Sending AC3 to A16 Ultra via ADAT.

Ashkenazy · Post by **Ashkenazy** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 6:01 am

Is it possible to send Dolby Digital AC3 to the A16 Ultra via ADAT?

[ This Message was edited by: Ashkenazy on 2004-07-08 04:04 ]

scary808 · Post by **scary808** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:01 pm

Nope! It has to be uncompressed ADAT or S/MUX digital audio. There are no surround formats supported by Scope. If there were Scope would be at least twice what it costs now. As for BNC thats merely a clock reference I/O, not an audio I/O.

arela · Post by **arela** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 5:26 pm

You can record ac3 / dts if the source is decoded.
Some DVD players have analog outs
.....but back again will cost a few bucks.

There are some kind of surround encoders around.
In Adobe Audition there are some choices for making surround files, but as i see it, there is a lot of surrogat standards.

sonolive · Post by **sonolive** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:04 am

no u can't ...
AC3 and DTS are specific (different one from other) Digital Muiltiplexed (6 channels in the same stream) Streams ...

as said before, you have to decode them before sending the discrete channels in the A16.

There is one low cost stand alone preamp/decoder that is a good alternative to pro decoders ... the DDTS100 from Creative labs (3 optical in / one coax in / 3 stereo analog in / one discret 5+1 in / and 5+1 out) it decodes a lot of digital multichannel formats and the output preamps do a good job.
better than decoder inside hardware DVD players and than PC soundcards !

i use two, one in the studio , one at home ... they do the job !

a+++
olive

Ashkenazy · Post by **Ashkenazy** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:29 am

So you can't use PowerDVD for the Decoding, and then send the 6 or more channels to the A16 Ultra?

I thought that only encoding was very expensive, but that decoding was a lot cheaper. Look at DVD software, which is a lot cheaper then encoding software.

Creamware could certainly develop a dolby decoder plugin which can be bought for SP4. With such a tool you could split up a Digital Surround signal in 6 or more channels.

[ This Message was edited by: Ashkenazy on 2004-07-08 03:09 ]

sonolive · Post by **sonolive** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:43 am

you can use power dvd , via a pc sound card equiped with six discet outputs and send them to A16, of course, it works very well ... but be carefull of the audio quality of such sound cards !!! output preamps are usually cheap and sound not so good! it depends on what you need really !

right, i think that CW should develop one plug for AC3 and dts decoding !!! i wait for it too.

on SFP, you have a function about AC3 ... it's a system of pass throug ... the ac3 can transit in SFP and go out by the digital output that is on the Sdpif output module !!! but i never tried it yet ! don't know if it works really !

Ashkenazy · Post by **Ashkenazy** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 2:05 am

on SFP, you have a function about AC3 ... it's a system of pass throug ... the ac3 can transit in SFP and go out by the digital output that is on the Sdpif output module !!! but i never tried it yet ! don't know if it works really !

I've tried this a lot of times, but always with bad results, as you can read in another topic of me: http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... 48&forum=1

[ This Message was edited by: Ashkenazy on 2004-07-08 03:07 ]

Ashkenazy · Post by **Ashkenazy** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 6:58 am

I emailed Creamware if they would create a Dolby Decoder plugin. Their answer was: 'The licence for dolby codec is very expensive, therefore no dolby and or -decoding plugin is planned.'

So I'm afraid there won't be such a plugin in the future.

[ This Message was edited by: Ashkenazy on 2004-07-08 07:58 ]

Ashkenazy · Post by **Ashkenazy** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 9:30 am

So you can't use the A16 Ultra ADAT as Optical In and Out?

blazesboylan · Post by **blazesboylan** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:36 pm

Errr... CreamWare was probably responding to a DTS request. AC-3 is free.

However, My feeling is that a hardware decoder / encoder would be too specialized to make much money for CW. Better to manipulate the .ac3 file through a free decoder and then send the audio channels out via CW board.

Of course if you can't get at the AC-3 file to begin with, there's still a problem...

I'm not sure if DVD players use ADAT protocol across TOSLink cables. Sorta doubt it, but who knows.

If they *do*, you can send the AC-3 encoded signal to your A16. What you will get out of it will likely be some awful noise. Better would be to send the ADAT signal to your Pulsar, wire up a Modular AC-3 decoder, and then route the individual channels back out to your A-16.

Cheers,

Johann

Ashkenazy · Post by **Ashkenazy** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:59 pm

On 2004-07-08 13:36, blazesboylan wrote:
Errr... CreamWare was probably responding to a DTS request.

No, I asked them for both an AC3 and a DTS decoder.

Better to manipulate the .ac3 file through a free decoder and then send the audio channels out via CW board.

I'd like to see such a free decoder as a plugin for SP4. That would be very handy. The AC3 signal would be transformed into 6,7 or 8 channels which you could then send via ADAT to the A16 Ultra, or you could send them to seperate channels of the mixer within SP4.

[ This Message was edited by: Ashkenazy on 2004-07-08 14:17 ]