Easy Optical out from your PC...

[pitchbend]

*Has anyone tried playing a dvd in the dvd-rom drive and recording from a usb>toslink adapter? I've several dvd's I'd like sound from...Thanks.

[rayzray]

Now I realize how lucky I am to have a pc with optical out, as it seems not to be as common as I thought. I even have an optical in!

Recording from any source connected to the pc is a piece of cake! Ripped some nice sound tracks from classic movies, live concerts on dvd to md. And will from now on do so with audio cd's too, as I've come to the conclusion that Sonicstage or Simpleburner transfers are out of the question : as later edition of track, track title and so on are no longer possible!

Md rocks but only with the editing tools provided by hardware on the units, may it be a portable or a deck. So Gracenote (or WMP, even info sleeve when available for that matter!)only for looking up info, but manual edit with the smslike remote of my Hi-MD deck is the only real option. I want to be able to edit my tracks whenever I want!

Transfering from one Md to another I could try playing via USB trough SS and recording using the optical out, two Md players been needed, or importing (does the fact that the md has to be write-enabled corrupt it in anyway by the way?) and then recording through optical out. All this real time, damn well! Grr... What's the point of having a spanking knew USB2.0 certified unit?!

I think that when I will own a home sacd/cd/dvd deck, it will come in quite handy; it might even manage to keep me away from the pc -maybe not such a bad thing...

what brand soundcard do you have with "optical" I/O's?

mmmm;; how did my question get INTO you quote;; let me ask again..::

What brand soundcard to you have with "Optical" I/O's?

Edited October 26, 2006 by rayzray

[Syrius]

*Has anyone tried playing a dvd in the dvd-rom drive and recording from a usb>toslink adapter? I've several dvd's I'd like sound from...Thanks.

Most of those little adapters will detect the "no copy" flag on the DVD audio, and the MD will refuse to record it. Believe me, I have tried. You can try and rip the tracks off a DVD as WAV with some utilities, though. (Don't know where to find them, so don't ask. )

[MDX-400]

I'm afraid it's part of the built-in features of my Asus T2-AH1 barebone pc and not purchasable seperately...

This thread is still going??? LOL. This thread was made way back in the day (by myself, btw) to help people get exactly what the thread title suggests. However, in this day and age I feel this thread is fairly pointless--pretty much every modern PC/motherboard will have a digital audio output built-in. Most of these are based on AC97 codecs and the like, therefore you don't get 44.1kHz output but rather the 48kHz rate of AC97, regardless of what the sound file you're playing is. (You can fool with stuff like kernel streaming and "ASIO" to try to get non sample rate converted audio, but usually you're stuck.) Still up-sampled-to-48kHz digital audio is going to be better than not having any digital output at all.

I don't think there are actually any decent computers these days that don't have digital audio out. So if you don't have that, your PC is probably outdated, lol. An easy solution would just be to get a more modern computer. Some motherboards require a simple adapter (plug-in type thing which mates to a slot connector) or dongle to get the digital out going, and these are usually cheaply available on eBay, etc.

This thread may serve the purpose of reference or perhaps helping those with older computers get a digital audio out for use with MD, but it's largely out of date now IMO. For one thing people are either using NetMD (MDLP or Hi-MD) to transfer sound to their MD so digital outputs aren't really as necessary or needed as before. Another thing to note is that the RH1 allows uploading of SP recordings, negating a digital input for transferring things to the computer.

As for getting sound from DVDs, as someone asked, that isn't that hard... However you need to output the sound in 2-ch PCM stereo, not one of the multi-channel DVD formats (DD/DTS). Once you do that you shouldn't have many problems recording the sound to an MD.

[atrain]

for dvd back up stuff try the excellent dvd resource

http://www.doom9.org

[Foolish]

Yeah this thing is still listed at $200 US which is ridiculous! Especially considering if you bought an MDS-JE470 or JE770 when they were "current" models in the US they had a mail-in offer to get the PC-Link for FREE! (It was either mail-in or packaged with I can remember which).

With that price, the only people that probably have those things are those that took advantage of that offer when it was available.

Roland M.

Just a side note on the pc link and the creative sound card, using the link cuts any sound to your speakers. Which make it a bit difficult to monitor when doing real time recording.

