LG DV 259 PM - The Damn thing has 5.1 analog out

[pupupuchi28]

Hey guys,

Couple of years back I bought a DVD player from LG (DV 259 PM). I wanted to get a basic DVD player and saw this at eZone for some 3K change. I bought it without any research. :indifferent14:

Now that I have got a AVR for myself, I realised that the damn thing has a Analog 5.1 output while I was fiddling with the conections. I plugged the stereo analog output to the digital RCA input of the AVR and the AVR did not recognise it. Two questions for you to answer:
- Since it has an analog output therefore I assume there is a DAC (has to be a chepo one given the price of the DVD player) which is doing all the conversion. If thats the case then the DACs in the AVR are not being used (Burr Brown DACs, certainly way better than LG ones). In essence, am I getting poor SQ because of all this crap. I use the DVD player as CD/MP3 player.
- What is the way out? There is a Coaxial output, would it give better results. I assume that the co axial output will do the Digital to analog conversion in the AVR??

Tentatively I have connected it to the analog input of the AVR.

 

[jaudere]

Yes. You have to use coaxial cable with RCA Connectors at both ends so that digital data is sent to Avr and the AVR DAC Is put to use.

Forgot to answer your first question. Yes. All Dvd players come with built in DAC. Some have 5.1 analogue output while some , like Sony, have only 2 channel analogue out but they can send 5.1 data over co ax or optical cable. Some can send raw data to AVR While some decode data but still send it to Avr over coax or optical cable. So as your see, there are 2 tasks. First is decoding while the second is digital to analogue conversion. Either Dvd player or the AVR Or both may be able to do these tasks.

 

[pupupuchi28]

For coaxial its a single jack (both DVD Player and AVR). So I assume I need to buy a dedicted Digital Co axial jack (single one, orange chords)?

 

[jaudere]

The jack is same RCA Jack but the cable is different. Just go to market and ask for Coaxial digital cable: brands like MX Or Bandridge should do well.
When you buy the cable ensure that both the ends are compatible with Avr and dvd player. How are the terminals on your equipment? The dvd player must be having RCA Female terminal but I am not sure about your AVR Although most likely even that will be female RCA. Co ax cable that fits in a laptop may have 3.5mm pin at one end. Dont buy that. There is no standard colour code. I have an orange and a black co ax cable.

These cables carry stereo as well as multichannel audio data upto 6 channels(i.e. 5.1). So there is a single cable that is suffice for music as well as movies recorded in multichannel format.

 

[dillihifi]

Don't worry having 5.1 analog outs is a feature which is found only in good players. Now for the digital audio o/p can be sent to the AVR by optical or coaxial. Coaxial sends the digital audio to the AVR where it is decoded. Further the coaxial or the spdif interface is said to be better in handling digital audio. Further as a test you can use the same normal RCA cable you have to connect.

 

[jaudere]

Don't worry having 5.1 analog outs is a feature which is found only in good players.

That is a debatable statement. It cannont be generalized. I have not seen 5 .1 analogue out in many respected players and I have seen 5.1 analogue out it players costing 1.5 k INR.

 

[dillihifi]

Maybe it is debatable but the fact remains that for incorporating 5.1 analog o/p you need to have DACs for all the channels built into the player. All players will invariably have a digital o/p but analog o/p are always not there.

 

[jaudere]

Maybe it is debatable but the fact remains that for incorporating 5.1 analog o/p you need to have DACs for all the channels built into the player. All players will invariably have a digital o/p but analog o/p are always not there.

I think that the question is not about presence or absence of DAC. It is about the quality of the DAC. When one says 'good player' it is supposed to have good DAC which probably is not the case in OP's Dvd player.

To OP: While a normal audio cable with RCA Jacks can be used for the purpose, the Coaxial cable needs to have some specific 75ohm impedance to work at it best. I dont understand the technical part of it. So to be on safer side i would use a cable specifically meant for carrying digital audio as long as it is not costing a bomb. I got a localy made coax cable with good jacks for rs 250 (Chetan cables) while Bandridge was for around 1k. No difference in sound quality though.

