Macbook, Denon AVR and Dolby Surround/DTS.... How to combine all three?

[madhurkishore]

I had one query... If I connect my Macbook to my AVR Denon 1911 and play Hi Quality Audio like DTS on VLC, does it provide the DTS sound through my AVR or is there something else required for listening to full DTS sound?

Similarly, if I play Movie files with DOlby Suroound encoding, will it automatically pick Dolby as it is connected to my AVR?
Do I need to change some settings?

 

[haisaikat]

Check the following
1. For a spoecific file what is being displayed by VLC in Codec Information as the number of channels, verify that it is 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1)
2. After connecting Macbook to Denon AVR via HDMI play the file again and check in Denon if the codec is showed as DTS or Dolby
3. If not check you graphics card output setting in Macbook as what needs to be done to bitstream the audio from your Macbook via HDMI out.

 

[madhurkishore]

the codec mentions 3F2R/LFE... dunno what it means? the audio is DTS Codec
After I play the file on VLC, Denon AVR dopes not show any specific format... I believe it should ideally show DTS if teh coidec is DTS...
I get the general options like DTS NEO 6 CInema and PLII C

Any idea how do I check the Grpahics card output?... I hope this Macbook supports DTS playback as I would be playing 95% of my music from it.

 

[sam9s]

MacBook and MacBook Pro both support DTS audio and DTS Passthrough as well, all you need is the correct cable. Here read this small articles, you should be able to get DTS audio

Surround-Enable Your MacBook

 

[madhurkishore]

Thanks for the article. Im currently using the DVI to HDMI Cable for transferring the visuals to my LED. Even the sound was transferred that way... DIdnt know that there was an additional cable required for DTS...Anyways...since the article is from a US writer, can you plz lemme know if this cable is easy to find here in India? I live in Ahmedabad. Do Croma stores keep this cable? Also for Denon AVR 1911, what should be the other end of the cable be like? Sorry if im asking silly questions, but I do not have much info about cables....

 

[madhurkishore]

Just tried to makew some tweaks...
FOund some things and am a lil more confused now...
The Toslink cable is connected between my HDTV and AVR.
I changed teh Audio Midi settings on my Mac to 8 ch 24 bit...and there was a change in the sound quality I am receiving...
Doubt No 1: Denon AVR shows Audio Input as Multi IN...What does this mean? Should it show DTS if I am playing a dts file or Multi IN is fine?

Doubt No 2.: If the Toslink cable is connected between TV and AVR, if I turn off the TV and my Mac and AVR are still connected, will I still get the same sound?
Do I need to buy a separate Toslink cable or there are some changes to be done in my whole setup?

 

[haisaikat]

Just tried to makew some tweaks...
FOund some things and am a lil more confused now...
The Toslink cable is connected between my HDTV and AVR.
I changed teh Audio Midi settings on my Mac to 8 ch 24 bit...and there was a change in the sound quality I am receiving...
Doubt No 1: Denon AVR shows Audio Input as Multi IN...What does this mean? Should it show DTS if I am playing a dts file or Multi IN is fine?

Doubt No 2.: If the Toslink cable is connected between TV and AVR, if I turn off the TV and my Mac and AVR are still connected, will I still get the same sound?
Do I need to buy a separate Toslink cable or there are some changes to be done in my whole setup?

doubt 1: this means that your macbook is doing the codec to audio stream decoding and sending the audio stream as multi channel audio and hence the avr is not getting the info as whether it is dts or dolby but effectively the surround should be same in effect, since your souyrce shows 3FE (3 front channels),2R (2 rear channels), LFE (Low frequency effect / subwoofer) it means it has 5.1 audio. If you tweak your settings to make macbook bitsream audio so that it sends the audio info as is to AVR then AVR might show dolby/dts etc. However I am not sure DVI to HDMI conversion, please google.

doubt 2: yes, you will still get sound out of your avr

 

[sam9s]

Just tried to makew some tweaks...
FOund some things and am a lil more confused now...
The Toslink cable is connected between my HDTV and AVR.
I changed teh Audio Midi settings on my Mac to 8 ch 24 bit...and there was a change in the sound quality I am receiving...
Doubt No 1: Denon AVR shows Audio Input as Multi IN...What does this mean? Should it show DTS if I am playing a dts file or Multi IN is fine?

Doubt No 2.: If the Toslink cable is connected between TV and AVR, if I turn off the TV and my Mac and AVR are still connected, will I still get the same sound?
Do I need to buy a separate Toslink cable or there are some changes to be done in my whole setup?

Doubt one : As correctly explained by haisaikat, the encoding is been done at the mac end and your AVR id doing nothing, just playing the surround sound.
Idealy the source (Mac in your case) should just send the untouched signals (Passthrough) and the AVR should do the decoding, in that case your AVR would correctly show the file info.

For this to happen, you need to go for mini-Toslink to Toslink approach. Though personally I have not tried this, but it seems if you get the audio this way Mac passthrough the audio for your AVR to decode, which is the correct way.

Not sure where are you living but try this link ...

http://www.hifivision.com/audio-video-cables/12204-mini-toslink-toslink-cable.html

and this is where you can get the cable ..

http://www.mdrelectronics.com/ProductDisplay.asp?PID=2922

 

[madhurkishore]

I dun mind if the AVR does not decode and the Mac is decoding...coz as long as im getting proper dts sound out of my speakers (whoever decodes it is not the concern), im fine with it.

I tried connecting the Toslink cable bt taking it out of the TV but how do i fit in the Toslink cable in the 3.5mm port on my Mac. It is not fitting there...

Even if my AVR doees not show dts on its screen, thats fine if macbook pro is decoding the sound...
Is there any other way apart from the cable...if no then i think i will have to start looking for the cable.

 

[madhurkishore]

can anyone help me on this?
not able to connect mini tosliink in teh macbook headphone port... do i need to connect a separate cable btw macbook and avr ?
this is all so confusing...

 

[dlkanth]

hi,
there are mini toslink adaptor 3.5mm,follow the below link, may be of help to you..
Amazon.com: Recoton Fiber Optic Toslink to 3.5mm Mini Adapter: Electronics

 

[sam9s]

can anyone help me on this?
not able to connect mini tosliink in teh macbook headphone port... do i need to connect a separate cable btw macbook and avr ?
this is all so confusing...

Thats is where a standard toslink cable with a toslink mini-plug adapter comes in to the picture. Something like kant has shared

 

[nindo]

you have 2 ways to do it:

1. Connect a "mini-toslink to optical/toslink converter" (like this one : Toslink to Optical Mini Plug Adapter / Converter | eBay) to your MacBook headphones out and use a standard optical cable to connect between Mac and AVR.

2. Buy a Mini-toslink to toslink cable (like this: SPDIF TOSLINK TO MINI PLUG OPTICAL AUDIO CABLE MINIPLUG | eBay) and connect the mini-toslink end in the headphone out of the mac and the other end to your AVR.

Then in the Mac System Preferences - sound - output select digital out (or something of that sort as pointed previously in this thread).
You are good to go.

cheers