Digital Question

[Geoff]

I am into digital Video. One thing I learned over at another forum (DV info net) was that when you drop DV to your computer, the quality of the camera doesn't matter.... it's just dropping gazillions of 0's and 1's. A cheapo camera will do that just as well as any other. Sure enough it works, and I now use my old Panasonic to transfer video shot with a Canon XM2, (to preserve motor / head life) and there is zero loss of quality.

Which brings me to the AV world; does the same principle apply?

I ask because the "weak point" of my system is likely to be the cheapo Phillips "play anything" DVD/CD player. However, if it's just sending a load of 0's and 1's to the amp, does it matter?

Cheers

 

[Hi Ho]

You are correct. If you connect a DVD player via the digital connections then they will all sound virtually the same because the DAC's (Digital/Analog Converters) in the receiver are doing the work. If you connect via analog, then it depends on the DAC's in the player.

I did the same thing you described with the video. I shot a weekends worth of concerts using a very nice Panasonic AG-DVC60 and copied it to my PC with a Panasonic GS-29, their lowest model. There was no quality loss at all.

 

[Geoff]

Baffled

That cheapo Phillips gave up the ghost (a couple of weeks out of guarantee!!). It plays about 3 seconds worth and then stops.... with CD's and DVD's. So much for buying cheap....

So I pulled out my old Infinity DVD 10 while I wait for a shop to get a new Onkyo 502 (reducing remotes by one!!).

I am now gobsmacked. I haven't wired it up for video yet (no component or DVI) but put some of my CD's on. It's like the whole system has come alive!!

Both the Phillips and the Infinity were put in the same co-ax socket on the amp. So I assumed as Hi-Ho has said, and I thought, that the amp is getting digital data and converting it, so the sound quality should be the same... the amp is doing the work, not the player.

So does anyone have any idea why the system now sounds like I always thought it should, ie really, really good??

It now sounds effortless and punchy, but before I was blaming the speakers.

What's happened?