This might sound like a silly question but hey! I'm a newbie! You're supposed to expect these sorts of questions from me!

I use a Sony TV with a built in HD tuner. When using the optical out source to my 990 so I can enjoy the HD picture, I can't get anything other than 2 channel sound. Is this just a limitation of over the air HD signals? I can't readily find any info on this out there after a quick search. If there is anyone else out there that is getting HD this way have you experienced the same?

Can someone please enlighten me on this situation? I'm too cheap right now to buy an HD Tivo for Direct TV so this is my set-up for now. (I spent too much on my Outlaw gear!)

Over-the-air HD is capable of carrying up to Dolby Digital 5.1, but it depends on the source material (generally the only times I would expect to see a DD 5.1 signal would be for prime time broadcasts, and even then it's not necessarily a sure bet) and it requires that the broadcasting station's hardware supports DD 5.1. I just ran through all my OTA HD channels, and at the moment (6:30 in the morning) they're all broadcasting in DD 2.0. It's the same for the HD stations delivered by my cable provider. TNT-HD and Discovery HD both broadcast in 5.1 almost all the time, but they're not available OTA.

Basically, what you're running into is pretty common. You may want to try some recently-produced prime time material and see if they're broadcasting that with DD 5.1. For the cases where it's DD 2.0, though, I end up apply Pro Logic IIx to get surround.

Thanks for the info. It was during game 3 of the NBA Finals last night. Not the super bowl but still. The 990 display defaulted to "Dolby Digital" perhaps because of the selected audio input connection?! I'm not sure on that one either.

Maybe I will have to bite the bullet and get at least a HD Direct receiver if not a Direct TV HD DVR. It just kills me to know what that picture is like and have to settle for 2 channel audio or conversly, digital audio and the crappy standard signal out of my existing DVR. I suppose if I watch them in real time I could use the audio from one and the video from the another no?!

The 990 defaulted to Dolby Digital because the signal was coming in as Dolby Digital; however, if you use the "Dolby" button on the remote to cycle around to Dolby Digital+Pro Logic IIx Movie, it will remember that preference for that specific input.

I've been in the midst of a debate about Pro Logic II/IIx recently (not relating to an Outlaw product), and one of the other participants worked as a sound mixer for TV - he confirmed that many sports broadcasts are still broadcast in Dolby 2.0 (although they may contain some cues to aid in Pro Logic surround decoding). It's apparently becoming less common, but it still happens. You would get more 5.1 content from a Direct TV HD receiver (in part because stations like TNT and Discovery use 5.1 regularly), but you'll still see a lot of Dolby 2.0. That's actually why Dolby requires Pro Logic II/IIx to be available for Dolby bitstreams - it lets those Dolby 2.0 broadcasts (many of which contain cues for matrix surround decoding) be heard in surround.

Just to be clear, are you sure your built in tuner has the Dolby Digital output enabled? I think they typically default to NOT having that enabled which means you wouldn't be getting the DD signal sent out through your optical cable.

Just a thought.

Kugumby raises a good point, and one that can easily be checked with the 990's front panel display.

Your comments suggested to me that you had bitstream output correctly enabled on the tuner (it should be the default for an HD tuner) and you were just running into a lot of Dolby Digital 2.0 content. To be sure that is the case, check to make sure the "PCM" indicator (immediately to the left of the "Dolby Digital" indicator on the 990's front panel) is not lit up while you are watching over-the-air HD. If it is not, then you are getting the Dolby Digital bitstream that you ought to be getting. If it is, then you need to poke around a bit in your HD tuner settings.

I live in the DC area and I get a lot of over-the-air programming in "dolby surround" (as they advertise it). Most major sports events that I have watched over the past year have been in surround, particularly football games. Some shows have actually decent 5.1 sound, like Desperate Housewives, Grace Anatomy, House, etc. Some networks broadcast commercials and portions of a show (i.e. an HD baseball game gets a report from another game in progress) at different formats, so you may go back and forth between 2.0 and 5.1 during the same program. Fox is one of the few stations that tries to keep even the commercials at the same format - I believe all the superbowl commercials were wide screen and Dolby Digital.

I have been dissapointed with DirecTV's HD package. To me, TNTHD looks at the wrong aspect ratio and grainy all the time, ESPNHD has very little HD programming. The only bright spots are Universal HD, Discovery HD, and HDNET but the programming is awful for the most part, or repeated over and over. I have to admit that seeing "2001 Space Odyssey" on UHD at 1080i was awsome, but only about the first 10 times that week. Discovery HD has a lot of demo-quality HD nature programming, but I get a lot of similar programming over one of the 4 (yes, 4) HD PBS channels that I get over the air at 1080i or 720p for free. I have to be fair and admit that I have not seen anything look better on my display than DiscoveryHD and HDNET, but when one of the daily programs is literally watching the sun rise ("Sun Rise Earth") and that show gets repeated 3 times that day, you have to wonder.

I guess if you are a Dallas Mavericks fan, you should get DirecTV's HD package to get HDNET (owned by Mark Cuban) - all of the MAVs games are broadcast at 1080i and DD 5.1.