We actually knew about this Star HD Channels. But the problem is theres some issue in DVR, and so we are not getting that feed on it. The customer care is insisting that once the update gets thru, we wud get the Dolby sound on those channels. But this update has taken much longer than usual. Lets see when we eventually see an update!
And about quality of sound, yes the more u invest the better it is. If u buy AVR, then it will surely help to get a better experience. But having said that, i dont understand how u claim that we wont get that good level of output for ESPN HD or Star Cricket HD. It gives u the experience of being seated ryt in the stadium. And u clearly hear what the keeper says from the stump cam. Now i have noticed these differences between the broadcast on Star Cricket HD & Neo Cricket SD. And those faint nicks, the sound of stumps getting shattered, the sound of ball hitting the sweet spot of the bat....well they sound so crisp!
I don't know about the update but it the dolby digital sound works flawlessly with my onkyo sr 708 and it shows dolby digital as soon as i switch it to that option on star HD channels.
Well what i meant about the sound in ESPN Hd and star HD is that people would not really be able to make out the so called 5.1 surround sound and with sound like coming from back speakers and all. I mean all this would be more prevalent and more frequent in movie channels where you usually get all these effects. Ofcourse all the HD channels have a much better and crisp sound.
Lastly , its unfortunate but you do need an AVR in order to enjoy a Multichannel surround sound or 5.1 sound. A normal home theater doesn't have the processing capability to take these individual channel sounds from another SOURCE (in this case the stb). Also you need an HDMI or optical cable as a normal RGB cable would never be able to handle the bandwidth required by the 5.1 dolby digital sound.
This is a big misconception and companies market it as it is. With my ps3, I researched a lot and tried quite a few setups including those normal home theater speaker setups with built in dvd player. Finally i had to invest in an AVR in order to experience a true Dolby digital 5.1/dolby digital HD/DTS HD ,etc.