Audio outputs from TVDrive

[Bruce Morrison]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to upgrade to TV Drive shortly (although I'm a bit concerned that the box still seems to be somewhat buggy!). I have a 5.1 speaker configuration, and my question is about the audio signals on SD and HD broadcasts and how I should connect the TV Drive to my receiver, which has no HDMI inputs.

I believe standard definition digital broadcasts carry just a PCM stereo signal (is that correct?). However, I'm not sure what audio signals are carried by the few HD broadcasts that are available. Do HD broadcasts currently carry Dolby Digital 5.1 and/or DTS signals and if so, does the TV Drive decode these? Or do they just carry PCM?

My receiver can be put into a "Dolby Surround" mode, which enables a stereo signal to be matrixed across the three front speakers. I will be able to connect the TV Drive to the receiver either via the optical digital connection or via the analogue stereo jacks. For standard definition broadcasts, will it make any difference which I choose? And will it make any difference for HD broadcasts?

Thanks in advance for any information.

Bruce

optical out and to the forum

[Wiciu]

zinglebarb is right, I just can add that recomend you optical cable made of Cambridge.

[Bruce Morrison]

Thanks for the replies. I'd still like to know what audio codecs/formats are currently carried on SD broadcasts and on HD broadcasts, and whether the TVDrive is capable of decoding any formats such as Dolby Digital or DTS (or their extensions) if they are carried.

whats the point of an optical out put if it cant decode? Im guessing here but id imagine the box can output DD at the very least its just got to be broadcast. The Sky + does on the few channels it broadcasts DD on in 2.1 and 3.1 and 5.1 depending on what it is

[Stuart]

As far as I know, the TV drive will only decode the sound into Stereo. It passes whatever digital signal it gets out the digital port (as with most DVD players).

As for the channels, the SD ones output standard stereo signals generally, unless the programme being shown has a dolby-prologic soundtrack (mostly films, but a few big dramas do this as well).

The one HD channel I know of that uses Dolby Digital output (and the only HD channel on the TVDrive so far) is BBC HD. They tend to show HD versions of their big series with Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. I'm told that Robin Hood (for instance) looks and sounds stunning.

[Stephen]

The BBC HD Chanel is in Dolby Digital. THe rest of the channels are just dolby surround or stereo.