Cable for SPDIF socket on MNET decoder

  • Thread starter Thread starter kingrob
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kingrob

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Hi all,

Sorry if this has been covered before.

My Yamaha receiver has an input for a SPDIF cable and my MNET decoder has SPDIF out....so I can finally get true Dolby Surround, etc for DSTV.

My question is - where in Cape Town can I buy one of these cables?
 
sorry man i know nothing about those thingys but give ZakSpeed a shout and see if they can help.
 
Isn't it just a plain male rca to rca?
 
Ok, I grabbed my subwoofer cable and plugged it in. :)

It works, but the sound quality is exactly the same (maybe a leetle bit better) as normal white/red cables.

Now I know why people don't bother with it.
 
Only MM1 and the HD channel broadcast in Dolby Digital... and only on some content.

Otherwise, The quality will depend on your AMP's and the Decoder's respective DSPs.

Be sure to change the "Language" of the channel to "Dolby Surround".

I've noticed that content from MM1 and the HD channel that isn't DD, comes through the SPDIF as PCM... this "should" be better quality than normal stereo but again, it comes down to the input bit rate. (providing the AMP is doing the PCM decoding... since the YAMAHA DSPs would be way better than the cheap ones in the DSTV decoder)
With the PCM content, your AMP should pick up the "digital" signal. I'm not very familiar with YAMAHA AMPs, but your display should have a indicator saying that the input is "PCM DIGITAL".

I'm not sure how the SPDIF passthrough works on the DSTV decoders, but I assume the "DSTV decoder" is probably doing the decoding of the "stereo" sound on the other channels. Which is why you're not noticing a difference.

Do yourself a favour and get a proper digital co-ax cable. They're shielded to prevent interference. A normal sub RCA will work but the higher freq's of the digital signal means there should be a "better" insulating layer between the outer layer and the inner core of the co-ax cable.

Usually available at any AV section of electronic stores. Ranging from R150 to R400 for 1.2m

They're a little more expensive, but if your AMP is wired to as many components as mine... you'll know what interference is all about... My DVD co-ax cable used to mess the "component out signals" of the DVD machine into the AMP. I was using a regular RCA cable for the sound. I changed to a proper shielded co-ax cable and the picture went back to normal.

I've got it hooked up and running 100% on my HD PVR. I prefer the co-ax to the optical because the DSP's are different on my AMP. The co-ax DSP issues a lot more bass then the light-pipe DSP so I don't have to crank up my sub... and everything sounds "warmer".
The passthrough works with the PCM stuff and make the "Dolby Pro Logic II" and "DTS Neo6" features of my AMP really come alive.
Otherwise, I enjoy the movies broadcast in Dolby Digital... Hopefully, the digital content increases.
 
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I've got the standard DSTV decoder and it doesn't make a big difference.

My Yamaha receiver does show that the source is PCM, but cant hear a big difference when switching between the normal red/white plugs and using the digital co-ax cable.

I am already watching DSTV in Neo Cinema, but would love to get Dolby Digital.

Maybe that's possible with the HDMI DSTV decoder.
 
Only two channels broadcast in Dolby Digital. And then its only certain movies.

1.) Movie Magic 1 (Channel 103)

2.) MNET HD (Channel 170 only with the HD PVR)

There IS no difference... because the DSTV DECODER does all the stereo decoding. The "SPDIF" out is there so that the "Dolby Digital" signal passes straight through and gets decoded by your YAMAHA.

But as a general rule... "PCM stereo" is better than "standard stereo"
But that's only if the bitrate of the broadcast is high enough to matter.

I think that the normal DSTV broadcasts are probably in the 128kbps MPEG-2 range. So you won't notice a difference between analogue stereo and PCM stereo.

Some High End music DVDs offer High quality PCM Stereo at much higher bitrates. Like 192/24.
But I don't think DSTV broadcasts in High Quality PCM.

Look in the Electronic Program guide for movies on Movie Magic 1 that have Dolby Digital... and then remember to select it in the language menu!
 
The SPDIF cable looks like something that should be plugged into a spaceship. But anyway. I once saw that they sold SPDIF cables at our local Hi-Fi Corporation. Why did'nt they just make those old ComCrypt M-Net decoders with AV outputs? Just goes to show how old the technology is. If I were you I would wait until the official launch of M-Net on DVB-T, which should be soon, as the current analogue M-Net signal will be non-existent by November 2011. Via the DVB-T M-Net decoder there will be AV outputs, propably HDMI outputs as well, with Dolby Digital sound. The current ComCrypt M-Net decoders only offer stereo output via the SPDIF.
 
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