Coaxial Digital in (or not)

[leskovcanin]

Hi everybody,

In the users manual for philips hts3500s home theater I read that this player (amp) can receive only PCM sound through coaxial digital in connection.

Does this mean that I can not receive AC3/DD sound through it and have real 5.1 surround sound ? or I missunderstood something ?

Is this nomal ( like issue with hdmi - only 1.3 version can pass trueHD sound) and I can not do anything about that or maybe some hack is possible ??

Do you have any experience with coaxial digital in connections that can pass only PCM sound (not even MP3) ???

Thanks in advance.

[Krispy Kritter]

The specs state that is has a coaxial digital input and supports dolby digital and DTS decoding. So it supports all of the inputs used on a standard dvd.

[leskovcanin]

Krispy Kritter wrote "The specs state that is has a coaxial digital input and supports dolby digital and DTS decoding"

I do not know on what specification you were thinking.
Yes this device supports dolby digital and DTS decoding but what if this is supported only from Dvd movie and not from external source (through digital coaxial in) ???

In users manuals for all models of this device (not european model only) on the page regarding connections through digital coaxial in there is a note at the bottom of the page that you have to change sound output option to pcm output on the device you are connecting through dig. coax. input.

I assume that it is not possible to decode dd and dts through d.coax. in but I am not sure.!!!

If it is so, is there a possibility to hack something and make things work (qualified personel with proper tools)??

[redwudz]

I'm not familiar with your exact setup, but with my surround sound system all the decoding of the digital 5.1 signal is done in the audio amplifier. It will accept either coaxial audio or optical audio inputs of the encoded 5.1 audio. They both seem to work the same. If your DVD player outputs 5.1, you should be set.

I had an older DVD player that output the individual channels, about 5 separate RCA cables. The amplifier had the same amount of inputs. The 5.1 decoding was done in the DVD player. Now surround sound audio amplifiers do that and the player just outputs the encoded 5.1.

[Krispy Kritter]

The fact that it wants you to select PCM stream, would seem to indicate it requires the decoding to take place in the dvd player. The contradiction here, would be that the unit supports DD and DTS, so it should be able to handle the conversion on its own.

[edDV]

This unit has an internal DVD player so it can probably handle DD AC3 or DTS from that.

You seem to be saying it won't import DD AC3 or DTS through a coaxial or optical connection. The web specs are weak and uninformative. You have the manual. If what you say is true I'd recommend you return the unit for a refund. In the future you will want to receive DD AC-3 from a broadcast source (e.g. a tuner for cable, sat or on air).

If what you say is true, all buyers of this unit should return their systems. If true, Philips didn't pay the $3 license for external ports and should not be taken seriously as a future supplier.

At a minimum they should print a spec sheet that makes sense.

Here is the place where you can ask Philips
"Will this unit accept external DD AC-3 or DTS inputs over the Digital Coax or Optical connection?" Tell them their specs aren't clear.
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?&scy=GB&slg=ENG&mid=Link_ContactU...n=HTS3500S/12#

Let us know what they say.

[leskovcanin]

The shippment finnaly arrived (the player I have ordered).

Printed version of user manual is identical as web version.

I connected it with PC through spdif and it CAN receive ac3 and decode it through coax. digital in.

Still confused about the info I read in manual about only pcm, but I do not care.

I works just fine , very satisfied.


Thanks

Cheers