I just borrowed an Xbox from a friend who is out of town for the weekend, and I can't seem to get the Dolby Digital to work. I've got an optical cable going into my DD receiver, and I get sound, but not 5.1. I tried going into the Xbox audio setup, but the only options there were mono, stereo, and Dolby Surround. Any ideas????

Thx,
Cavalier

Set Audio to Dolby Surround and Dolby Digital to enabled.

-Naan

from the main screen in the dashboard choose settings. then audio. in audio there are three different options. the top one is mono, stereo thing. the next option is dolby digital and the bottom option is DTS. You need to enable the appropriate ones for your system. Good luck!

Sounds (no pun intended ) like you've got the cables all hooked-up correctly. As was suggested above, you simply need to make the appropriate selections in the Xbox dashboard and you'll be golden.
Let us know if you still need more help.

Actually, when I go to the audio settings in the dashboard, there is no option for Dolby Digital or DTS. Somebody mentioned that it could be the MadCatz hookups I am using, so I'll pick up the actual Xbox one later and give that a try.

-Cavalier

Oh yeah. Are you referring to the one that includes an optical cable? That one has given some players problems with their audio.

Hopefully you still have the receipt. I suggest you purchase the Advanced A/V Pack from Microsoft to save you any headaches.

Yeah, that's the one. I just got it today, so I've still got the receipt and will probably exchange it tomorrow. Thanks.

-Cavalier

I had a similar problem getting Dolby Digital surround to work with the Microsoft Advanced AV Pack. My receiver should have the capability to decode the audio signal using the red/white RCA jacks so I don't know what the problem was.

I broke down and bought an optical cable and everything works great now.

The problem is the red/white RCA cables are used for stereo audio only the way they were designed with the Xbox. They were not intended to send a 'digital' signal to your receiver.
At present, the only way you could get your Xbox to send a digital audio signal to your A/V receiver for dolby digital decoding is with the use of a Toslink (optical) cable.

Don't worry too much about purchasing the optical cable. It is a MUST for anyone with 5.1 capability. The surround and low frequency effects are sooo worth it.

I remember seeing these in stores two weeks ago. I was thinking how these would have sold like crazy had they released them on the Xbox launch day. I would have purchased one myself!

The MadCatz adapter must have been the problem. I returned it and bought a Microsoft Advanced A/V pack and an optical cable and everything sounds AWESOME! Thx to all for the help. Bottom line...stay away from MadCatz from now on.....

-Cavalier

5.1 sound in a video game is incredible. Now that you've experienced it, you won't accept anything less.