Cable box to outboard DAC

hit the settings button on your remote control twice and go into menu and look through the options.

Thanks Audphile1 ; I have two choices Dolby Digital and 'other'. Not sure what other is refering to and the cable tech does not either .
Anyone know ?

I think other is PCM. Try it. If it is something that the dac can not digest, most likely it will not output anything.
Just have the volume in your system lowered when you do try it.....just in case.

Yes , normaly I would have . I don't have a DAC to try it with .
Can anyone tell me if PCM is the 'other' or point me to a
convertor of some kind ?

Thank you .

On one box I have, "other" = PCM. On the other box, its some strange format and I have no idea what it is. No way to tell for sure w/o hooking it up to a DAC, unless you find a really, really good tech in your CATV company's tech support...

You might also try digging around here:

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/consumers_new/CableBoxes/2200.htm

They have manuals for most of their boxes. I note that Sci Atlanta describes your box as supporting "AC-3" and "Musicam" digital audio support.

An AC-3 -> PCM "converter" is a digital HT preamp, like a Theta Casanova or Casablanca. So, yes, converters exist, but it won't be cheap. Nothing, to my knowledge, will do AC-3 or Dolby to 2CH with little or no configuration, staying in the digital domain, and for cheap.