-foolish

[Linus]

Wow. Talk about coming in from the cold. I have been in this MD scene since 1995. Not as long as some on this board. I used to sell these toslink transmitters and receivers for $10 each. I do not sell them any more. After 9/11/2001, my web server was destroyed in tower 2. That event did not destroy my web presence, but I just did not feel the same after that date. I had a few life altering events that made a lot of things less enjoyable for a while. I sold all of my supplies and stopped selling and contributing to the minidisc scene soon after.

I do have some plans that I can post for your use. I have to warn you that the web content that I post is in 1990's standards.

What most of my clients did was pull a digital signal off of a cd rom drive. You can also do this with a LED and some optical cable, but that takes a bit longer. I hope these plan are of use to someone.

Yes, MD is looking like a mature format. I see a lot of discussion about MD vs flash... I use both. Flash is so much better when you are listening to an audio book. I could not imagine lugging around 29 hours of Minidiscs...but I am not looking for HiFi with a talking head recording.

For the most part I do prefer MD. I have CDs and DATs, but the MD is most versatile. I still resample a lot of DATs for people and also convert LPs to CD. Sometimes I use the MD as an intermediate for easy editing if required.

At least we are not talking DATs here. Sony has stopped making them and it is not used as much now. It was very popular with professionals.

MD is still my favourite.

Linus

[eriktous]

Yes, MD is looking like a mature format. I see a lot of discussion about MD vs flash... I use both. Flash is so much better when you are listening to an audio book. I could not imagine lugging around 29 hours of Minidiscs

You mean you can't imagine 'lugging around' one HiMD disc?

[Linus]

Hmm... great point. I never thought of it that way. I do not have a HiMD recorder or discs.

My recorded books are licensed files that time bomb after 21 days. Part of a Library subscription. Porting them over to MD is an interesting idea to think about.

You mean you can't imagine 'lugging around' one HiMD disc?

[Strungup]

This thread should be saved as an archive , the history it shows is interesting.

Things have indeed changed.

[sfbp]

Doesn't this do what you need?

http://www.terratec.net/en/products/Aureon_5.1_PCI_1988.html

I bought it for optical IN but it does optical out, I just checked by firing up Sonic Stage on my PC and recording onto the MZ-RH1 via Toslink cable.

This card cost me all of 12 quid (pounds). The only catch was I had to get my relatives in England to send to me because the shipping was 3x the cost of the card from the outlet found.

Stephen

[gujarati]

Lots of laptops/desktops today have optical out. But not mine, I recently purchase sony vaio 64-bit vista. It has no optical out, so I use xitel USB adapter for optical out. I really like SP recordings from flac/ 320kbps MP3's. I have a few Hi-MD recorders but have not been able to switch to Hi-SP. So, I'll continue using my current setup.

I live in an apartment, so haven't been around getting a deck for SP recordings. Though, I recently purchased a SONY portable CD player with optical out to find out later that it cannot read CD-RW's. So, it is just sitting in the closet.

Any this do PC - Xitel USB - Optical recordings?

[sfbp]

Lots of laptops/desktops today have optical out. But not mine, I recently purchase sony vaio 64-bit vista. It has no optical out, so I use xitel USB adapter for optical out. I really like SP recordings from flac/ 320kbps MP3's. I have a few Hi-MD recorders but have not been able to switch to Hi-SP. So, I'll continue using my current setup.

I live in an apartment, so haven't been around getting a deck for SP recordings. Though, I recently purchased a SONY portable CD player with optical out to find out later that it cannot read CD-RW's. So, it is just sitting in the closet.

Any this do PC - Xitel USB - Optical recordings?

I was idly wondering today, looking at this http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-amplifiers/PP-3-Digital-Phono-Preamplifier

whether one could persuade HiMD to play back into whatever software is intended to catch the result of such a device (and there are turntables eg. Ion that have a USB plug and work similarly). This is a matter for the #linux-minidisc project, and I will ask them properly, though I sort of mentioned it in passing a week or two back.

Of course this is digital IN, not optical OUT, but no matter, it's in a common cause, especially now that more and more receivers (I just got one) have optical and/or coax SPDIF in (and in some cases out).

[NOStlgIC]

I'd also like to record audio via my sound card's optical output (Creative X-Fi) using a MZ-RH1 recorder. The source is an old CD recorded in 1995.

I believe I've configured the playback devices correctly to the optical output port but every time I hit "record" (after playing back the CD) the main display shows "no digital recording" and the remote shows "no copy". I've read that this could be due to copy protection but my source is not a DVD but a CD.

