majority of the HD programs on Dish have DD 5.1 audio.

 

[Cyclone]

Nearly all of the Dish HD channels are in DD5.1. I think that Food & HGTV are two exceptions. The programs on these channels can of course also not be DD5.1 if that is the way the channel airs the program. All of this would be outside of Dish network's control and likely would apply to any other provider (ie D* or Cable tv) as well.

Dish doesn't seem to put too much emphasis on their EPG. It took them quite a while just to get the OTA data in the guide which was years after D* had the info there, and even then it took them another year to two just to get it working right. So don't put too much weight on that Stereo indication. Just look for the DD5.1 indicator on your AV receiver.