What happens when......

Posted by: nap-ster on 26 September 2008

You put a 5.1 feed into a 2 channel DAC?
Posted on: 26 September 2008 by james n
Not a lot. You'd need to downmix to 2ch first.

James
Posted on: 26 September 2008 by nap-ster
Ok I have been wondering with talk of feeding say for instance a Sky box into a Snait. I guess you have to set up the Sky box to output in stereo rather than 5.1 unless it's a stereo broadcast.
Posted on: 26 September 2008 by james n
Yep - should be mode to do that in the audio settings.

James
Posted on: 26 September 2008 by pcstockton
Simply use the 2 channel analog outputs of said source. Not multichannel, or you will be missing content.
Posted on: 27 September 2008 by tonym
Without going into my Sky box setup I can't be 100% certain, but if you can, set the box to output 2 channel then pick this up through the SPDIF from the box into the SN's digital in - probably a better result than allowing the Sky box to do the DAC step. I wonder if the Sky box downmixes in the digital domain?

I'd be interested in the comparison between the two options though.
Posted on: 27 September 2008 by james n
I'd agree with Tony M - my NTL cable box analog out is poor compared to letting the n-Vi do the decoding.

Napster - Found this on the sky site - should let you select in the menu normal PCM or Dolby digital...

Changing your Sky+ sound settings

Press services on your Sky remote control.
Select System Setup then Sound Settings.
Highlight Optical Output and use the left/right arrows to change the settings.
Press the down arrow to highlight Save New Settings, then press select.

James
Posted on: 27 September 2008 by garyi
I didn't think sky boxes did true 5.1, surely its just a dolby mix?
Posted on: 27 September 2008 by thesherrif
The optical output from SKY+ into a SN works really well. Then try listening to the Radio Channels available on Sky !!
Posted on: 27 September 2008 by nap-ster
Yes I was wanting to use it for listening to the Sky radio stations. I didn't want the hassle of having to change the setting in the Sky box from DD to Stereo every time I wanted to do this though.

I'm away from home at present or else I'd be giving it a shot myself!
Posted on: 27 September 2008 by thesherrif
My settings are:

Audio Output........ Stereo
Optical Output.......Normal (not DOLBY D, it doesn't work !!)

works just fine
Posted on: 27 September 2008 by neil w
my settings are albeit into a meridian g68

audio output......stereo
optical output....dolby d

i can listen to all the radio stations just fine
Posted on: 06 October 2008 by Frank Abela
quote:
Originally posted by garyi:
I didn't think sky boxes did true 5.1, surely its just a dolby mix?


I know Sky HD broadcasts a full 5.1 digital (i.e. Dolby Digital or DTS). Not sure about standard Sky - I think it has the ability to provide full 5.1 as well.