justageezer Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 Hi all,I'm a MD virgin, and I'm trying to do some research before taking the plunge. I'm considering adding a MD deck to my setup between my video processor (coaxial + optical out) and my AV amp (coaxial + optical in). From the little information I have been able to find, Sony decks support a DA mode (no disc inserted while recording) that will pass through a digital signal, however it gets downsampled to 44Khz on the way. It would also seem that only the higher spec machines offer both digital audio formats for both input and output.My questions are: What effect does this downsampling have on, say, a DTS soundtrack, and are there any decks that members know of that support both format digital connections in and out, and offer an untouched pass through mode?Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 My questions are: What effect does this downsampling have on, say, a DTS soundtrack, and are there any decks that members know of that support both format digital connections in and out, and offer an untouched pass through mode?The only type of playback that will likely be passed through the MD is linear PCM. I could be wrong on this, but I have reasons to believe it is the case:Any PCM going through the unit will be resampled to 44.1kHz, which means, since -all- DVD audio is 48kHz, -all- PCM audio from DVD [or satellite receivers, &c.] will be resampled. [For that matter, all audio going through the deck will be resampled, including 44.1kHz streams].AC3 [aka Dolby Digital aka ATSC A/52] DTS, and MPEG2 [audio] soundtracks *should* not pass through the deck at all. The deck has no idea what to do with streams tagged as other formats, and in the case of DTS [which appears to any non-DTS device as PCM] the resampling process will completely destroy the stream, passing only noise out the other end. Further, PCM soundtracks on DVD are actually pretty rare. Most stereo DVDs use AC3 audio. That said, many DVD players with digital outputs will convert to PCM stereo for compatibility's sake. Consult your player's manual.Satellite systems and digital cable boxes will likely put out either AC3 audio or PCM stereo, and may also include an option to convert to PCM stereo like some DVD players do.The bottom line, though I'll say again that I could be wrong about passthrough, is that only PCM will likely make it through without being destroyed [or simply not working at all]. If you want to hook up a deck so you can record from TV audio, I would suggest simply using the optical out of the video processor to the deck, and the coax out to your AV amp. This would permit using both simultaneously [assuming the stream coming from the av source is PCM] without having to rely on converters or passthrough modes on any device, or having to worry about leaving PCM conversion enabled at all times [thereby sacrificing surround formats]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazzyBananas Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 I have tried recording digitally from DVD player and DTS tracks will not work.Other DVD tracks (AC3) have worked. DVD player probably converts on output though to PCM. Check your DVD player settings menu! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justageezer Posted March 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 Thanks for the replies folks, that's about what I thought. As I have different signals on each digital line I think my best bet is to uograde to an AV receiver with digital out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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