Error in audio solutions article

[PurdueRy]

In today's article about audio solutions they mention that if they were going to be doing DVD-audio with a receiver that they would use S/PDIF and there would be no noise. This is not true! DVD-audio can only be done via analog connections. If one is to use a DVD-player they must connect it to a receiver via analog 5.1. Otherwise the audio with be compressed. The only way to listen to lossless DVD-audio is through a non-digital connection.

 

[tiap]

Originally posted by: rleemhui
In today's article about audio solutions they mention that if they were going to be doing DVD-audio with a receiver that they would use S/PDIF and there would be no noise. This is not true! DVD-audio can only be done via analog connections. If one is to use a DVD-player they must connect it to a receiver via analog 5.1. Otherwise the audio with be compressed. The only way to listen to lossless DVD-audio is through a non-digital connection.

You should read and understand this
spdif specs

 

[LED]

I think what the Poster is stating is that MLP recordings are best used via jacks which I am inclined to agree because MLP decoders built in the receiver hooked up via optical connects are not able to handle the high sampling rates that DVD-Audio provides. These digital outputs convert PCM like 192kHz & 96kHz/24bit on DVD-Audio sound down to 48kHz/16bit.

By using the analogue RCA audio outputs it's better because of the high quality 24bit D/A converter...

 

[PurdueRy]

Yes that is exactly what I mean but read this, from creative's website:

"As with dedicated DVD-Audio player devices, output from DVD-Audio playback is limited to analog output. The digital output is disabled and cannot be used during DVD-Audio playback."

This is exactly the reason why you can't use S/PDIF because it has more limitations that what the analog connections have as the poster before me already mentioned

 

[LED]

rleemhui...The fact remains that DVD Audio can be done either way and 1 straight digital connect to the receiver there is less noise because of 0+1's going straight to the source then D/A output. Even with RCA outs the Analogue is converted prior to the Receiver by way of 1 higher quality D/A but the connect (quality of Jacks) will determine the noise factor ...

 

[PurdueRy]

But the fact is that DVD-audi CANNOT be played. If anything you will get CD-quality audio out of the DVD if it can convert it down. However, CREATIVE's own website says that the Digital out DOES NOT WORK when playing DVD-audio

 

[LED]

LOL...I'm not disagreeing with the Audigy thing but the reason it needs Analogue is because DTS 5.1 playback via the digital out is up-sampled l data to 48KHZ...just like many older Receivers.

This is not true! DVD-audio can only be done via analog connections.This is not true! DVD-audio can only be done via analog connections. If one is to use a DVD-player they must connect it to a receiver via analog 5.1.

That is not true as many newer Receivers have 192kHz/24-bit audio DAC built in which is the same as Home DVD players so noise would be reduced by going with the straight Digi hookup.

This is what I think the article was alluding too (noise factor) and all depends on the DAC

 

[PurdueRy]

Ah, but if you hook them up via digital you will be using the more compressed sound formats that are included on DVD-audio discs so that people can play them via digital. They have forced DVD-audio through analog connections to prevent piracy of a studio quality format. With digital it would be very easy to steal. for more info on this go:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum...?s=&threadid=163086&highlight=DVDaudio

There have begun to be proprietary ways around this such as firewire and SOME digital outs. But they are very rare. The still accepted way to get true DVD-A is to hook up via analog. Which I have done to my computer to receiver(more so for the benefit of positional audio 😉)

 

[LED]

K...I think we're on the same page now and that's how my Audigy is hooked up as well because no optical or coaxial connectors can shift data fast enough for DVD-Audiocan (DVA with over 2 channels)
Of course 2channel DVA and CD-DDD+DDD, DDD, ADD, AAD is a different story 😉

 

[PurdueRy]

all I can say was it was a pain finding splitters that were small enough to all attach side by side. I have a male 3.5 to 2 female RCA spliiter. Than two 12' component video cables out to my receiver. The amount of times I had to search for something to make it work was amazing

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow, if this is true, that DVD-Audio can either be played back at full frequency/bit-depth, ONLY via analog, OR at reduced (to CD-quality) freq/bit-depth via digital... that's crap. DVD-Audio will never take off that way, IMHO. All of these new-media formats (HDTV with HDCP, etc.) are soooo crippled, it seems. I thought that it was bad enough that DVD-Video had forced Macrovision as part of the spec, which means that you CANNOT connect a standard cheapo Wal-Mart-ish DVD player to a standard cheapo Wal-Mart-ish combo TV/VCR unit's A/V inputs. The picture is unwatchable. (I had a friend with a rig like that, and he asked me to diagnose it.) Thank goodness for PCs, with software workarounds for those sorts of garbage "content-protection" schemes.

Why don't they release some new uber-super-duper better-than-studio-quality format, and then keep it all locked out, and only allow viewing via analog RF on UHF broadcast channel 82 with mono baseband audio.. scrambled. It will be like trying to watch scrambled HBO on a cable-ready TV without a decoder box. But hey, it's studio quality - inside, right?