I've got the Thomson DTI6300 and on the back is a PCM audio output.
Anyone know what it's for?
Cheers
Anyone know what it's for?
Cheers
DTI6300 / PCM what is it?
Digital Audio Output.
You can use this socket to connect the box to a surround sound amplifier for example.
You can use this socket to connect the box to a surround sound amplifier for example.
Virtually every modern AV receiver will have a digital audio input or three (mine has four!)
They can be called a variety of names. SPDIF is a common alternative to PCM as is Digital Audio. And there are two main variants.
Coaxial - uses a phono socket (often coloured orange) similar to the analogue audio connections. Uses pulses of electricity (in very crude terms) to carry digital data down a copper wire.
Optical - uses a small square connector and fibre optic cable to carry the data as pulses of light. Often called TOSLINK.
There are boxes available that can convert coaxial to optical or vice versa
This is a picture of the back end of my AV receiver.
http://www.eu.onkyo.com/ir_img/21657098_d68d5aea56.jpg
The Digital Audio inputs are down the extreme left hand edge of the unit. Two coaxial (at the bottom) and two optical (at the top)
Some all in one style surround sound systems have digital audio inputs, but tend to be less well endowed with connectors than an AV amp.
They can be called a variety of names. SPDIF is a common alternative to PCM as is Digital Audio. And there are two main variants.
Coaxial - uses a phono socket (often coloured orange) similar to the analogue audio connections. Uses pulses of electricity (in very crude terms) to carry digital data down a copper wire.
Optical - uses a small square connector and fibre optic cable to carry the data as pulses of light. Often called TOSLINK.
There are boxes available that can convert coaxial to optical or vice versa
This is a picture of the back end of my AV receiver.
http://www.eu.onkyo.com/ir_img/21657098_d68d5aea56.jpg
The Digital Audio inputs are down the extreme left hand edge of the unit. Two coaxial (at the bottom) and two optical (at the top)
Some all in one style surround sound systems have digital audio inputs, but tend to be less well endowed with connectors than an AV amp.
Thanks for the very full explanation. 'Modern' is the operative word here, I think! My amp is 45 years old. It doesn't do digital 
So is PCM the same as SP-DIF or are they incompatible. Do you need a specific PCM input socket?
So is PCM the same as SP-DIF or are they incompatible. Do you need a specific PCM input socket?
SPDIF is more a carrier of digital audio than a format of digital audio, if that makes any sort of sense
It is more a way of defining how the source device packages up the audio data and other bits and sends it to the receiver. So a SPDIF interface can carry PCM audio data but equally could carry some entirely different format.
One common use of the SPDIF interface is to carry digital audio from a CD player to an amplifier. The S and P in SPDIF by the way stand for Sony and Phillips, co-inventors of the CD format. The raw audio data on a CD is a form of PCM. So in a CD player the SPDIF output caries PCM data.
On a DVD or Blu-Ray player playing a movie disk it can carry a whole load of other formats. For example a Dolby Digital surround sound encoded signal. And if you stick a CD disk in a DVD player what comes out of the SPDIF socket is the same PCM as a dedicated CD player.
So if your head hasn't exploded yet you can see there is no simple answer to what comes out of or goes into a SPDIF socket. But in the main an AV receiver ought to be able to take in pretty much anything on it's digital audio inputs.
So to all intents and purposes you can regard PCM, SPDIF and Digital Audio as interchangeable.
It is more a way of defining how the source device packages up the audio data and other bits and sends it to the receiver. So a SPDIF interface can carry PCM audio data but equally could carry some entirely different format.
One common use of the SPDIF interface is to carry digital audio from a CD player to an amplifier. The S and P in SPDIF by the way stand for Sony and Phillips, co-inventors of the CD format. The raw audio data on a CD is a form of PCM. So in a CD player the SPDIF output caries PCM data.
On a DVD or Blu-Ray player playing a movie disk it can carry a whole load of other formats. For example a Dolby Digital surround sound encoded signal. And if you stick a CD disk in a DVD player what comes out of the SPDIF socket is the same PCM as a dedicated CD player.
So if your head hasn't exploded yet
you can see there is no simple answer to what comes out of or goes into a SPDIF socket. But in the main an AV receiver ought to be able to take in pretty much anything on it's digital audio inputs.So to all intents and purposes you can regard PCM, SPDIF and Digital Audio as interchangeable.
