# Sound quality on DTV. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-quality-on-dtv/451559 "2008-06-03T00:03:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-quality-on-dtv/451559/1 "2008-06-03T00:03:20Z")
Isn’t the audio on digital broadcast also digitized? I got the box for my “works just fine” tv and hooked it up. Well, it works fine except that the audio is staticky. It sounds like the noise you can hear in the dead zone between stations on radio, and the (noise) volume goes up and down with the tv control but not with the box control. If I turn the tv volume way down, and the box volume up, you can hardly hear the static. Also, the volume is very uneven from channel to channel. That didn’t happen with the analog broadcast on my rabbit ears (which I’m still using). My box is the Zenith model. It’s no real biggie, I just don’t want to buy a new tv for a while. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-quality-on-dtv/451559/2 "2008-06-03T00:08:33Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] If I turn the tv volume way down, and the box volume up, you can hardly hear the static. [/QUOTE] That suggests the problem is in the set, not the box. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-quality-on-dtv/451559/3 "2008-06-03T00:10:51Z")
You TV may a pseudo-surround sound setting which is supposed to simulate 5.1 speakers out of the internal speakers but, in my experience, doesn’t work very well. Try turning it off in the TV settings. ETA: What the heck is a “box”? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-quality-on-dtv/451559/4 "2008-06-03T00:43:48Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] You TV may a pseudo-surround sound setting which is supposed to simulate 5.1 speakers out of the internal speakers but, in my experience, doesn’t work very well. Try turning it off in the TV settings. ETA: What the heck is a “box”? [/QUOTE] [This](http://www.zenith.com/dtv/dtt900.html) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-quality-on-dtv/451559/5 "2008-06-03T00:59:15Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] [This](http://www.zenith.com/dtv/dtt900.html) [/QUOTE] Ah, a digital converter box. Forget what I said about setting the pseudo-surround sound on your TV then. On the other hand, there may be a similar setting on the box itself. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-quality-on-dtv/451559/6 "2008-06-03T14:59:58Z")
Most digital converter boxes will have multiple options for audio output, and depending on the inputs for your TV, may give you a better audio signal. The most common is a pair of red and white colored RCA jacks, which is a standard analog stereo signal. You may also have a coax digital audio output, which would be a single RCA jack, or a fiber optic digital output, which looks like a little square hole that you would plug a fiber cable into. If you’re using an HDMI cable, the audio and video are both carried on the same cable. If your box and TV both support the same kind of digital audio connections, try a couple of different options and see if it improves the sound.