dvd coaxial digital out

hi,
i have pioneer dv-370-s dvd player which offer dts,dolby surround without decoder. the only digital out which has is coaxial.
I am thinking of bying Audigy 2 ZS for notebook. This card has an optical in which can be connected with the digital out of my dvd. If i connect the coaxial of my dvd with the optical in, will I have a 5.1 dolby surround sound?

Thanks

 

A digital coax cable isn't going to fit the optical in input.
You can check at Radio Shack, or somewhere online, to see if there's an adapter, that goes from digital coax to optical.

You can probably get 5.1 to work that way, but I'm sure you'll have to play around with the software, and you'll definately need a set of 5.1 speakers, for your computer.

If you have a dvd rom in your computer, you won't need to use the stand alone dvd player. If you don't already have a dvd rom, I think I'd get one. It will ultimately be easier to deal with (I think), using the sound card in a computer, as a decoder for 5.1 surround. I may be wrong about that though. I just think that external sources will be more trouble. You can get a dvd rom real cheap. If you have a dvd burner, it acts as dvd rom too.

Oh yeah, you'll also need a software dvd player, that supports Dolby Digital and DTS playback. I never could find a free one. I use the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum sound card, and the surround sounds great!
Good luck!

Maybe someone else will chime in, that knows more about using external dvd players, with a computer's sound card.

BTW............
"High Resolution Audio", as in this forum title, usually refers to DVD-Audio (not audio from a dvd) and SACD 5.1 surround music. To hear the high res music tracks, from an external dvd player, you [bold]MUST[/bold] have the six analog outputs on the back of your dvd player, and the six analog inputs, on the back of a receiver.

The Audigy 2 ZS sound card supports DVD-Audio, but not sacd. Again, only played through the analog output, of the soundcard. Using digital output, the best you'll get from a dvd-audio disc, is the dts tracks, [bold]not[/bold] the high res tracks.
I hope this has helped......... )

 

thanks...i have already found an adapter that goes from coaxial to optical. I have dvd rom on my laptop but i prefer not to use it for watching dvds since i have a dvd player.......I am not thinking of using the dvd player for listening mp3s but only for dvd movies. Of course if it doesnt work i will use my dvd rom. Since you have bought the audigy 2 zs, do you know if it comes with any software for encoding to dolby?

thanks again

 

Yes, software comes with it.
It did with mine, anyways. A free dvd-audio sampler came with mine too. Mine is more than the ZS. It's the ZS Platinum. I don't know if that will make a difference or not. It shouldn't.

Keep us posted on how it goes....?

 

ofcourse....but it may take some time to get the necessary hardware because i live in europe and i will order it from US...as soon as i try it, i will post the result

 

Er, you do NOT get free Dolby Digital encoding software.
There is no such thing.

Try asking in the DVD forums - this is for High Resolution audio, not DVD-Video.....

 

I misread................. I took it to mean "[bold]DE[/bold]-coding" software for Dolby Digital, so he can watch movies in 5.1 surround, on his computer. It [bold]does[/bold] come with that software.
Good catch there Wilkes.

Sorry butch3r......... if you actually meant "encoding" software, then no. Wilkes is right. I would think [bold]that[/bold] software would be very expensive. Didn't mean to mislead......

 

thanks anyway. I will search for that software if really exists. I need it because i will connect my tv too, so i would like to make it dolby if there is a possibility without bying encoder.

 

Why do you need a Dolby Encoder?
What are you trying to do?

 

i will connect my tv to my 5.1 sound card. I need the encoder software so i can enjoy my favorite tv programs with Dolby Surround. I don't know if it's possible but i think it worth trying it.

 

You don't need ENcoder - you need DEcoder!
Also, Dolby Surround is a different animal to Dolby Digital, but all consumer DD DEcoders should be capable of decoding an LCRS stream, which is what Dolby Surround is - it was later renamed to Dolby Pro Logic, and development stopped.
Dolby Surround is a 4 channel feed, with the R channel split into Dual Mono at the surrounds. It's fed as an Lt/Rt PCM stream, or sometimes an Lt/Rt Dolby Digital stream if the flags were set correctly. It is not discrete, but matrixed.

To make this work you would have to feed an analogue input into your soundcard, which would then need to decode the LCRS signal. It should (but doesn't always) work from a digital feed.

Dolby Digital, on the other hand, is a 5.1 discrete bitstream and a completely different animal again.
This requires a digital feed to the decoders, so you would need to input via TOSlink or SP-DIF.
Odds are high it won't work too well through the soundcard - you'll definitely lose sync.

 

ah this is a misunderstanding since i meant dolby digital. Is there any way to transform the analogue signal from my tv to dolby digital through my sound card using software?

 

The best you'll get from a tv is Dolby Pro Logic (simulated surround). It sounds very good, but not quite as good as 5.1 Dolby Digital. If you have a satellite box or digital cable box, with digital output on the back, you'll be able to get 5.1 from premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.). If you have a new widescreen High Def tv, with a built-in High Def receiver, the tv should have a digital output you can use. But, will still be only certain programs broadcasting in 5.1 surround. I can get 5.1 from some of the Encore channels, from my digital cable box. But I'm not running it through my computer. I have a seperate HT system in my living room. My computer is a stand alone system, that I only play dvds through internal dvd rom. If the channel doesn't broadcast in 5.1, you won't get 5.1, [bold]no matter what[/bold]. Not all HBO, Showtime, or Starz channels broadcast in 5.1 surround. Even the one's that DO, don't broadcast EVERYTHING in 5.1.

Pro Logic has improved over the years. As I said.......... it sounds very good now days. But for 5.1 Dolby Digital, you [bold]gotta[/bold] have a satellite box or digital cable box, or High Def receiver, with digital outputs, and the source [bold]has[/bold] to be broadcasting in 5.1 surround.

All of this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but that's the way it is. Sorry. 99% of my tv watching and listening, is with Pro Logic. I think you'll like it.
Good luck!

 

My Cambridge Audio amp has a DTS-Neo mode, that switches between music & Cinema.
Does a pretty good job of it too.
But essentially, JVC is quite correct. No point in trying to turn analogue into Dolby Digital - it will still be stereo. Just lower quality due to the conversions.

You need a decent 5.1 setup, including a decent amplifier, and hook up the TV to that, then use the amps DSP to expand into surround.
But it won't be discrete no matter what you do.

 

thank you for your advice. i have just connected my tv to my 5.1 speakers and it sounds really good. Thanks again!!