I know the recorder works because I can record sound from my TV via optical out w/o problems.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

LE: Actually it doesn't matter if I record from the CD. I get the same message regardless if I play from the CD or sound from a youtube video.

[sfbp]

It may well be that the CD has the SCMS bit set. It's quite possible to make them this way. And in 1995 it may well be that somebody did, before Nero and other well-available software gave the option not to set it.

Bluecrab once sent me a CD he'd made with SCMS set. Sure enough I couldn't record it to MD.

IIRC many DVD players are this way (quite aside from the regional encoding encryption) with the hardware outputting the SCMS signal on the audio track, when playing a DVD. YMMV - generally the cheaper the player the less likely it will stick to SCMS rules

[PhilippeC]

I'd also like to record audio via my sound card's optical output (Creative X-Fi) using a MZ-RH1 recorder. The source is an old CD recorded in 1995.

I believe I've configured the playback devices correctly to the optical output port but every time I hit "record" (after playing back the CD) the main display shows "no digital recording" and the remote shows "no copy". I've read that this could be due to copy protection but my source is not a DVD but a CD.

I know the recorder works because I can record sound from my TV via optical out w/o problems.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

LE: Actually it doesn't matter if I record from the CD. I get the same message regardless if I play from the CD or sound from a youtube video.

I have myself a Creative Xi-Fi Platinium and I record all my MDs in real time with it (set the Crystallizer close to the maximum, 3D around 50-75%).

I use for that foobar2000 + Kernel streaming audio output + Post track silence plugins. With Winamp use rather Wincue. Before I was found with DFX audio enhancer but it is something that you cannot use with this X-Fi souncard (too much distorsion) if you listen to lossless quality music. On my laptop to DFX has is utility, specially with MP3 and movies.

Even with this SCMS protection, may be it still possible to get a lossless copy (I use the Exact Audio Copy shareware) on your computer ? And even if, everybody say that the analog copy sound better !

[rowdy1234]

How about the Behringer UCA202 and the older Edirol UA1-X, both relatively cheap USB devices with optical out.

[SileEeles]

I've recently started using Optical for recording purposes. My computer (which is custom built) has an optical out on the motherboard, so its probably nothing fantastic, but it works fine. Although at first it wouldn't work. Then I changed the output from 96k to 48k (which is the lowest setting it gives me) and all was well.

I keep worrying about this "jitter" people seem to mention, though. Is it really that much of a problem, or is it redundant these days; the technology is much better than it was etc?

I'm also not using a "decent" or "expensive" optical cable, it literally cost me a pound or so on Amazon. People seem to be torn as to whether the quality of the cable actually makes a difference, ultimately I wasn't too concerned. If anything I wanted to make sure optical from the PC was something I could do and if needs be, I'll get a better cable.

[MDX-400]

Ha, awesome that this still stands as a sticky!    Funny to remember back in the day when getting S/PDIF out of a PC was some kind of task/chore, often requiring buying other equipment.  Looks like I even commented again in 2006 saying this feature is standard on pretty much all PCs...  Today we're at the point where PCs are starting to drop S/PDIF outputs as they're now almost obsolete  With HDMI commonplace S/PDIF has nearly (nearly) outlived its usefulness!  Of course MD itself is even more obsolete, heh

 

Anyway to answer the above question (which is over a year old, I realise but I'm not exactly bumping this since it's a sticky), jitter is indeed a real phenomenon.  How much of a "problem" it is, IMO, depends on how much of an audio snob you are lol.  If one was worried about Toslink jitter, then you'd just use coaxial S/PDIF instead of optical, which would at least eliminate that part of the equation.  (Funny enough most gear these days that still have S/PDIF input or output support, do so via coax connections because they're cheaper than using Toslink transmitters/receivers.)

 

Of course using coax is still subject to jitter and the only way you get away from that is to not use S/PDIF at all, and use something that utilises stuff like I2C, HATS/PQLS, etc.  But then of course, other than pro gear, no MD units ever supported anything like that natively so it's moot.  Anyway if worried about jitter about the best thing you can do is use coax. instead I guess, but I doubt it's really that important to anyone here either way. 

[bluecrab]

Late to this dance, but relevant in some cases. I recently inherited a Dell Latitude E5400 Laptop with Windows 7. This particular Dell and a few other Dell laptops have the ability to output S/PDIF coax. You use, of all things a 7-pin mini-DIN connector that is actually an S/Video connector. If you have a Dell laptop, it's worth checking to see if you have this somewhat odd configuration available. The cable/connector isn't expensive and it most definitely works.

