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AlmightyG5

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 7, 2005
284
0
Is there an adapter that does this:
one end-optical input, opposite end- 3 analog input ports for surround sound.

I'm talking about something like this, except an optical input, instead of the two RCA inputs....does it exist?
 
What exactly are you looking for you can't have 2 sets of inputs, one has to be an output. If you are looking for something that has digital input and outputs to analog that is called a DAC (Digital to Analog Convertor), these are rather expensive and a Digital Receiver / Amp could be a better option.

More info about what you are trying to do please.
 
I don t think what your looking for exist as surround tools are seriously lacking.

The only possible solution I see would work would be to plug the optical line in a decoder\amp such as sony surround system, then instead of plugging in the speakers, "skin" (remove the end) one side of some mono 1/4 or 1/8 analog wires (if you know how, I dont lol) and plug them in the speaker spot. Then plug ("rewire") the 1/4 or 1/8 into a soundcard with 5-7 inputs or into a console.

I hope that helps you out somehow... sorry for the bad writing, im tired.


Edit: Bah, I think I didnt understand what you were trying to do. lol good luck
 
You need to decode the surround signal to do that. A simple cable will not help. A digital decoder would (most are amps as well).
 
Perhaps something like this might be what you're after? It's an optical input --> phono output.

(i'm not an expert in this area so sorry if this is totally the wrong thing!)
 
dietcokevanilla said:
Perhaps something like this might be what you're after? It's an optical input --> phono output.

(i'm not an expert in this area so sorry if this is totally the wrong thing!)

I don't think that's what he wants. That turns encoded digital optical signals to encoded digital co-ax signals. What he wants to do is turn encoded digital optical to 3x decoded analogue phone (or whatever).
 
dietcokevanilla said:
Perhaps something like this might be what you're after? It's an optical input --> phono output.
Nope, this is totally different; it just takes in an optical audio signal and puts out a *coax* digital signal (I have one that goes the other way); it's just changing digital formats (most home theater amps have both sorts of inputs), not doing any sort of A-D conversion or channel splitting, which is what the original poster wants.

So far as I know, that sort of thing exists, but not in the form you're looking for--you really want a home theater deck without the speaker outputs, which I've never seen (though who knows, something of the sort might exist...).
 
Ohhhh.... sorry.... did say i wasn't an expert... :eek:

They also had an analogue to digital converter on the Maplin site, but not the other way around.



See... this is proof that i'm no techie geek!! :D *hurrah*
 
thanks everyone. I want to hooke up surround sound speakers to my iMac G5. The spekers give me three multicolored 1/8 analog plugs to plug into a sound card. I was thinking that there might be an adapter that would give digital input from my iMac(which carries 5.1), and then three analog outputs for the speakers(which is 5.1 because there is 3 analog ports instead of 1). I though this would still give me true surround sound because you are going from 5.1 digital to 3 analog which is still 5.1 surround sound. The decoders are too much, so i guess i will have to get the speakers that virtulize 5.1 through 2 channels sound cards...
 
These are the speakers that simulate the 5.1. This is my best bet with the iMac's 2 channel card, instead of spending 300 on speakers that have a built in decoder.
 
I think you have a better chance finding such a cable that has usb instead of optical and the other end 3 (dolby 2.1) or 6 (dolby 5.1) analoque channels. Optical has to go through a dolby surround chip, which isn't in a cable.
 
As for the original question, what speaker system are you using? I know some high end logitec and creative labs systems have digital outs built in. If your system doesn't....yer screwed. You can, however, buy and external sound card that does this and it runs over USB. I had to do this with my windoze laptop, and i got a creative labs one and am very happy, but crative labs doesn't like macintosh so you are stuck with m-audio. You can get one over USB,Firewire(i think), and if you have a powermac, a pci card. This will work : http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/SonicaTheater-focus.html, and just remember the saying "garbage in, garbage out". Meaning, you can upmix your stereo stuff (itunes, andthing recorded in 2channels) to surround and will have some quality loss, but things like dvd's and i think some games will go full, bEAUtiful, surround sound. Hope this helps, I'm a bit of an audiophile.:)
 
Ive been looking for a good usb soundcard for my ibook for awhile now, Griffin is suppost to be coming out with the Firewave, a firewire 5.1 soundcard that is selfpowered. Their web site keeps saying Q3 2005 so i dont really know when they are coming out with it.

Ive seen exactly what you are looking for the creative ddts-1000
http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=4&AID=10274033&PID=440939&product=9468&subcategory=136
The only problem is that it costs 149.00$ which is a lot. But it accepts numerious imputs.
prod9468_hdr_1_6_1.jpg
 
Won't the ones i gave above give me true surround sound? there only 30 bucks and all I want is to hook up the 3 analog cables...which is exactly what those adaptors do. I just need to know if the sound will be simulated or true dolby surround sound when watching a movie. The specs on the adaptors say: "supports dolby digital 5.1 surround sound"...so they should't be simulated when watching a DVD right?
 
They sould playback 5.1 since there are 3 jacks. I dont know of the capabilities of osx and 5.1 though so i can say for sure.
 
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