[mythtv-users] optical vs coax (was My Ultimate Mythtv?)

[Per Åge Sørvik]

Jarod C. Wilson wrote:

> On Tuesday, Sep 16, 2003, at 22:26 US/Pacific, Per Åge Sørvik wrote:
>
>> Jarod Wilson wrote:
>>
>>> I'm now remembering the logic behind the argument of coax over 
>>> optical. For optical, the signal has to be converted from electrical 
>>> to optical then back to electrical, thus a bit of loss is inherent, 
>>> while coax is end to end electrical.
>>>
>> A digital to digital conversion doesn't have much of a loss....
>
>
> Yes, thus why I said only "a bit". Most likely not enough to be of any 
> significance to the vast majority of people, but I can definitely see 
> the argument that a signal having to be translated from one medium to 
> another and back is bound to have a wee bit more loss of signal than 
> one that never needs translation during transport.

This kind of conversion doesn't really have a loss in the form of "loss 
of data" at all, as in different sound quality. 1 is 1, and 0 is 0. Som 
audophiles will probably start talking about jitter or something though.

>
>> On the other hand, optical cables are immune to electrical noise.
>
>
> Good point. The superiority of coax over optical argument does assume 
> you have high-quality coax cables that are well-shielded. Optical 
> might be better if you have an issue with lots of electrical 
> interference. Optical also has the advantage of being able to span 
> much greater distances, so if you want to put your stereo 500" away, 
> you can... :)
>
That depends on the quality of the optical cable (attenuation), and the 
fact that toslink probably is multimode fiber, not singlemode. I really 
don't think the normal optical consumer cables can cover very large 
distances (more tha a few meters). Haven't teset it though. I have 
testet some 20m shielded coax, that worked just fine.

People should use whatever is appropriate in their situation, without 
worrying about sound quality. Personally, I like optical cables because 
of their usually smaller dimensions & plugs.

All IMHO of course.

-- 

peraage