[mythtv-users] SPDIF Optical Out Sound Card

[Rod Smith]

On Monday 02 March 2009 08:02:21 am gonzalo diethelm wrote:
> > From: Allen Edwards
> >
> > I was told by ASUS that all their motherboards have spdif connectors
> > on them.
>
> This is interesting to me. My old laptop is an Asus and it has two
> miniplug sockets, one with the icon of a mike and the other with both
> the icon of headphones AND the sign "S/PDIF" next to it. From what you
> say, it might be possible that this plug functions as both.
>
> Now, what could I do with that S/PDIF connection? Are there any cables
> that would allow me to plug that into a composite audio input (two RCA
> connectors) on my TV? Would that be better than using a cable with a
> stereo miniplug on one end and the composite plugs on the other?

If a TV has two RCA connectors for audio, then that's almost certainly NOT 
SPDIF. SPDIF is a digital protocol that usually employs either ONE RCA 
connector or an optical connector. IMHO, the big advantage of SPDIF over 
traditional analog audio is that it permits transmission of 5.1 surround 
sound (and other multichannel formats) over a single cable. Unless your TV 
has a built-in 5.1 decoder and connectors for extra speakers to make use of 
this, there'd be little point to feeding it an SPDIF signal.

-- 
Rod Smith