I'm confused about digital/analog, etc...

[rh71]

Mainly referring to the PC but I guess it can apply to home theatre as well... I have a newly-built Vista machine hoping to utilize it to its fullest potential with digital... analog just sounds old-school to me so I need to finally learn.

I used to think anything on the computer is considered digital but apparently something like composite (3 plugs) audio/video cables are analog. Throw into the mix buying an "HVR" recorder (Hauppauge 1800 MCE) for my computer and reading my FIOS TV HD-box signal really playsback as analog (when using the composite cables). What about s-video?

So when is it actually digital?

I have a Sound Blaster Audigy card (because I didn't want to spend more than $40) and my existing 4 speakers with a subwoofer... quadphonic sounds the same as the 5.1 setting (minus the center speaker of course). And there are so many options in my Media Player Classic output settings... 1) Speakers (SB Audigy) 2) Digital Audio Interface (SB Audigy) 3) DirectSound: Digital Audio Interface (SB Audigy) 4) DirectSound: Speakers (SB Audigy)... they all produce a sound when selected (albeit pretty distorted where Windows Media Player plays the same mp3 perfectly fine so it's not the sound card. What setting should it be on? It's gotta be 1 or 4.. what's the difference with directsound? I can't hear any difference whatsoever. And why aren't my 2 rear speakers playing any sound for mp3 or vids - they play separately just fine when I hit the test button.

My home theatre is an Onkyo receiver, true 5.1 system... but I'm not using toslink... does that mean it's not digital audio either? It's using the component (5 plugs) cables from the HD set-top box.

It just seems to me everything is mostly still analog here... or I'm just confused. Please set me straight.

 

[erwos]

Digital:
HDMI
DVI
SPDIF (Coax)
SPDIF (Optical)

Analog:
Everything else (including VGA)

 

[rh71]

So FIOS is digital isn't it? Is high-definition tv via component cables not digital? Am I hindering myself with the connectors because I'm making it analog? The guy said HDMI isn't a huge visual difference but I want to know if I can still call what I have digital.

Also, Cablevision is coax, but that's also digital, correct?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: rh71
So FIOS is digital isn't it? Is high-definition tv via component cables not digital? Am I hindering myself with the connectors because I'm making it analog? The guy said HDMI isn't a huge visual difference but I want to know if I can still call what I have digital.

Also, Cablevision is coax, but that's also digital, correct?

FIOS is fiber optic means of transmission and is therefore, by design, digital.

HDTV via component cables is not a digital connection no.

People put too much faith behind the commonly accepted digital > analog. This is not always true. It depends on the situation.

No generally HDMI is not that much better than Component. I do find that colors are more accurate without calibration with HDMI.

Cable signals can be digital or analog. It generally comes to your house digitally, goes into a cable box and then comes out either digital or analog depending on the connection used.

 

[sivart]

just remember even if analog sounds old school, the last I checked we didn't live in the Matrix and we still lived in an analog world...at least that is how my eyes work

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
People put too much faith behind the commonly accepted digital > analog. This is not always true. It depends on the situation.

Just to reinforce this: my new, mid-to-upper-end, HDMI-enabled receiver actually has an analog direct mode that will push analog sound inputs straight out the amp without any digital processing or conversions. If analog sound was always terrible, there'd be no use for a feature like that.

 

[Oyeve]

Analog FTW. If you can hear it, it is analog. Until you can jack a cable in your head its all analog regardless of the means it got there.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Many people don't realize that Dolby & DTS 5.1 are -lossy- compression, so a low-noise 5.1 uncompressed analog connection from a PC can be better than a digital connection.

Of course if your analog has hiss from the PC RFI then digital will solve that at the cost of going lossy.

 

[lifeblood]

I think the problem is that you don't want to convert the signal from analog to digital and back to analog again. Every time it gets converted it can be distorted or lose something. If that signal start digital you want to keep it digital until you convert it to analog for output on the speakers.

 

[FeuerFrei]

As far as audio goes ...

Think of digital transmission as temporarily packaging a multi-channel audio signal. It's an encoded stream that must be decoded. Eventually it gets decoded and converted to analog so the speakers can play it. If you use a digital coax/optical cable as output, you are just postponing the conversion of the audio stream *from digital.

Analog signal: 2-channels or less
Digital signal: 2-channels or more. usually more

Two channel audio like mp3 or computer video only involves two speakers so your rears won't play unless you set the receiver to 'All-channel stereo' where the 2 rears mirror the fronts. Just because you are routing the sound through S/PDIF ->digital coax doesn't mean the source is encoded as multi-channel.

* oops, changed 'to' to 'from

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
As far as audio goes ...

Think of digital transmission as temporarily packaging a multi-channel audio signal. It's an encoded stream that must be decoded. Eventually it gets decoded and converted to analog so the speakers can play it. If you use a digital coax/optical cable as output, you are just postponing the conversion of the audio stream to digital.

Analog signal: 2-channels or less
Digital signal: 2-channels or more. usually more

Two channel audio like mp3 or computer video only involves two speakers so your rears won't play unless you set the receiver to 'All-channel stereo' where the 2 rears mirror the fronts. Just because you are routing the sound through S/PDIF ->digital coax doesn't mean the source is encoded as multi-channel.

Since when is analog audio limited to only 2 channels?

 

[herm0016]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
As far as audio goes ...

Think of digital transmission as temporarily packaging a multi-channel audio signal. It's an encoded stream that must be decoded. Eventually it gets decoded and converted to analog so the speakers can play it. If you use a digital coax/optical cable as output, you are just postponing the conversion of the audio stream to digital.

