SPDIF to Coax

[silverpig]

I have a Live! 5.1 digital card, and a Sony home theatre receiver. The digital out on the Live! is a minijack (y'all probably know that). The receiver has a coaxial rca in for the digital sound. Is there any way to get an adapter that will give me the 5.1 digital sound?

I know of the SB digital/optical I/O board, but I'd rather just buy a cable (if I have to get this, can anyone tell me of a retailer that carries these and ships to Canada?)

I have a coaxial cable and have put a mono minijack adapter on the end of it. It fits into the Live! but I can only get 2-channel stereo sound out of it. I realize that the mono jack wasn't gonna work, but at least I get something out of it. Here's the thing though... There's no such thing as a stereo minijack to coaxial adapter for some stupid reason...

 

[sohcrates]

you sound like you're on the right track

you need a mono minijack to female rca adapter. then you run 1/2 of a regular stereo rca cable from the adapter to your coaxial digital input

that's definitely the right adapter

as far as not getting more than 2 channels, though, sounds like you need to check the settings to see if surround is enable and what not

 

[bigboxes]

sohcrates has the right idea, but

mono stereo minijack

is an oxymoron. Just get a spdif plug (for your sound card) to male coax cable or whatever sohcrates suggested and you should be fine. This is assuming that your receiver has a spdif analog coax input.

 

[Rpower]

Below is a link to the converter you need. The place will ship to Canada, but you will have to deal was the import tax, duties, and all other fees.

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/audio_toslink_adapters.html#wht

 

[sohcrates]

Originally posted by: Rpower
Below is a link to the converter you need. The place will ship to Canada, but you will have to deal was the import tax, duties, and all other fees.

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/audio_toslink_adapters.html#wht

just get an adapter at radio shack, MUCH cheaper

bigboxes, thanx for catching my grammar

 

[silverpig]

This is what I need. Thanks for the replies guys.

If you look at the picture, you can see why the mono plug, and why the stereo plug with only one rca jack plugged in to the coax in won't work. The end of the spdif carries the front two channels and the subwoofer info (which I'm getting through just fine), but the shaft takes the surround and centre channel info.

This is all fine, but I couldn't find an end like this at radio shack, nor would I know what to do with it once I got it home (notice how it's just a tip, not a full cable).

 

[silverpig]

Ah well, I think I'll just get 3 sets of stereo minijack to dual RCA and just hook everything up to the multi channel input on the amp. I'll get full 5.1, although it'll be analog.

 

[silverpig]

Well, I finally found a stereo minjack to coaxial adapter. It don't work. At all. Guess I'll just have to go analog after all.

 

[cot]

This is all goofy - the digital output of the card should all be on one "channel" meaning it only needs two pins

a "mono" jack should be all you need, and if it works for 2 channel digital, it should work for 5 channel. I think it's probably just a software setting and if you hook it back up the same way that the two channel digital was working, you'll be able to find it with enough monkeying around in the drivers.

think about it - why would a single coax connection on the receiver (two conductors, ground and center) need a stereo mini plug with 3 conductors?

 

[sohcrates]

You have to click Digital Out in the Creative Control panel as well in case you haven't done that yet

 

[nemo160]

you need to use a mono to single rca cable, i tried a sereo before and no go
you also need to go to the surround mixer and select 5.1 speakers and digital output only
that will switch it to outputting digital from that jack instead of the center/sub channel only