Surround Sound from OTA

[jbcheshire]

Yeah, read in my manual that there was a difference between the analog stereo using the red/white plugs to get the 5.1 surround versus using the coax digital or optical audio to get it. But, how exactly is DD really different???

 

[TuxCoder]

analog stereo using the red/white plugs to get the 5.1 surround

Unpossible.

The only way to get 5.1 surround is with a digital audio connection (S/PDIF=1 rca, orange or black; or TOSLink=optical). Otherwise, with just an analog stereo connection (2 rca, red & white), you might get Dolby ProLogic surround sound. But the stereo audio track has to contain the Dolby ProLogic encoded, so if not, you'll just get plain old-fashioned stereo sound. But then again, your A/V receiver most likely has certain DSP-enabled effect modes to simulate surround sound and other effects if you set it in those modes. It's confusing, I know, but just remember 5.1 and above (6.1, 7.1) need the single-wire (S/PDIF or TOSLink) digital audio connection.

 

[jbcheshire]

Okay I confess, I am a little confused.
I have connections from my DVD player into my A/V receiver for each speaker in my surround sound system. Is the dvd player not passing surround sound that way?? Because when i do a sound test they offer on the Star Wars videos and such I can here the sound move around the room as it relates to what I see happening on my tv screen... Or, when a disney DVD starts you see tinker-bell fly around the screen and I can hear the sound move to the appropriate speakers too...

 

[Kevinw]

5.1 works great as well as optical. Or you just hook up the 508 using r/w rca's -Unless it is broadacst digitally virtually nothing analog is more than stereo.

 

[TuxCoder]

I have connections from my DVD player into my A/V receiver for each speaker in my surround sound system.

My fault here, I wasn't thinking about the separate analog per-channel connections (I have never used those). In that case, if you have one cable going from the DVD player to the A/V receiver for each of: left front, right front, center front, left rear, right rear, subwoofer; then your DVD player is decoding the Dolby Digital 5.1 signal and putting out the separate analog signal for each speaker, to be amplified by your A/V receiver. That is basically the same thing as using a single digital connection. However, it does introduce more/longer analog paths that could suffer from interference, but that wouldn't likely cause any problems.

 

[jbcheshire]

No problemo... I am glad to hear I can use them as effectively as the single digital cable....

Tux,
How about that coax-optical adapter you mentioned. Does it have a specific name I should look for at radio shack?

 

[Carl B]

Since you will be using your receiver's multi-channel inputs for DD from your DVD player, don't you now have at least 2 DD ports available on your receiver (i.e., SAT/CABLE/TV and DVD)? If that is the case, you don't need an TosLink selector.

 

[jbcheshire]

Unfortunately the 508 only has a TOSLink output, like my tv. So, i have to choose which one i want sound from for the a/v receiver to distribute...

 

[TuxCoder]

Tux,
How about that coax-optical adapter you mentioned. Does it have a specific name I should look for at radio shack?

I don't know of a specific name for it since I've seen it called many things. I suggest going to a good electronics/AV/Home Theater store's web site and do a search for the term "optical" since that's probably the term most likely to appear in the product description.

Here are some at a good place I like to frequent:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=180-960
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=180-961

$17.85, with AC adapter included. One converts optical-to-coax and the other converts in the other direction. But I'm certain I've seen ones that are universal (can convert in both directions) and I thought I had seen ones that don't need external power, but that doesn't make a lot of sense especially when going from optical to coax.

 

[Kevinw]

Unfortunately the 508 only has a TOSLink output, like my tv. So, i have to choose which one i want sound from for the a/v receiver to distribute...

No the 508 has analog stereo outputs. As I said earlier 90% of analog TV is only stereo. HD is often 5.1

 

[jbcheshire]

I am not for sure if you are saying it doesn't have the TOSLink, or if it ALSO has the red/white analog audio output. However, you can on occasion get some DD sound out of the movie stations.

 

[Kevinw]

Also has them. I agree on occasion. I imagine if you wanted to watch a movie you would rent the DVD.

 

[bsr2002]

Model 1177 Digital Audio AutoSelector


https://www.audioauthority.com/indexh.php

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-OPT-SW+

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_4/sound-professionals-toslink-optical-switcher-10-2003.html