No response from Denon. Please help.

[Omega Supreme]

I emailed Denon connections department over a week ago and have gotten no response. I guess costumer servies is just hard to come my nowadays. Anyway, I guess I should have just checked here first. Here is my question. I just purchased a new Toshiba X205 laptop which has a HD-DVD player. I have no problem with my video (HDMI to my Panny) but I cant figure out how to get digital 5.1 to my receiver. I have a S/PDIF out (small jack, 3.5mm i think) and have tried using a stereo cable out with a rca connector on one end and then plugging that into my coax digital port with no luck. I can get stereo from my HDMI. Im not sure why this is. Dosent HDMI carry a 5.1 signal. I have the HDMI running to my tv and i have a optical cable running from my tv to my receiver. Is this because i have an older version of HDMI (1.0 or 1.1)? Anyway, any help would be greatly appreceiated.

Thanks.

 

[fmw]

Email is not an effective way to contact most larger companies. I'd recommend calling their support line by telephone.

 

[Adam]

Omega,

If memory serves me (which, is usually a crap shoot), when connecting a 3.5mm digital jack on a computer to an RCA digital coax input on a receiver, you want to use a MONO 3.5mm jack - not a stereo jack. You'll also need to make sure that your laptop is set up in software to output through that digital port. My soundcard can either output through the digital 3.5mm jack or through the analog jacks, but not both at the same time. In addition, whatever software you're using to play a movie needs to be set to pass the digital signal.

I agree with fmw. Try calling them. I've had intermittent success with companies when I e-mail them, but a phone call generally clears everything up on the first try.

Adam

 

[Davemcc]

So far, I've had no joy with connecting computer S/PDIF to audio S/PDIF. I wish I knew what to tell you. I had HP take the computer back.

 

[Omega Supreme]

Thanks. Ill try the mono cable this weekend and let you know if that works. Any idea why the HDMI dosent pass the 5.1 signal?

 

[Adam]

Any idea why the HDMI dosent pass the 5.1 signal?

Sorry, but I don't. I'm still pre-HDMI with all of my gear.

 

[MDS]

I have no problem with my video (HDMI to my Panny) but I cant figure out how to get digital 5.1 to my receiver. I have a S/PDIF out (small jack, 3.5mm i think) and have tried using a stereo cable out with a rca connector on one end and then plugging that into my coax digital port with no luck. I can get stereo from my HDMI. Im not sure why this is. Dosent HDMI carry a 5.1 signal. I have the HDMI running to my tv and i have a optical cable running from my tv to my receiver. Is this because i have an older version of HDMI (1.0 or 1.1)?

So you have HDMI from laptop to TV and optical cable from TV digital out to the receiver and that configuration works for stereo but not 5.1? If so, have you checked the TV's digital output settings? It probably supports Dolby Digital and PCM; if it is set to PCM you would get stereo when the TV decodes and downmixes the DD to PCM.

So where does the coax and laptop s/pdif out come into play? You'd only need that if the HDMI connection from the laptop to the TV was sending only the video.

 

[Omega Supreme]

My tv audio settings have 3 choices: Digital, Analog, & Auto. I have tried all 3 and all I get is a stero signal to my receiver. Im not sure why this does not work. My guess is that it is an older version of HDMI. Does anyone know if older versions of HDMI would only pass a stero signal? You can see my television model # in my sig. Anyway, this is why im trying to get the S/PDIF to work.

 

[agarwalro]

In many cases you have to enable the digital output in the settings. Have you done that?

If yes, do you see a red glow in the spdif socket? If yes, you might need this kind of adapter, Mini Optical to Regular Adapter. Now you can use any Optical cable to transfer the signal to the receiver.

Or this kind of cable, Mini to regular Toslink cable. I prefer the direct cable solution to the adapter and regular cable solution. Less points of failure.

 

[Omega Supreme]

I have enabled it but i have not looked for the red light. I will do that tonight. AGARWALRO that makes alot since. I been wondered about that. I read a couple of weeks ago that S/PDIF was an optical connection but alot of people suggest that I use a analog mono cable w/a RCA adapter (see post above) on one end. I have tried that, not with a mono but a stereo, with no luck. But a lot of people say that is all you have to do and it will work. How can that work if it is an optical connection? Anyway thanks for the links I will have to try one of those. Maybe I can find a non Monster brand and save a little $$$.

 

[MDS]

I read a couple of weeks ago that S/PDIF was an optical connection but alot of people suggest that I use a analog mono cable w/a RCA adapter (see post above) on one end. I have tried that, not with a mono but a stereo, with no luck. But a lot of people say that is all you have to do and it will work. How can that work if it is an optical connection?