 

[dillihifi]

Well the quality of the DACs is an interesting point.

It reminds me of the days when the component video o/p was only a feature of the high end DVD players and nowadays it is available in more or less across all categories. Generally the AVRs have superior DACs in respect to the DVD players and most of the people use the AVR's DACs when using the digital audio outs. Here both the digital to analog as well as the decoding of the codecs is done by the AVR.

In most of the players selling around 5k I will sure be surprised if somebody could make out the differences due to the DACs. Now the 5.1 channel o/p also gives you flexibility for pairing with an older AVR also.

 

[jaudere]

Yes. The 5.1 analogue out also allows one to use the 5.1 speakers so ubiquitous in market which have 5.1 analogue in but no DAC Or decoders. So you can enjoy real surround without the need of AV receiver.

 

[pupupuchi28]

Thank you guys for providing a perspective on this. After the 'sad' discovery I did some research (rather 5 hrs of sleep spoilt) and here is the conclusion:
- While mostly good DVD players have analog output but it is not a general rule to have good DACs in them. There was no technically sound answer available on why would that be so, assuming it has got a so so DAC.
- One can use a single RCA cable for coaxial for short distance. RCA cables have higher resistance and hence can obstruct some digital signal when high number of digital information is passed on using RCA cable. The following can be the preference.
Transfer 2.1 music signal within 5 feet, there is no noticable difference between RCA and coaxial.
Transfer musical signal beyond 5 feet, there is tracable missing bits when RCA cable is used instead of coaxial
For any 5.1 channel audio and video, dedicated co axial cable is required to pass the complete information without any obstruction.

I'm probably gettting a Belden 1694A coaxial cable. Any other suggestions?

 

[pupupuchi28]

I would have loved to compare the DACs in the dvd player and the receiver, but unfortunately there is no information on the net for both of them.

Anyone aware of which burr brown chips are used in Yamaha RX V371?

 

[buxx]

Thank you guys for providing a perspective on this. After the 'sad' discovery I did some research (rather 5 hrs of sleep spoilt) and here is the conclusion:
- While mostly good DVD players have analog output but it is not a general rule to have good DACs in them. There was no technically sound answer available on why would that be so, assuming it has got a so so DAC.
- One can use a single RCA cable for coaxial for short distance. RCA cables have higher resistance and hence can obstruct some digital signal when high number of digital information is passed on using RCA cable. The following can be the preference.
Transfer 2.1 music signal within 5 feet, there is no noticable difference between RCA and coaxial.
Transfer musical signal beyond 5 feet, there is tracable missing bits when RCA cable is used instead of coaxial
For any 5.1 channel audio and video, dedicated co axial cable is required to pass the complete information without any obstruction.

I'm probably gettting a Belden 1694A coaxial cable. Any other suggestions?

How much is the Belden and from where are you getting it?

 

[hemantwaghe]

Don't worry having 5.1 analog outs is a feature which is found only in good players. Now for the digital audio o/p can be sent to the AVR by optical or coaxial. Coaxial sends the digital audio to the AVR where it is decoded. Further the coaxial or the spdif interface is said to be better in handling digital audio. Further as a test you can use the same normal RCA cable you have to connect.

3 years back I was product head of DVD in Onida
With that expereince I am saying that 5.1 analouge out is found 80-90% DVD players irrespective of good or bad.

BTW most of these decode Dolby Digital on analougue and very frw DTS

 

[Santy]

Yes, most of the DVDp's have multi channel analog output. The first DVD player I bought of Onida about 10 years back had this.

People who use 5.1 analog out of DVDp mostly will be connecting to cheap 5.1 speaker system such as this:

In such a system, the user hardly bothers about sound quality, so the DAC quality is of least concern here.