connecting Airtel STB to home theatre using S/PDIF

[rohitr]

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

 

[VSG12777]

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

 

[rohitr]

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

 

[alokbharti]

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..

 

[rohitr]

Hi Alok,

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

Thanks,

Rohit

 

[addy]

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.

 

[gurubhai]

Hi Alok,

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

Thanks,

Rohit

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.

 

[VSG12777]

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.

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

 

[dr_agupta]

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.

 

[uziel]

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

 

[prao30]

Hello everybody , Testing before posting my question

 

[prao30]

Test message

 

[prao30]

Ok enough of the test message. he is my question to the forum

I have a LG 42" HD ready Plasma TV
a Sony DAV-DZ30 5.1 Surround Sound Home Theater
and i recently got the Airtel DTH HD last week.

I am not worried about the picture clarity , however the Sound output throught my Home theater is a concern.

Currently, i have the audio cable come out of the STB and go in to the Home Theater. The STB has the SPDIF out. However the Home theater does not have a digital out. I have checked with Sony and they agree to this.

I wont say that the Sound out put is that bad, but then definitely not up to the mark.

Any sugessions ?

 

[uziel]

if there is no digital output y may suffur but he input terminal does it have a digital input... if it has the capability of taking 5.1 signals it will distribute it to the xpeakers. I checked the specs at DAV-DZ30 (DAVDZ30) : TV and Home Cinema : Sony and what u want may be difficult. U have written ""theater does not have a digital out"" u meant ''IN'' right. Well in that case u know even for snalog we need seperate audio channels for each speakers.

 

[sanjay0864]

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.

AVR stands for Audio/Video Receiver and has nothing to do with it having or not having a DAC. When AVRs first came out even the highest end AVRs did not have DACs and/or digital inputs and even later the cheaper AVRs did not have them. It was only when cheaper DACs became available that the lower end AVRs started incorporating them.

 

[sanjay0864]

SPDIF simply stands for 'Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format' more commonly known as the 'Sony Philips Digital Interface'. It is a term used for a standard set by Sony & Philips for digital transfer of data over both optical and electrical cables and it does not define the input/output connector. There are several types of connectors used for SPDIF but in the Home Audio/Video market, the two most common connectors are the optical SPDIF output and the electrical Co-axial SPDIF output.

So which type of SPDIF output does the Airtel HD set-top box have?

 

[uziel]

i requested him to post pics so that we can help him