What you are experiencing is very normal, and Cliff's pinned down the problem exactly -- every digital cablel channel I've found is broadcast in stereo -- whether it is in PCM or Dolby Digital. The DD stations (of which there are very few) come through as DD 2.0. Time Warner in my area does not include any digital audio on many analog channels (those below channel 100), and those that are in digital are a mix of DD 2.0 and either 32KHz or 48KHz PCM. Even the HD channels will in many cases only include DD 2.0.

If you want to better determine what is happening, watch the 950's front panel when you switch to a channel. If the digital audio signal's format changes, the 950 re-acquires the lock and briefly displays for new incoming format. The top right corner shows the format (32K PCM, 48K PCM, DOLBY D, DTS, ...) and the bottom right corner shows the channels included in the signal (ie: "2/0.0" for stereo with no LFE or "3/2.1" for 5.1). It's only there for a few seconds.

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