Hello, I've got an el-cheapo durabrand surround sound system that I hooked up to my dish network receiver using an optical cable. The problem is whenever I first turn the TV on, change channels, or pause there is a 30+ second delay before the sound comes on. I have since installed rca outs and it works fine with them but I would have liked to use the optical line. Does anyone have a clue as to why this happened.

Hmmm, that's a bit puzzling. In order to decode an S/PDIF (digital audio) data stream, the receiver has to synchronise with the incoming data bits to recover a clock (sorry if this is a bit over your head). My only thought is that your el-cheapo receiver has a REALLY badly-designed S/PDIF receiver that is taking 30+ seconds to resync after any start or interruption to the data stream.

This problem could be exacerbated by a low signal level through the Toslink cable, causing the receiver to operate close to its logic threshold, resulting in high error rate and thus a longer sync time. Provided your Toslink cable is < 5 metres long, you should be OK there.

Daniel