[PhilippeC]

I forgot to check that SPDI/F detail when I bought a new laptop for my son. Damned.

[Arr-Nine-Hundred]

I got a non-genuine Xitel DG2 on eBay a while back but could not get it to do the "discrete mode track mark" jazz as mentioned in the original post. It was just a continuous signal (eg. redlight stays on even during track change). Does the genuine Xitel actually do it?

I mainly record mp3 from my PC to MD via digital optical out - is there a software solution that will let me get the "discrete recording track marks" without having to resort to kludges like the 4 second silence plugin in FooBar2000?

Thanks!

[PhilippeC]

On 31/5/2016 at 4:42 PM, Arr-Nine-Hundred said:

I got a non-genuine Xitel DG2 on eBay a while back but could not get it to do the "discrete mode track mark" jazz as mentioned in the original post. It was just a continuous signal (eg. redlight stays on even during track change). Does the genuine Xitel actually do it?

I mainly record mp3 from my PC to MD via digital optical out - is there a software solution that will let me get the "discrete recording track marks" without having to resort to kludges like the 4 second silence plugin in FooBar2000?

Thanks!

A Sony MZ-RH1 would read directly your MP3s.

I use for foobar2000 : foo_dsp_silence-0.0.5.fb2k-component

Post/pre-track silence

www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_dsp_silence

I set it to 2s

 

[Arr-Nine-Hundred]

On 01/06/2016 at 10:56 AM, PhilippeC said:

A Sony MZ-RH1 would read directly your MP3s.

I use for foobar2000 : foo_dsp_silence-0.0.5.fb2k-component

Post/pre-track silence

www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_dsp_silence

I set it to 2s

 

Thanks, just used that today with my JE770 deck and it works very well - I think recording to decks may work a bit better than portable recording units.

I've used this plugin in the past with Foobar2000 with portable recorders and always end up with rogue track marks.

Conclusion: recording mp3s from PC? Decks are where it's at!

[Aaron Theeranit Pongtongmuang]

Not sure it is a solution that you want but I found a cheap USB to Toslink/Coaxial converter "Douk Audio Mini XMOS USB to SPDIF Coaxial Optical Converter".
It uses XMOS XU208 chip and costs around 40 USD in AliExpress. 
I never use it but have thought to buy it. It looks interesting to me.

 

[Trumie35]

I have that exact USB to Toslink/Coaxial converter. It works great as a transport from my computer to hifi stack.

[N Gauge England -Synthematix-]

Best little soundcard ive ever bought and theyre only £8, with toslink in and out, an ideal way of instantly outputting audio from a laptop and back again for two way digital recording, and believe it or not it sounds absolutely brilliant through analog or digital.

 

C-media CM6206

 

Dont waste your money on expensive soundcards. and avoid ANY USB soundcard with a Micro-USB connector, they are absolutely horrible. And have an extremely small USB pin contact area which can corrupt digital signal transfers just by touching the cable.

 

 

 

 

[BearBoy]

That's remarkably cheap. Any idea if it ignores/strips SCMS? I'm guessing it more than likely does?

[N Gauge England -Synthematix-]

It's a brilliant little soundcard i tell you, they use the same IC's as the very expensive Auzentech PCI soundcards, but the driver cd it comes with is useless, you need the C-Media multichannel driver, ive uploaded it here:

It works with 64Bit versions of XP/VISTA/7/8/10

 

Ive no idea if it honours scms, but because it has an optical in and out you can make 2 copies of a digtal recording at once, in fact you could make 10 if you have 10 recorders lol

 

Or, transfer your digital copy to a pc using the optical, computers totally ignore scms, then from there you can record your master as many times as you like from pc to md

 

Another option is to make a CD master copy, then once recorded from CD to the MD the track markers and titles will be sent automatically via the A1-II mono 3.5mm data cable.

 

EDIT: I have just checked for you, it does indeed completely ignore the scms data bit, so yup, you can do direct md digital to md digital copies if you record with this soundcard from your PC to MD, your recorded MD from your pc will be totally scms disabled via digital toslink this means you end up with a digital master with no copy protection.. ive got £200 soundcards that can't even do this.

CM6206LX-1.04 WXP7810.zip