IgniteTV Xi6 5.1surround sound not working with home theater system

[James-007]

Recently switched to IgniteTV and noticed that the Xi6 set top box does not have digital audio output. Our old rogers digital box has digital coaxial output and we connect to our old Pioneer XV-DV55 home theater and all the 5.1 DD surround sound will play nicely.  After some research, I bought one of the HDMI to Digital audio extractor like this one https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B074HHSJVN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 .  From the splitter,  HDMI video goes to TV and the SPDIF digital audio goes to Pioneer XV-DV55, in the Rogers Xi6 settings, the audio output is set to Expert mode.  But no matter which channel we watch, live channel, Nexflix, Disney+, there are never a 5.1 DD surround sound come out from the home theater back speakers.  It seems the Rogers Xi6 can ONLY delivery two channel stereo sound to the Pioneer XV-DV55 even I set the audio output to Expert mode.

Of course the rogers support team seems has no idea why there is no 5.1 DD surround sound output and they basically saying that is NOT supported.

Just want to ask did any of you guys run into the similar issue?  How did you guys get the new IgniteTV Xi6 set top box work with your existing home theater setup for the 5.1 DD surround sound?

My setup for old rogers digital box:  5.1 DD surround sound working perfect with home theater system

• Video - Roger Digital box HDMI to TV HDMI
• Digital Audio - Roger Digital box coaxial to Pioneer XV-DV55 coaxial

My new Ignite TV Xi6 setup: 5.1 DD surround sound not working with home theater system

• Roger Xi6 box HDMI to J-Tech HDMI Audio Extractor
• Video - J-Tech HDMI Audio Extractor to TV HDMI
• Digital Audio - J-Tech HDMI Audio Extractor SPDIF to to Pioneer XV-DV55 SPDIF
• Roger Xi6 box audio output set to Expert mode

Thanks in advance.

*Added Labels*

[57 · Accepted solution]

Rogers do send DD5.1 on live and OD programming, however, they send improperly encoded DD5.1 on all recordings. If you set the audio output to DD, then you should get DD5.1 audio on the channels that have it (Live & OD) .  Some channels are still DD2.0, so you'll get improperly encoded DD5.1 on those channels with audio out the LF & RF only.  See the following thread on the topic. View the post in the following link and several posts that follow:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Archived-Posts/IgniteTV-Surround-Sound/m-p/472720/highlight/tr...

As discussed in the link above, I set the audio output in the box to "stereo" and set the AVR decoder to DPLII, which then provides very good surround sound.

[James-007]

Thanks very much for your help.  It works after I changed my Pioneer XV-DV55 audio effect mod to Dolby
Pro Logic.  The surround sound now play from the rear speakers nicely.

Based on my experience, the key point is to set your home theater or AVR receiver audio effect to DPL or DPLII.  

Now my working setup for Ignite TV Xi6 for surround sound:

• Roger Xi6 box HDMI to J-Tech HDMI Audio Extractor
• Video - J-Tech HDMI Audio Extractor to TV HDMI
• Digital Audio - J-Tech HDMI Audio Extractor SPDIF to to Pioneer XV-DV55 SPDIF
• Roger Xi6 box audio output set to Stereo mode
• Pioneer XV-DV55 audio effect set to Standard (Dolby
  Pro Logic) instead of Auto