In a dilemma, maybe someone can help…

My HD cable box will only output one audio line, so when my digital coax is plugged in, I cannot get access to the analog output. Now the problem: during many TV programs I want to use the Dolby fields and the resulting 7.1 surround. However, during football gatherings, and the like, I prefer a 7 channel stereo to distribute the sound uniformly around the room. The 990 cannot take a Dolby Digital input (which are most TV programs) and convert this to 7 channel stereo.

So, I can’t get an analog signal in, and I can’t covert the digital Dolby mode to 7 channel stereo.

Are their any other options to skin this challenge and get a 7 channel stereo output?

So the analog output is inactive when you have the digital coax plugged in? How obnoxious... I'm guessing you are wanting to use the HD video for these gatherings, ruling out an alternate cable receiver (like a VCR or TV tuner). Can you get a different box from your cable company? My Time Warner service uses Scientific Atlanta typically, but you can ask for a Pace box that works better in a home theater environment. If you can get a box that will output both at once, you could have an audio-only input hooked up to the analog output and switch to that input (the video switching will stay with the last video input used).

What brand/model of cable box and what system are you on?

My Motorola box from Comcast has the same thing - pick an output. However, in the cable box menu (setup/audio/audio output if you have this model) I can change the digital audio output to PCM instead of Advanced (DD or other surr format) anytime. This would preclude the need for additional or changing connections.

I'm assuming you are using TimeWarner's boxes down there? I can't imagine there not being a setting like this on all digital boxes, since there are lots of folks with only an HDTV connected to that optical output. Oh, wait, it's a cable company, so yes I can.