ceebee
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 8 
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Post by ceebee on Mar 2, 2011 1:15:54 GMT -5
This question is probably more about my TV than my XDA-1, but here goes:
I have a Samsung TV with optical out. My source is antenna only, and I receive both analog channels and HD channels over the air.
On analog channels, I get the proper sound from my XDA-1. The TV must be doing an A-D conversion 'cuz the signal is not digital.
On HDTV channels, I get static/garbage from the XDA-1. My guess is that the HDTV signal isn't stereo, it's something else that the XDA-1 can't handle, some sort of dolby this or that and the TV is trying to pass it through directly to the XDA-1.
But I know nothing about dolby, 5.1, all that AV jazz - and don't care to know really - but is my guess correct? Will I not be able to use the XDA-1 with my TV's optical out? The TV's manual doesn't really explain what signal the optical out supplies.
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Post by USNRet on Mar 2, 2011 1:34:28 GMT -5
My guess? On SD channels the audio is stereo so the DAC is doing what it does. On most, not all, HD shows the audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the XDA can't decode that. I would presume that your TV has a menu setting that allows you to select stereo only or no 'surround'. Give the audio out menu a look see.
What model is the Sammy TV? Perhaps we can see a users manual on line.
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Post by juztaylor on Mar 2, 2011 2:19:06 GMT -5
Funnily enough I have the same problem with my cable (Austar - Australia). I get most channels through my XDA-1 (using digital coaxial from cable) but the HD channels i get nothing. If you can get your tv to force it to send 2ch you will be right I think. I can't seem to get this to happen on my cable though  |
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Post by rygher3 on Mar 2, 2011 8:53:07 GMT -5
This question is probably more about my TV than my XDA-1, but here goes: I have a Samsung TV with optical out. My source is antenna only, and I receive both analog channels and HD channels over the air. On analog channels, I get the proper sound from my XDA-1. The TV must be doing an A-D conversion 'cuz the signal is not digital. On HDTV channels, I get static/garbage from the XDA-1. My guess is that the HDTV signal isn't stereo, it's something else that the XDA-1 can't handle, some sort of dolby this or that and the TV is trying to pass it through directly to the XDA-1. But I know nothing about dolby, 5.1, all that AV jazz - and don't care to know really - but is my guess correct? Will I not be able to use the XDA-1 with my TV's optical out? The TV's manual doesn't really explain what signal the optical out supplies. I had a thread pertaining to this earlier as well. With my ln32a330jid (and I assume more models), the digital audio output from the Samsung cannot be tweaked but rather is stuck in a Dolby output. This makes it so you cannot convert the audio from the tv with the XDA-1. This probably isn't what you wanted to hear, so I'm sorry. I had spoken with Samsung to see what they had to say and they confirmed the output is only a Dolby output. Question for others: do other brands of tvs allow the digital out signal to be switched to 2.0? |
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Post by GMan on Mar 2, 2011 9:36:12 GMT -5
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Post by brubacca on Mar 2, 2011 11:02:01 GMT -5
Sadly it does not look like you can use the XDA unless you use one of the devices shown above. Although do you really want to do Digital to Analog (in the TV), to then convert Analog to Digital (with device shown above), then to the XDA which would go Digital to Analog again?
The XDA is a great product. I own one and really like it, but it doesn't seem to be a fit in your application, unless I don't have all the facts.
Does your TV allow for Variable Output on the RCA? Maybe you could feed your amp directly from the TV (unless you have other sources)?
Good Luck.
Maybe your xda-1 could find a home in your house in another system. That is actually what has happened to mine. couldn't use it as intended, now I have it in the office on my PC!
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ceebee
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 8
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Post by ceebee on Mar 2, 2011 21:45:48 GMT -5
Thanks all, it sounds like it is spitting out Dolby Digital. My TV is the LN32460B. I can't force the output to stereo through the menu.
Not a big deal, it has analog line outs, which do the job but I was hoping to use the optical just because I could!
If was going to use an outboard converter, I'd be looking for something that does 5.1 to stereo fully in the digital domain - I don't know if such a thing exists... but I don't really care, analog is good enough for TV.
The only source I have running into the XDA right now is my $40 Toshiba DVD/CD player, which is my CD transport for the time being. It has coax digital out, and the whole thing sounds real good.
Still waiting for a mini-Toslink to regular Toslink adapter so I can hook up the Mac Mini via optical, which is really the whole reason I bought the XDA-1 in the first place.
Thanks!
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Post by bobbyt on Mar 3, 2011 1:57:57 GMT -5
Shouldn't sending audio to a receiver via HDMI and then taking S/PDIF from that to the XDA work? Not ideal, but better than using the TV's analog outputs, converting them to digital, then re-converting them back to analog.
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LCSeminole
Global Moderator 
Res firma mitescere nescit.
Posts: 20,490
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Post by LCSeminole on Mar 3, 2011 22:01:53 GMT -5
I have the optical output from my Panasonic plasma feeding the XDA-1 and no matter what type of channel, HD or SD, I get a clear distinct left and right channel in my 2 channel setup. I would think you Samsung would behave similar to my Panasonic, but then again there I go thinking. ;D The manual for my Panasonic plasma states,
"When an ATSC channel is selected, the output from the digital audio out jack will be Dolby Digital. When an NTSC channel is selected, the output will be PCM."
Dolby Digital in this case is 2.0 according to a table in the manual. Hope this helps.
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Post by FlatEarth on Mar 3, 2011 22:21:55 GMT -5
I called Samsung about this, trying to sort out how to get sound from my Comcast DVR. Apparently, the Samsung TV's Tos' out only produces multichannel. See my recent post in 'Xda-1 Help' for more detail on the solution (with extra component in the chain).
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ceebee
Seeker Of Truth
Posts: 8
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Post by ceebee on Mar 3, 2011 23:01:43 GMT -5
For those following my saga, I did learn a few interesting things that may help others. My Samsung clearly passes through whatever format the digital audio signal is in when the tv set receives it, and there are no settings to control this.
I use my mac mini (now hooked up to the XDA with toslink) as a DVR though, so my computer is my TV tuner if I want it to be. So I tried my EyeTV usb tuner, and it behaved exactly as my Samsung did. On both live and recorded shows. So we learn that the digital over-the-air signal for HDTV ain't just plain 2 channel stereo.
The EyeTV software has no controls to force 2channel out.
So I thought: maybe I do need an external box to convert 5.1 or whatever the tv digital sound signal is to 2-channel.
But I thought: the computer should be able to do this. A bit of googling and I found Perian, a control that allows me to force my mac mini's output to stereo. So, now I can get live TV and recorded TV sound out of the mac via. the optical.
What I don't know is if Perian is messing with my 2-channel digital signal from itunes etc, which ideally it would not - hopefully it just passes through 2-channel signals. Anybody know?
ANSWER: Perian gurus say that Perian isn't even used in the event 2-channel is my source, so all is good!
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