connecting Airtel STB to home theatre using S/PDIF

Hi Friends,

I just wanted to know how do you connect your AIRTEL HD sound output with 5.1 home theatre system. The AIRTEL box has S/PDIF output.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Rohit

Hi Rohit

SPDIF means it is an Optical Out. It is also known as a TosLink connection. If your AV receiver has an Optical In jack, you can get an optical cable and use this to connect the HD STB to your AV receiver. The receiver will automatically decode the 6 channel sound and give the output through your speakers and subwoofer.

Alternatively, since the Airtel HD STB also has HDMI out, and if your AV receiver can pass through audio using HDMI, you can simply connect the HDMI out from the Airtel HD STB to your AVR's HDMI in, and connect the HDMI out from your AVR to your TV (if your TV has HDMI). The AVR will then pass through the video (or upscale depending on the model of the AVR and its features) to your TV, and give the output to your speakers.

If on the other hand your AVR does not support audio thru HDMI, then you can connect the HDMI out from your STB directly to your TV and the optical out from the STB to your AVR. Most AVRs have at least one optical in port.

Hope that helps and I haven't confused you!

---Venkat

Hi Venkat,

Thanks for the information.
Unfortunately I have a very basic philips 5.1 and it does not have a optical input.
So in this case I will have to change my AVR am i right

does it have coaxial digital audio-in?

SPDIF has 2 variants.. optical and coaxial..
optical to coaxial converters are available..
in that case you don't need new AVR..

Hi Alok,

I doubt my AVR has an coaxial digital in. But I will check

Thanks,

Rohit

Does the Airtel HD STB really have 5.1 suround sound (let alone 7.1 as they claim)? I connected my STB to the AVR and the AVR shows that the source is in Stereo. I used a HDMI cable for the connection.

I didn't know that AVRs without digital in existed.
This would mean that It doesn't have a DAC, I wonder if we can still call it an AVR then.

Hi Addy

I got my Airtel HD STB activated on the weekend as it came free with my LG 50PJ560 plasma. I am quite happy with the quality of Nat Geo HD, but like you said, the sound does not seem to be DD 5.1. Even my Yam 459 AVR shows it as stereo and defaults to Prologic mode which is basically fake 5.1 as it splits a stereo signal into the 5 speakers. Since my AVR does not have HDMI (2007 model), I have connected the STB's HDMI out to the plasma and the Coaxial Digital Out from the STB to the Coaxial Digital In of my AVR. The AVR clearly shows "Dolby Digital" and "DTS" when it receives those signals. It even shows "DTS 96/24" from my DTS demo DVD.

Should we raise this as an issue? Cos this is contrary to their ads where they keep saying it is in DD Plus 7.1 surround!

---Venkat

yes, i have encountered the same problem. i have also got an yamaha AVR which shows Dolby Digital and indicates the small emblems of six speakers when dd signal is fed in thru coaxial. i think airtel is bluffing, as they know very well that very few people in general population has true idea about what really " DD Plus 7.1" is.

u can post the pics of the connectors at the back of both philips and the stb.