Are there any good, cheap usb fiber optic input recording devices?

[yoda313]

I'm wondering if there are any good standalone fiber optic input recording devices.

I'd be interested in doing this for my cable hddvr. I would be intersted if this would allow a realtime mixing of a svideo input and fiber optic input for dvd mode capturing.

I have tried firewire capturing but currently my drivers seem to not be cooperating. Also my motorola box from comcast seems to deliver an atypical .mpg file that is not easily editable.

What I'd like is to be able to capture the 5.1 feed from the fiber optic output and the svideo feed for a realtime mixing into a dvd format file for later authoring. I could live with letterboxed recording off the svideo if that is what it would take for realtime capturing. My tv has pretty good stretching.

Keep in mind I don't really have any free pci slots. I suppose I could remove my firewire card if I finally picked up a esata cable for my external drive. THen I could use that slot. I am currently using a soundblaster live 5.1 usb sound adapter. It has fiber optic out but not in. If they make a comparable usb sound unit with fiber optic in for just such an application I'd be intersted.

I'd prefer to keep the cost in the 50.00 or so range if possible. This seems to be the best route for high def recording off the dvr. Also, are there recording apps that allow for multi source recording to do this? I'd use the video input to my pinnacle usb tuner and then the fiber optic in for the 5.1 audio.

Has anyone done this type of recording off a cable high def dvr? Is it feasible or am I stuck with firewire?

EDIT _ I just browsed bestbuy's website and came across MAUDIO. They seem to have a lot of usb audio recording equipment. However it looked like most did not have fiber optic inputs. They were specifically for mics and guitar equipment. Is there something in the lines I'm looking for?

[redwudz]

AFAIK, fiber optic or coaxial audio is compressed digital audio as S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format) and encoded as a single stream and both are basically the same thing. You could use coaxial a bit easier as you wouldn't need to convert the optical to electrical. I have a couple of motherboards that output S/PDIF optical and coax from the same terminals on the MB.

If this is correct, you would need to look into S/PDIF and see if it can be recorded and used for your purpose. From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPDIF

Our audio experts can probably correct all this or give better info.

[yoda313]

Thanks redwudz. However i don't know if my cable box has a spdif out. I know it has fiber optic out.

I saw an intersting item on the web called timetrax for recording satellite radio. It was a fiberoptic usb recording unit. Now unfortunately I don't know how "underground" this outfit is. I also don't know if it would be useable in other applications for recording in different software.

I think maybe a quick browse of radioshack and ebay is in order.

EDIT - STOP THE PRESSESS!!!!!

I have verified via an online manual that my dch3416 does indeed have a spdif output jack. The best news is my pinnacle hd usb capture devices HAS A SPDIF INPUT OPTION!!! It is an anlog input jack that I've used with one of those ysplitters to get rca audio in from a vcr. But there is indeed an ENABLE SPDIF option in the recording software for Pinnacle. That means I can do this all in one with the pinnacle recording device.

I will report back with results!!!!! WOOHOO!

EDIT 2 - Well it looks as if it is only for 2 channel recording. It seems the spdif option was for sound output for watching hd channels. So it only recorded stereo acroding to gspot. Darn.

BUT this has opened up a new avenue for my search. I can check out spdif recroding options which might be more plentiful than fiber optic.

EDIT 3 - This turtle beach usb device looks promising, found it at circuit city.com:

TBS TBS-1120-01

Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro

TBS TBS-1120-01

Connection options: The S/PDIF adapter allows you to connect to digital home theater or recording equipment easily. Just plug in the S/PDIF adapter, then connect your equipment using an optical digital cable. Use the analog mini-jack to connect headphones or analog speakers.



Now it says analog digital inputs in the description. I'd be interested if that meants it will take spdif in. I'll have to look into it more.

EDIT 4 - well scratch that. It only mentions the spdif adapter as an output. It is kinda neat. It is a headhphone jack adatper to actually allow output to a toslink fiberoptic cable instead of a spdif coax. But nothing is mentioned of digital input recroding.

There are 100.00 pci soundcards that have spdif input. I just don't know that I want to spend that much for this. I'll keep hunting.

[redwudz]

Seems at least one of my MBs has a S/PDIF input/output on the motherboard, accessed by add-on PCI slot adapter sockets. Never tried to use one for input, though. As mentioned, I believe optical and coaxial are the same, optical is just the S/PDIF ran through a laser diode to convert to the optical. The real advantage of optical is no chance of RF or noise interference.

If you have that input, certainly worth a try. You can convert optical back to electrical signals with a photodiode and some small amount of circuitry.

Or there are a few optical>coaxial adapters out there like this one from MonoPrice for less than $12US: http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=2948 Or you can find others by a search for ' toslink to coaxial adapter '.

[yoda313]

Thanks redwudz. Actually I found a solution that should work out just fine:



http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=0&subcategory=&product=1780&nav=1

Technical Specifications

Input: Optical and Coaxial (If both are connected, only the Optical input will be active)
Output: Optical and Coaxial (Soundcard output signal is fed simultaneously to both outputs)
Sampling Rate: 44.1, 48, 96kHz selected via Soundcard software


Designed for use with:
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™, Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 4, Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2 Value, Sound Blaster® Audigy™ SE and Sound Blaster® Live!™ 24 bit

-----------------

The LIVE 24bit is the model I have - its the usb one. It's only 15.00. I'm gonna try to see if bestbuy or circuit city carry this item. Otherwise I'll probably order it online.

That should allow me to record digitally either fiber optic or coax.

Thanks.

Edit - allright that local hobby shop actually carries it. Now that is to say it says it is available on the website. As far as I know it is only one store. Chances are its only stock is in store and then they ship if its ordered online. That should mean I can pick it up Saturday (well later today seeing as how its 3am est right now - yeah I had way too much caffinnee today).....

[lacywest]

Interesting ... and its 4:30 AM ... and I am up reading the stuff you all post.

I switched from Creative sound cards to the HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card ... $80 bucks at NewEgg ... postage extra .... I bought two of them.

I've got the toslink output connected to a Pioneer Receiver up above on a shelf and a shit load of Acoustic Research speakers [Ebay obtained] ready to be hooked up.

[yoda313]

@lacywest - yeah I finally got to sleep not too long after that post. Got maybe five hours of sleep

Well I am actually attempting this for toslink recording. My soundblaster live actually already has a coax out and a fiber optic out. It just doesn't have a dedicated fiber or coax input.

One thing I'll be interested in attempting will be video game capturing WITH 5.1 audio. I have the 5.1 fiber output for both the ps3 and xbox 360. I'd love to see how well I could record them with my capture devices.

Do they make any good vga input recording devices? I love the quality of the vga hd cable from the xbox 360. That would be great for recroding but I don't know of any that recrod vga inputs.

Edit - Bummer. I was just there and they don't carry them in store. They do have a warehouse. I guess I'll have to order this online sometime.

[yoda313]

Well I finally ordered the 5.1 audio module online today. However with Labor Day on Monday it won't ship until next week.

I'll post a seperate topic if I have difficulties with it.

It does say it is sb live compatible which is what I have. However I am not opposed to buying a creative xfi card if that is the only I will be able to use it. Only downside is I'll have to remove my firewire card to install it. That's not a big deal since my firewire harddrive also has esata and usb connections. Also my firewire transfers from my hddvr have been so problematic that I'm looking into alternatives - part of my reason for looking into 5.1 realtime capturing - in addition to game recording.