Laserdisc to DVD Recorder question on audio signal

[shoozleboy]

I have a Pioneer Laser Disc player that does not appear to have the decoding capabilities for Dolby Digital. I have numerous LD's that have DD audio on them and would like to capture them on to my DVD recorder (standalone version sold by Gateway).

Will the DD signal be transmitted through the Left/Right audio outputs of the LD player, even though they won't be decoded at that point?

If yes to the first question, do the standalone DVD recorders record that signal as DD so that it can be played back as such (using a Sony A/V unit that has the DD decoding capability)?

Thanks much for the replies.

[DVO]

Dolby Digital needs to use Optical or Coaxial Digital out to te best of my knowlegde. The ordinary RCA L/R won't carry DD.

[c_hernandez32]

Laserdiscs only have ac-3 rf (AKA Dolby Digital Radio Frequency). It is usually a black RCA plug found on newer LD players. DO NOT connect this to any DD reciever or DVD-RW input. You will need a AC-3 RF Demodulator, very expensive even for ebay. You could find the standalone demodulator or the older decoder that has 6 independent channel output.

You can only record Dobly Surround from the LR channels. If your LD has a TOSLink or Digital Audio (RCA) output, it is only for DTS audio. You can plug either of these two into a DTS capable reciever or decoder. DD is a bit more difficult because it is compressed into RF format. But don't worry, LD's with Dolby surround sound very good, better than that of DVD.

[shoozleboy]

Thanks.


I have seen over on CDFreaks.com that Pioneer is the last of the manufacturers that is even making a LD player.... And unfortunately, I think I found an answer to my second question (as quoted from the article on CDFreaks.com): http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/8947

LaserDiscs can easily be transferred by connecting to a standalone DVD-recorder using composite or S-Video (preferred) and twin-phono for the audio. Unfortunately, AC3 and DTS sound tracks cannot be copied due to no DVD-recorders having digital 5.1 audio in. Up until recently, the only method of archiving LaserDisc recordings was on the inferrior VHS or through a PC capture card and using some other means of storing the huge digital recordings.

I'm assuming that the latest (and last) Pioneer LD/DVD player has the DD outputs to go to the A/V tuner, but alas, there are no DVD recorders that have the proper inputs.

I'll have to do some searching on here, I recall a massive thread that mentioned the best methods on converting LD's to DVD's......

[c_hernandez32]

There are some people who have tried by connecting their demodulated DD signal to either a TOSLink or Digital RCA plug on to their sound card. A few have reported success, but some say that haven't. Also it is very hard to find an audio recorder that supports multi channel recording. Only one I now is CDWav. It says it can record 5.1, but don't have the sound card to try it. And true that you can't record via a standalone, at least not yet. I believe Pioneer is coming out with a DVD-R standalone that can record 5.1, probably to record HDTV at DVD quality with 5.1 sound.

But again the quality of the PCM audio is much better than that of DVD. Try to listen to a DVD on a normal TV. If you don't select the surround sound it sounds horrible and all bass is lost, but LD's have very good surround sound that sound 5.1 with a good Pro Logic Reciever. As for the AC-3 RF demodulator, search ebay. Use the "search in titles and descriptions." Some pricey ($2000+) recievers have an AC-3 RF input. Also I've seen some old Sony Decoders that sold for under $100 that decode the AC-3 RF. If your LD player doesn't have AC-3 RF output, I can recommend a cheap mod that gives you this option. The same site was supposed to create a mod to output DD, but I think they stopped selling it. Good Luck...

[louthewiz]

There is no way in hell to record DD 5.1 yet . Because there is no way the ac3 rf signal will work with a coaxial digital so whomever said that is not truthful , the only thing that you are going to get is analog stereo 2.0 ... 8) 8) 8)