How does analog 5.1 audio work?

[thecoolnessrune]

I have a DVD player I want to hook up to a receiver that has analog audio (RCA) outputs. How does this work exactly? Will the receiver not be able to do Dolby Digital audio through that channel? Does the DVD Player do the proper decoding and audio channel work?

I suppose what I'm asking is, will hooking up through the analog outputs sound equivalent through hooking up through the optical or coaxial connector?

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I have a DVD player I want to hook up to a receiver that has analog audio (RCA) outputs. How does this work exactly? Will the receiver not be able to do Dolby Digital audio through that channel? Does the DVD Player do the proper decoding and audio channel work?

I suppose what I'm asking is, will hooking up through the analog outputs sound equivalent through hooking up through the optical or coaxial connector?

You would need 5.1 analog out from the dvd and 5.1 analog in to the receiver. Should work just fine if you have these requirements.


Actually just 5, not 5.1 as the receiver will handle the .1 sub.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I have a DVD player I want to hook up to a receiver that has analog audio (RCA) outputs. How does this work exactly? Will the receiver not be able to do Dolby Digital audio through that channel? Does the DVD Player do the proper decoding and audio channel work?

I suppose what I'm asking is, will hooking up through the analog outputs sound equivalent through hooking up through the optical or coaxial connector?

You would need 5.1 analog out from the dvd and 5.1 analog in to the receiver. Should work just fine if you have these requirements.


Actually just 5, not 5.1 as the receiver will handle the .1 sub.

Yes I have an analog 5 channel input on the back of the receiver. But Dolby Digital wont work right? It's up to the DVD player to decode the Dolby Digital track and convert it to PCM for transfer to the receiver?

Have I got that right?

 

[BassBomb]

DVD Player should decode it to PCM for the reciever to accept

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
DVD Player should decode it to PCM for the reciever to accept

No it won't. PCM is a digital format. It will turn it into 6 analog signals and amplify it at the receiver.

Dolby digital WILL work. However, it won't "light up" on your receiver. However the source is still DD.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: BassBomb
DVD Player should decode it to PCM for the reciever to accept

No it won't. PCM is a digital format. It will turn it into 6 analog signals and amplify it at the receiver.

Dolby digital WILL work. However, it won't "light up" on your receiver. However the source is still DD.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Think of it this way, if you had an optical or coaxial setup the DD orr DTS track would be read from the dvd, and then passed along to the receiver through the optical/coaxial cable.
The receiver would then decode this track and create 6 analog channels, amplify then and send them out ot the speakers.
With the connection setup you are talking about the DVD player itself is decoding the DD/DTS track and then creating the 6 analog channels and sending them (through the RCA cables) to your receiver to be amplified and sent to the speakers.
The only difference is who is doing the decoding really.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I have a DVD player I want to hook up to a receiver that has analog audio (RCA) outputs. How does this work exactly? Will the receiver not be able to do Dolby Digital audio through that channel? Does the DVD Player do the proper decoding and audio channel work?

I suppose what I'm asking is, will hooking up through the analog outputs sound equivalent through hooking up through the optical or coaxial connector?

You would need 5.1 analog out from the dvd and 5.1 analog in to the receiver. Should work just fine if you have these requirements.


Actually just 5, not 5.1 as the receiver will handle the .1 sub.

6 channel direct might bypass the receiver's bass management, eh?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I have a DVD player I want to hook up to a receiver that has analog audio (RCA) outputs. How does this work exactly? Will the receiver not be able to do Dolby Digital audio through that channel? Does the DVD Player do the proper decoding and audio channel work?

I suppose what I'm asking is, will hooking up through the analog outputs sound equivalent through hooking up through the optical or coaxial connector?

You would need 5.1 analog out from the dvd and 5.1 analog in to the receiver. Should work just fine if you have these requirements.


Actually just 5, not 5.1 as the receiver will handle the .1 sub.

6 channel direct might bypass the receiver's bass management, eh?

It shouldn't...at least on my receiver it doesn't. Leaving out the sub signal would cause you to lose the dedicated LFE track.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Ok last question, what about from a computer? I also have the minijack outputs there. But what handles the Dolby Digital decoding there? The software like Power DVD?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I have a DVD player I want to hook up to a receiver that has analog audio (RCA) outputs. How does this work exactly? Will the receiver not be able to do Dolby Digital audio through that channel? Does the DVD Player do the proper decoding and audio channel work?

I suppose what I'm asking is, will hooking up through the analog outputs sound equivalent through hooking up through the optical or coaxial connector?

You would need 5.1 analog out from the dvd and 5.1 analog in to the receiver. Should work just fine if you have these requirements.


Actually just 5, not 5.1 as the receiver will handle the .1 sub.

6 channel direct might bypass the receiver's bass management, eh?

It shouldn't...at least on my receiver it doesn't. Leaving out the sub signal would cause you to lose the dedicated LFE track.

I've never really messed with 6 channel direct, but I think it depends on your receiver. With the 6 channel direct input I think you might not be able to apply DSP effects or bass management depending on how the receiver handles the analog input. It might need to convert it to digital and then back to analog depending on how things are implemented and might not be able to do it at all.

If the receiver is unable to do bass management on the 6 channel direct input, then it would be up to the DVD player to handle bass management.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
Ok last question, what about from a computer? I also have the minijack outputs there. But what handles the Dolby Digital decoding there? The software like Power DVD?

Yes the software decodes it.

 

[CubanlB]

Very few receivers do any kind of processing to the multi ch inputs. This includes bass management and audessey, ypao or other mic based correction done by most newer receivers. The delays and channel levels must be set up inside a dvd player that does Dolby Digital/DTS decoding. (generally not the cheapest ones as this has become mostly unneccissary) But this is generally a non-issue with any new receiver as they can pretty much all decode Dolby Digital and DTS now.

The only real reason to use multi channel analog on a dvd player is if it also plays SACDs and dvd audio which cannot be passed over digital coax or fiber optic. It's quite epic to connect component video, 6ch analog audio and digital coax for a total of 10 rca connections to one dvd player.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: CubanlB
Very few receivers do any kind of processing to the multi ch inputs. This includes bass management and audessey, ypao or other mic based correction done by most newer receivers. The delays and channel levels must be set up inside a dvd player that does Dolby Digital/DTS decoding. (generally not the cheapest ones as this has become mostly unneccissary) But this is generally a non-issue with any new receiver as they can pretty much all decode Dolby Digital and DTS now.

The only real reason to use multi channel analog on a dvd player is if it also plays SACDs and dvd audio which cannot be passed over digital coax or fiber optic. It's quite epic to connect component video, 6ch analog audio and digital coax for a total of 10 rca connections to one dvd player.

Or if its a blu-ray player and the player can decode the HD audio and your receiver can't(assuming it also doesn't have HDMI).