Optical audio connection
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I currently have an old-ish TV and home cinema set-up (analogue TV, Dolby Prologic), and am about to upgrade to a completely new integrated digital TV plus Dolby Digital 5.1 (and I will go for a new separate surround amplifier).
At present I feed the surround amplifier from the audio output (phono) on the TV - this way, whatever is showing on screen is heard via the amp (in other words, whether I watch Sky, DVD or normal TV I just set the amp input to "TV" and I get Prologic surround sound provided the source is transmitting it, because the TV passes it straight through).
I believe that to get true 5.1 sound I need to use an optical audio 'TOSlink' connection, not phono.
My question is that I cannot seem to find any new HD Ready iDTVs (LCD or Plasma) that have an optical audio output - they all still appear to be just phono out...
So in my new setup, will I have to have three connections into the amp, instead of one as now? An optical one from the DVD player, an optical one from a Sky box, and a phono connection from the TV - and in future I would need to select the audio source on the amp to match?
It's no big deal to switch the amp input selection, what I'm trying to avoid is having 3 separate wires from TV/DVD/Sky boxes to where the amp is, rather than 1 as at present (the amp is on the other side of the room).
A final issue is that IF it has to be 3 separate cables, does Freeview broadcast 5.1 sound, and if so, will this transfer over a phono connection? Or is that a reason to get a Freeview set-top box (assuming they have optical outputs) rather than an integrated TV, which I currently favour?
Apologies for any ignorance on my part... any comments/suggestions/ideas welcome!
At present I feed the surround amplifier from the audio output (phono) on the TV - this way, whatever is showing on screen is heard via the amp (in other words, whether I watch Sky, DVD or normal TV I just set the amp input to "TV" and I get Prologic surround sound provided the source is transmitting it, because the TV passes it straight through).
I believe that to get true 5.1 sound I need to use an optical audio 'TOSlink' connection, not phono.
My question is that I cannot seem to find any new HD Ready iDTVs (LCD or Plasma) that have an optical audio output - they all still appear to be just phono out...
So in my new setup, will I have to have three connections into the amp, instead of one as now? An optical one from the DVD player, an optical one from a Sky box, and a phono connection from the TV - and in future I would need to select the audio source on the amp to match?
It's no big deal to switch the amp input selection, what I'm trying to avoid is having 3 separate wires from TV/DVD/Sky boxes to where the amp is, rather than 1 as at present (the amp is on the other side of the room).
A final issue is that IF it has to be 3 separate cables, does Freeview broadcast 5.1 sound, and if so, will this transfer over a phono connection? Or is that a reason to get a Freeview set-top box (assuming they have optical outputs) rather than an integrated TV, which I currently favour?
Apologies for any ignorance on my part... any comments/suggestions/ideas welcome!
0
Comments
Normal broadcast TV (including freeview), and the vast majority of cable and satellite channels will only carry a NICAM stereo signal. This may be a Dolby Surround encoded signal on some channels, others can be enhanced using Dolby Prologic.
So, you need a digital connection (optical or coax) from your DVD player, and optical connection from Sky+, and a phono pair from your TV (for Freeview or analogue).
It might be easiest to put the amp near the TV. Remember, you will need to run the left, centre and right speaker cables from the amp to the speakers around the TV.