I am afraid that if Shaw is like Time Warner around here, you are receiving inaccurate information from them.

Most digital cable channels include a digital audio signal. As you are apparently already aware, many of the channels below 100 carry only an analog signal, with the digital audio output being effectively mute -- some boxes, such as the Pace Micro that I have, will convert the analog to a 32KHz PCM signal in those cases; your AUX1 workaround is also very effective. The digital audio signal that is provided by your cable provider (at least mine is this way) is typically not Dolby Digital encoded, it is a PCM signal. A 48KHz PCM signal is basically the same format used to store audio on a CD, and it is limited to stereo signal. When it is Dolby Digital, it may still only be Dolby 2.0.

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