Hello from Canada

[letting1]

Hi. I came across this site recently and I've enjoyed reading many of the threads, especially the technical stuff. I'm a retired electrical engineer who worked in the telecom industry for 40 years. I've been interested in high end audio since my teens. A lot of my stereo electronic gear (amps and preamps) is home made, mostly stuff from Audio Amateur magazine. I got interested in home theatre around 2000 and built a 5.1 system using some of my previous equipment and a new AVR and dvd player. Then I started collecting concert dvd's and blu-rays. So my experience with multichannel music is limited to my concert dvd's/br's. One thing that always bothered me with concert dvd's/bd's is the awkwardness of changing discs and moving through the program material on the disc. My dream scenario was/is to be able to create and play lists from my concert discs in multichannel sound and hd video. I tinkered with some approaches but was always limited by file playing capability of my old WD TV media player. So I was very excited to discover the Multichannel Media Players thread on this site. It seems to be the path to my dream scenario of listening/watching playlists of my concert disc material without breaking the bank. I do have some questions I'd like to ask, but I'm not sure where to post them. I'm thinking it would be best to post questions in a thread related to the question, right? For example, is there a good approach to extracting the multichannel audio from HDMI and converting it to an optical signal that can be handled by an AVR? My AVR is old and does not have HDMI inputs, but it does have an optical and coax input. Thanks!

 

[DuncanS]

Hi. I came across this site recently and I've enjoyed reading many of the threads, especially the technical stuff. I'm a retired electrical engineer who worked in the telecom industry for 40 years. I've been interested in high end audio since my teens. A lot of my stereo electronic gear (amps and preamps) is home made, mostly stuff from Audio Amateur magazine. I got interested in home theatre around 2000 and built a 5.1 system using some of my previous equipment and a new AVR and dvd player. Then I started collecting concert dvd's and blu-rays. So my experience with multichannel music is limited to my concert dvd's/br's. One thing that always bothered me with concert dvd's/bd's is the awkwardness of changing discs and moving through the program material on the disc. My dream scenario was/is to be able to create and play lists from my concert discs in multichannel sound and hd video. I tinkered with some approaches but was always limited by file playing capability of my old WD TV media player. So I was very excited to discover the Multichannel Media Players thread on this site. It seems to be the path to my dream scenario of listening/watching playlists of my concert disc material without breaking the bank. I do have some questions I'd like to ask, but I'm not sure where to post them. I'm thinking it would be best to post questions in a thread related to the question, right? For example, is there a good approach to extracting the multichannel audio from HDMI and converting it to an optical signal that can be handled by an AVR? My AVR is old and does not have HDMI inputs, but it does have an optical and coax input. Thanks!

I'd check your AVR's optical spec, (daft as it is) most of them don't have much bandwidth so are limited to PCM stereo or encoded DTS/DD 5.1.

 

[wavelength]

From a fellow Albertan, welcome letting1 to QQ!

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Like Duncan said, optical outputs are generally limited to stereo and AC3 (DD 5.1). You could rip your DVDs and BRDs and convert everything to AC3. If you wanted to keep the higher resolution formats you would need to get an AVR or Pre/pro that accepts HDMI or USB. Used ones without Atmos capability are not that expensive. There are other options if your current AVR also has a 5.1 analog input.

You wouldn't be extracting from HDMI, you would extract direct from the disc using software and an appropriate BRD/DVD capable computer drive. You can find a lot of useful information on doing this in the relevant forum section.

 

[letting1]

Thanks for the replies and the info. I suspected the optical output was limited in BW and capability and I don't really want to settle for AC3, so I guess I'll look for an AVR or pre/pro with HDMI. The other consideration is that I need pre outputs for the 5.1 channels as all my speakers have stand alone power amps. In other words, my old AVR is actually functioning as pre-amp/processor. More interesting options to consider!

 

[Mark Anderson]

This box will convert hdmi to 5.1 analogue and can send lossy dts and ac3 via the optical output but not lossless bluray thru the optical
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J49P1H2/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_glt_fabc_MERKSWE5FDAPSQQ3D6AZ
I use this box for hdmi to analogue if you have multichannel inputs
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J2VZ8DL/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_glt_fabc_S7CPJV35J9WYJ76G1VEG

 

[letting1]

This box will convert hdmi to 5.1 analogue and can send lossy dts and ac3 via the optical output but not lossless bluray thru the optical
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J49P1H2/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_glt_fabc_MERKSWE5FDAPSQQ3D6AZ
I use this box for hdmi to analogue if you have multichannel inputs
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J2VZ8DL/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_glt_fabc_S7CPJV35J9WYJ76G1VEG

Thanks for that!

 

[Guy Robinson]

Also from Canada. You really need a new setup with HDMI. I would bite the bullet and go for that first.

 

[Sal1950]

Also from Canada. You really need a new setup with HDMI. I would bite the bullet and go for that first.

letting1, this is your best answer. If move your HT into the modern day you'll gain access to all the new codecs and make a major sound quality upgrade to everything from movies to concerts and multich recordings.

 

[hobie1dog]

Welcome to QQ. Get a new receiver with HDMI in and outs.

 

[par4ken]

Simply rip to .flac (information for ripping various disc types can be found on various threads here) and play via analog output from your computers sound card,