Yep, I have a Pansat 9200 and a Coolsat 8000, they both do Dolby AC3 straight out of the box.Every HD receiver I have has Dolby built-in. I can't think of 1 that doesn't.
The above link is a very comprehensive answer to the question.
Yes, you need an external Dolby decoder.I know there is a S/PDIF output at the back of the receiver for digital audio output for external stereo system, so does that mean I have to go buy a S/PDIF cable and connect it to an external system?
I think the key may be that it isn't so much the HD but ATSC. Ie I may be wrong, but I think that the HD receivers that do AC3 are all the ones that also have a built in ATSC capability. Since the OTA ATSC channels all require AC3 decoding, those receivers have it built in, however an HD receiver that doesn't have ATSC doesn't necessarily have AC3 built in.
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