optical digital to stereo RCA converter

[rmongiovi]

I have a nice, analog only, McIntosh preamp/amp stereo that I'd like to connect my TV to. Unfortunately, the audio out from the TV is digital optical only so I need some sort of external DAC. I've tried a Gefen GTV-DD-2-AA which sort of works but isn't exactly what I'm looking for.

I'd really like something of good quality but not outrageously expensive. A step (or two) up from the Gefen. Ideally, I'd like it to be able to handle Dolby and DTS encoded data as well as LPCM and be able to downmix it to stereo since I only have L/R RCA....

I've found a few boxes that look good but are LPCM only. Does anyone know of anything they can recommend?
Roy

 

[markw]

My info might be out of date, but I remember digital outs from TV's only outputting what was received through their internal OTA ATSC tuners, not passing through any other signals.

Such being the case, all they were capable of was two channels.

Now, if things hav echanged and they do, indeed, "pass through" those other formats from other sources that you want, then I apologize for misleading you. ...but you might want to see what your TV is capable of before going crazy with this.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

My info might be out of date, but I remember digitlmouts from TV's only outputting what was received through their internal OTA ATSC tuners, not passing through any other signals.

Such being the case, all they were capable of was two channels.

Now, if things hav echanged and they do, indeed, "pass through" those other formats from other sources that you want, then I apologize for misleading you. ...but you might want to see what your TV is capable of before going crazy with this.

Most TV do output only 2ch PCM digital out and VERY FEW do passthru real multichannel codecs like DTS.

However if real support for DTS etc is needed and supported by your tv, probably best way to go is to find cheap receiver in local craiglist like older yamaha receivers - I seen them easy for about $100 - and they'd beat your gefen easily.

 

[rmongiovi]

I was mostly wanting Dolby/DTS so I wouldn't have to worry about it and so the DAC wouldn't be tied to just this one use....

What would I do with a cheap receiver? I don't really want to use up shelf space that way, but even if I did how would I tie a receiver to my preamp? All the receivers I ever owned had speaker out, not something appropriate as input to another preamp.

I was looking at the Cambridge Audio DacMagic. But if I'm going to tie this piece of equipment to just decoding my TV out, then I'd rather get something that's half that price.
Roy

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I was mostly wanting Dolby/DTS so I wouldn't have to worry about it and so the DAC wouldn't be tied to just this one use....

What would I do with a cheap receiver? I don't really want to use up shelf space that way, but even if I did how would I tie a receiver to my preamp? All the receivers I ever owned had speaker out, not something appropriate as input to another preamp.

I was looking at the Cambridge Audio DacMagic. But if I'm going to tie this piece of equipment to just decoding my TV out, then I'd rather get something that's half that price.
Roy

besides space considerations where are plenty of receivers with pre-outs (not all of them) choose carefully.


p.s: There is also this gadget, rather old and rare, but might fit your wants :
http://www.amazon.com/CreativeLabs-CREATIVE-DECODER-DDTS-100-51MF8000AA008/dp/B00013JUA2
(This one had some issues)

or here (in much better shape):
http://cgi.ebay.com/Creative-DDTS-100-Dolby-Digital-DTS-Decoder-PC-5-1-7-1-/170663878724?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item27bc5c2044

 

[anamorphic96]

Are you using a cable or satellite box ? If so use the audio output from cable or sat box.

What model of TV do you have ? It seems strange there would be no analog audio outs.

I don't have experience with this unit but it does what you need, and it's cheap.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=6884&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

 

[markw]

I'll keep this short and sweet.

Your final goal is two channel stereo, right?

You'll not get DD or DTS via the optical out from the TV.

You will get two-channel stereo with an external DAC though, nothing more. This will be fed to the Mac.

Now for your sources:

You can't get DD/DTS from a digital output DVD/BD player and probably from a cable box as well but it won't do you any good.

Both these sources will down-mix to two-channel analog internally, which is what you want.

Their audio will need to be fed directly to the Mac.

You don't need a digital feed from these to the TV. It probably won't do you any good anyway. I doubt they will "pass through" the TV to the digital output.

 

[bikemig]

I don't have any experience with this unit but it is something I filed away when I was thinking about a similar problem and it might do what you want, http://www.ambery.com/2hddodtsdihd.html.

 

[Adam]

I sure might have missed something, but at least for the internal tuner, a lot of TVs output DD 5.1 over the optical output these days. I know that when I was researching a couple of years ago, they would not pass more than two-channel audio over the optical output when playing an HDMI signal, though.

 

[TLS Guy]

I sure might have missed something, but at least for the internal tuner, a lot of TVs output DD 5.1 over the optical output these days. I know that when I was researching a couple of years ago, they would not pass more than two-channel audio over the optical output when playing an HDMI signal, though.

That is because that is all that is allowed by the HTPC codes. You can not output analog multichannel from and HDMI source. That is illegal for a TV as TVs are end devices and do not make repeater handshakes.