I know this is a tough one. The TV is only connected by HDMI to the 990 and I am getting sound. The cable audio is connected correctly to the 990. I saw yesterday that there is no way to choose the audio out on the cable. I might have to call outlaw to try to help with this one. If you have any more thoughts I am still looking.
Thanks,
Craig Pfaff

One suspicion that I find myself having is that the 990's DVI switching uses dual-link connectors and that this actually does allow HDMI audio to pass. We'd believed that the way it was wired simply abandoned the audio data of an HDMI cable, but it's possible that an HDMI to dual-link DVI cable at each end would allow the HDMI audio to travel successfully through the 990's DVI switching (assuming both HDMI-to-DVI cables were wired the right way).

All of that aside, the problem remains that we need to get coaxial digital audio from the Motorola to the 990. If there's still no way to disable the HDMI audio output, you should at least make sure that the digital audio output is set to "bitstream" or "raw" to insure that the SPDIF (coaxial/optical) output is getting the proper signal (otherwise you will never get Dolby Digital audio). It might even be necessary to find a different HDMI-to-DVI cable (perhaps one with a single-link DVI connector) to see if that breaks the HDMI audio signal in case that's causing the Motorola to disable the SPDIF output for some silly reason.

Here is a site that has the features of the Motorola DCT6412.
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6412.asp
here are the outputs ; Baseband output (Video, L/R Audio) ports. I hope that soon comcast comes out with the tivo3. In the past the surround audio worked with the cable box and the 990. I have not changed the connections from the original set up and it worked in the past on music channels and on on demand movies, sometimes with the TV channels.
I still don't understand why the picture drops out and tv goes to black as if there is not an input, not sure if it is the 990 or cable. I think the 990 makes a click sound like when it is turned on or off. The other new thing is that the blue light on the 990 is always on even when the 990 is turned off.

Thank you for your help
Craig Pfaff

The info page is a little out of date since they're still showing a version with DVI output instead of HDMI.

We may need to make sure we understand what is not happening. Do you get absolutely no sound from any channel (which is the way it sounds in your earlier posts)? Do you get audio from some channels but not others (which your previous posts suggests might have been the case in the past)?

If the bright blue light is staying on all the time, then you've got the second zone turned on - you'll want to turn the 990 on and then turn the second zone off using either the second zone remote or the 990's menu (under multizone). Once you've done that, the "R2" on the front panel will go away and the blue light will go off the next time you shut off the 990.

Here's a weird thought - how do you have the 7125 trigger cable connected? Make sure that it's connected to trigger 1 on the 990. If it was connected to trigger 2 and you had trigger 2 enabled for the DVD but not Video1 then you could get part of the behavior you describe - DVD's would give you sound, but the cable box would not.

I don't recieve any sound from any channel right now. In the past when I first set up the 990 I would turn the system on and sometimes the sound came from the tv and other times it would come from the surround sound. Since a little befor the hard rest until current I don't have any sound from any channel through the surround.

Thank you for the R2 issue, that is now fixed.

As for the wierd thought, I just looked and do not have a trigger cable hooked up. Could this cause problems not having this connected? It seems that this wouls only turn the amp on and off with the 990, am I correct?

Another thing I found strange is the the 990 never turns on from the remote, off works, but to turn on the 990 it must be done manually. Is this how it works or do I have another issue.

Thank you,

Craig Pfaff

I'm starting to come up with a curious theory about the cable box, but first we'll take care of the straightforward stuff.

With no trigger cable, you are either leaving the 7125 on all the time or manually turning it on and off. There should have been a trigger cable in the box with the 7125, which when connected to the 990's "Trigger 1" output would let the 990 turn the amp on and off at the same time you turn the 990 on and off.

The power button on the 990's remote is a discrete power "off" command - to turn the 990 on from the remote, you simply pick any input command on the remote (DVD, Video1, ...) and the 990 will turn on and be set to that input. This is done to provide discrete power on and off commands for universal remote users who want to be able to write macros.

It appears clear that you are somehow succeeding in passing HDMI audio through the 990's DVI switching (something that has been discussed in the past and assumed by most around here to not be possible). Here's my theory (and it's just a theory at this point): the Motorola is able to establish an HDCP handshake with your TV that includes successful digital audio transmission, at which point the Motorola concludes (wrongly) that the only digital output necessary is the HDMI connection and shuts down the coaxial and optical outputs. The result is audio from the TV speakers but not from the 990. If I'm right, Motorola has done something supremely stupid that would mess up a good number of home theater users. Presumably in the past the Motorola didn't always recognize the connection (which would explain why the problem only occured intermittently) but a recent firmware update to the box "improved" it so that the box consistently recognizes it. Here's a crazy thought for a test of this: put a single link DVI to HDMI adapter at the 990's DVI output (something like this one and then run HDMI from there to the TV. HDMI uses single-link DVI for the video side, and I'm guessing here that the extra pins for dual-link DVI are what are letting the HDMI audio pass through the 990. If my guess is right, a single link adapter will break the signal path for the HDMI audio, at which point the Motorola box ought to believe itself to be connected to a DVI device and revert to coaxial and optical for the digital output. I'd also take another run through the Motorola's settings before buying anything to make sure there's not some way to disable HDMI audio output - there really ought to be, even though all indications are that there's not.

You mentioned several posts back that you've got your Video1 input configured properly now (DVI1 for video and Coaxial1 for audio). When you have the Motorola on and the 990 set to Video1, does the "Digital" indicator on the 990's front panel blink on and off or does it stay lit continuously? If it is blinking, this would indicate that the digital output is "dead" - no data stream at all.

I am not sure what DVI link I have I will look into the single link connector. I rememer the conectors I have now were like $30 or $40, so there is a good chance they are dual link.

Thank you for teaching me the trick for turning the 990 on with the remote.

The digital is blinking on and off, so I asume from what you said it is "dead" no signal.

On the back of the Motorola box there is not a coaxial connection. The audio now is run out of the video connection ( the orange connection). A picture of the back is at this site
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6412.asp
The only other audio on the back is stereo Right anf Left or optical. I believe I have the right out put.

Thank you so much for your knowledge and help,

Craig Pfaff

I'm beginning to not care for these Motorola boxes. They could at least label the outputs for pity's sake. Coaxial digital uses an RCA connector just like analog audio, composite video, and componetn video. The orange color is typically indicative of coaxial digital audio - yellow is composite video, red and white are analog audio. I think you're right.

Since the digital signal really is missing in action, here's a really quick test - unplug the HDMI cable and see what happens. I'd be curious to know if the audio starts up.

I unpluged the hdmi from the cable box and the digital still flashed. As I was back there I saw a few conectors that were orange in color. So I figured what the heck I will try the SDPI (I think that was what it is labled). I pluged it in and sound was comming from the center channel. When I swiched out the other Motorola DVR we had to this one I must have connected to the wrong out put. We have switched the DVR like 3 or 4 times, they are junk and people online agree. I hope we get the Tivo 3 soon in our area with comcast. Now I get sound either through the tv or the surround. So for everyone that thought sound through the DVI was not possible it works.

I will keep you up to date on the system if it keeps turning off, so far the last few days I have not seen it happen. My wife says it has. I have also not seen the blue screen in a few days...yet.

One last thing is that sometimes the sub will make a popping sound. Is there any easy fix to this problem, I think I have seen on other posts that sometimes it is a connection issue.

Again thank you for your help,

Craig