Optical Switcher

[Neutron]

I know this isn't techincally an HD thing, but since HD and DD5.1 go hand in hand I'm posting this here.

My Sony A/V receiver has one optical and one coax. Well, since my DVD player is on my coax and my Xbox is on my optical I'm already tapped out for digital sound. I have Voom coming this Thursday and I don't want to drop anything to 2 channel sound, so I looked for an optical switcher.

This is what I got:

http://soundwave.com/2004/02_feb/reviews/radioshack_switcher.htm

This device works wonders! You don't have to power it since it's passive. You only have to manually switch it. It retails for $20 but Radio Shack has it for $15.

I just wanted to let everyone know in case you are or get into a situation like mine.

The only other option I had was to buy a new receiver. The next one in line would be Sony's 6.1 A/V receiver for $200 since it has component and 2 optical 1 coax.

 

[whazoo]

Why are you trying to switch the optical instead of the Coax?

The Coax would be much simpler. You could take your average A/B cable switch and replace the F connectors with RCA connectors. Or, just build on in a project box from Radio Shack.

 

[Foxbat]

If someone is looking for a optical switcher that can be controled by a universal IR remote, the Inday DA4X-R works great. It switches 4 TOSLink or Coax SPDIF sources and outputs both TOSLink and coax. It also as input priority, so the coax input overrides the TOSLink. I use that feature on my HDTV to feed a converted R/L analog audio from the set using the TOSLink, but when watching an ATSC source, the coax output from the set activates, which switches the DA4X-R so I get the DD 5.1 surround.

Granted it's six times the passive switcher, but it solved my switching problems.

 

[K R Kimmel]

Why are you trying to switch the optical instead of the Coax?

A really good reason for switching the optical digital out instead of the coaxial is that many devices only have optical outputs. Of the 4 devices hooked up to my audio receiver 3 are equiped with optical outputs only.