Analog signal: 2-channels or less
Digital signal: 2-channels or more. usually more

Two channel audio like mp3 or computer video only involves two speakers so your rears won't play unless you set the receiver to 'All-channel stereo' where the 2 rears mirror the fronts. Just because you are routing the sound through S/PDIF ->digital coax doesn't mean the source is encoded as multi-channel.

Since when is analog audio limited to only 2 channels?

never has been. its 2 channels per 1/8 in jack, but you split them into each channel of an analog input on your receiver. more like one channel per wire, the way it should be.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: herm0016

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
As far as audio goes ...

Think of digital transmission as temporarily packaging a multi-channel audio signal. It's an encoded stream that must be decoded. Eventually it gets decoded and converted to analog so the speakers can play it. If you use a digital coax/optical cable as output, you are just postponing the conversion of the audio stream to digital.

Analog signal: 2-channels or less
Digital signal: 2-channels or more. usually more

Two channel audio like mp3 or computer video only involves two speakers so your rears won't play unless you set the receiver to 'All-channel stereo' where the 2 rears mirror the fronts. Just because you are routing the sound through S/PDIF ->digital coax doesn't mean the source is encoded as multi-channel.

Since when is analog audio limited to only 2 channels?

never has been. its 2 channels per 1/8 in jack, but you split them into each channel of an analog input on your receiver. more like one channel per wire, the way it should be.

Exactly

Even then you can transmit stereo over one wire....it just gets a bit more complicated.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Originally posted by: herm0016

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
As far as audio goes ...

Think of digital transmission as temporarily packaging a multi-channel audio signal. It's an encoded stream that must be decoded. Eventually it gets decoded and converted to analog so the speakers can play it. If you use a digital coax/optical cable as output, you are just postponing the conversion of the audio stream from digital.

Analog signal: 2-channels or less
Digital signal: 2-channels or more. usually more

Two channel audio like mp3 or computer video only involves two speakers so your rears won't play unless you set the receiver to 'All-channel stereo' where the 2 rears mirror the fronts. Just because you are routing the sound through S/PDIF ->digital coax doesn't mean the source is encoded as multi-channel.

Since when is analog audio limited to only 2 channels?

never has been. its 2 channels per 1/8 in jack, but you split them into each channel of an analog input on your receiver. more like one channel per wire, the way it should be.

That's what I was getting at. Decoding a 5.1 digital stream means you have to use minimum 3 analog output jacks . 2 analog channels per jack basically. (receivers tend to have 1 analog output jack per channel, so 6 total) You cannot route more than 2 channels through an analog output.

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei

Originally posted by: herm0016

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
As far as audio goes ...

Think of digital transmission as temporarily packaging a multi-channel audio signal. It's an encoded stream that must be decoded. Eventually it gets decoded and converted to analog so the speakers can play it. If you use a digital coax/optical cable as output, you are just postponing the conversion of the audio stream from digital.

Analog signal: 2-channels or less
Digital signal: 2-channels or more. usually more

Two channel audio like mp3 or computer video only involves two speakers so your rears won't play unless you set the receiver to 'All-channel stereo' where the 2 rears mirror the fronts. Just because you are routing the sound through S/PDIF ->digital coax doesn't mean the source is encoded as multi-channel.

Since when is analog audio limited to only 2 channels?

never has been. its 2 channels per 1/8 in jack, but you split them into each channel of an analog input on your receiver. more like one channel per wire, the way it should be.

That's what I was getting at. Decoding a 5.1 digital stream means you have to use minimum 3 analog output jacks . 2 analog channels per jack basically. (receivers tend to have 1 analog output jack per channel, so 6 total) You cannot route more than 2 channels through an analog output.

wrong again. Dolby Pro Logic IIx.

Your 'explanation' just muddies the water for someone trying to educate themselves.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei

Originally posted by: herm0016

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
As far as audio goes ...

Think of digital transmission as temporarily packaging a multi-channel audio signal. It's an encoded stream that must be decoded. Eventually it gets decoded and converted to analog so the speakers can play it. If you use a digital coax/optical cable as output, you are just postponing the conversion of the audio stream from digital.

Analog signal: 2-channels or less
Digital signal: 2-channels or more. usually more

Two channel audio like mp3 or computer video only involves two speakers so your rears won't play unless you set the receiver to 'All-channel stereo' where the 2 rears mirror the fronts. Just because you are routing the sound through S/PDIF ->digital coax doesn't mean the source is encoded as multi-channel.

Since when is analog audio limited to only 2 channels?

never has been. its 2 channels per 1/8 in jack, but you split them into each channel of an analog input on your receiver. more like one channel per wire, the way it should be.

That's what I was getting at. Decoding a 5.1 digital stream means you have to use minimum 3 analog output jacks . 2 analog channels per jack basically. (receivers tend to have 1 analog output jack per channel, so 6 total) You cannot route more than 2 channels through an analog output.

wrong again. Dolby Pro Logic IIx.

Your 'explanation' just muddies the water for someone trying to educate themselves.

Especially since its wrong.

Many computer setups have tri-pole minijack cables. They are basically 3 cables in 1 which means what should be said is that one analog signal can travel over 1 wire. Now Dolby Pro Logic can decode this signal into multiple discrete channels by using phase shifting.

So trying to give a limit to how many analog signals can travel on a signal cable is really quite silly.

 

[Tiamat]

In the end, it is analog (waveforms) - that is, you hear and see in analog. The idea about digital (1s and 0s) is to keep the data from becoming (possibly) corrupted by interference along the chain of equipment. This is accomplished by keeping the data in digital form all the way up until the speaker/TV where it is converted to analog. Digital also allows for the minimization of cables in systems. Digital is convenient. It isn't a type of sound, but a vehicle of data transfer prior to it being converted to sound.