A cable with a mono mini plug on end and an RCA plug on the other would be used if you have a coaxial digital audio connection where one device uses a mini jack and the other an RCA jack. You cannot convert between optical and coax with a simple cable.

I asked above what coax has to do with the setup. I thought the hookup was HDMI from the laptop to the TV and optical from the TV to the receiver.

 

[agarwalro]

I read a couple of weeks ago that S/PDIF was an optical connection but alot of people suggest that I use a analog mono cable w/a RCA adapter (see post above) on one end. I have tried that, not with a mono but a stereo, with no luck. But a lot of people say that is all you have to do and it will work. How can that work if it is an optical connection?

The people are not entirely wrong, from Wiki,

The name stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format, the two companies being the primary designers of the S/PDIF format.

S/PDIF was developed from a standard used in the professional audio field, known as AES/EBU which is commonly used to interconnect professional audio equipment. S/PDIF remained identical at the protocol level, but changed the physical connectors from XLR to either electrical coaxial cable (with RCA jacks) or optical fiber (TOSLINK, i.e., EIAJ Optical), both of which cost less and are easier to use.

Maybe I can find a non Monster brand and save a little $$$.

Non-Monster by all means. I just wanted to show the connections and that was the best looking example.

 

[jcPanny]

PC to receiver audio

I have used the digital coax output on my Dell and hooked it up to my receiver without any problems. On my laptop there is an adapter (looks similar to an S-video connection) and the cable allows access to the TV video output, stereo audio outout and digital coax audio output with the standard RCA connector. I am also aware of some equipment like the Apple Airport which used the same jack for a 3.5mm stereo analog audio and mini optical digital audio.

I suggest you consult your user's manual and identify the location and connection type of the digital audio output on your laptop and buy an inexpensive cable from Radioshack or monoprice to make the connection.

Also, it is likely that your laptop is sending the full 5.1 digital audio signal to the TV. There might be a setting on the TV to downscale the digital audio output to 2.0 by default. On DVD players, the digital audio output must be set to bitstream (vs. PCM) to get more than 2.0 channels of audio.

 

[Omega Supreme]

That explains alot. It sounds like the coax and optical connections look identical. I will check it out and see what Ive got. Thanks for everyones help.

 

[Davemcc]

Also, it is likely that your laptop is sending the full 5.1 digital audio signal to the TV. There might be a setting on the TV to downscale the digital audio output to 2.0 by default.

This was my thought when I read that the HDMI was going to the TV first, then the receiver. I've read that some TV's will downmix digital audio output to stereo.

 

[Omega Supreme]

I checked it out last night and did not notice the red optical light so I guess that means its Coax Digital. I bought a Mono mini plug to RCA plug cable at radio shack last night so hopefully this will work. Im out of town this week so I will give this a shot this weekend. Oh, I checked the manuals that came with the laptop and of course they didn't even mention the S/PDIF port. I guess every product manual known to man must suck.

 

[jcPanny]

Laptop audio output

I have never seen a digital (coax) audio output that used a 3.5 mm mini stereo plug. That plug is for analog audio for headphones etc. If your laptop requires an adapter for the Optical or Coax digital audio connection, then it was probably included with the manuals and documentation for the laptop.

If it is not obvious and not documented in the manual, email toshiba and have them identify the correct connection.

 

[jcPanny]

Info from Amazon

"1 headphone jack (1 with S/PDIF digital audio compatibility) and 1 microphone jack"

Looks like the headphone jack is the correct port but it could be an optical or coax digital connection.

 

[Omega Supreme]

Its not for headphones. There are 4 ports (Line in, SPDIF, Microphone, & Headphone). Under the "Sound" options there are 3 choices "HDMI, Lapto Speakers, and SPDIF". If you go to SPDIF option there is a 5.1 setting. I know its there I have just not been able to get it to work yet. I wish they did include the cable and instructions on how to get it up an running but I guess the thought the "User Safty Manual" would be more helpful. At least I know now not to use my laptop in the bathtub while it is pluged in due to risk of electrical shock.

 

[Omega Supreme]

Tried my new cable and still nothing. Called Toshiba and it is still not working. They had me uninstall the driver and reboot which automatically reinstalled them. Toshiba guy is going to do more research and call me back in 10 min. Its not looking good. Ive got another question though. When I open up my realtek settings it shows all of my audio outputs with a picture. It shows a coax picture for the Mic, Line in, and Headphones. Then it shows a picture of the HDMI port for it. For the SPDIF port it is showing a optical connection instead of the coax connection. My question is could this be an optical connection instead of a coax. I would think if it was an optical connection that I would be able to see the little red optical light. I guess if toshiba cant get it going then I may order that optical cable to see if it works. I was hoping to have this working this weekend. Let me know what you think. Thanks again for any reply.