Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Cable hookup for DVD-A and SACD question

A guy at a local Audio Video store told me that even if a player will play DVD-Audio (and maybe the same for SACD) a digital optical or coaxial can't carry the entire bandwidth so you need to use analog cables from the player to the receiver.

True or False?

As it stands now and unless it's a Denon, true.

It's not so much a question of bandwidth as a question of copy protection. The whole entertainment industry is trying to make sure that high-resolution versions of their products (movies, music, whatever) are well protected.

The theory is that by "hiding" the digital representation of the 5.1 audio it will hold off the bootleggers and force them to resample the audio and get lower quality than the original.

I'm not 100% sure why DenonLink is able to get away with pushing the info across digitally -- maybe there is some built-in encryption or something...

His statement is accurate as far as SACD and DVD-A is concerned. A digital connection won't pass the SACD and DVD-A signal. But, you'll still want a digital connection for movies. You can use the 5.1 analog connection for movies if you want, but by having both hooked up, you can easily choose which sounds best to you.

Randy, what he said was true as to the necessity to use the analog player outputs on most equipment, but was false as to the reason. John B. pretty much covered this, but the point is that bandwidth has nothing to do with it(either coaxial or optical can handle far more bandwidth), it's a legal restriction involving protection against making perfect digital copies. The full DVD-A/SACD output isn't sent to either the optical or coaxial digital outputs, just to the multiple analog outputs. The exceptions are special players and receivers having connections(i.Link, Denon Link)that have digital copy protection inherent in the system.

thanks guys, you guys are great!

Although the dvda/sacd formats can only be carried via analog right now (with the previous exceptions noted for the proprietary specialized connectors), a digtal cable from the dvda/sacd player will still carry the DTS or DD tracks to the receiver for playback. Every dvda that i own has one or both of these alternative formats onboard so buying one of these discs does not mean you cannot get a 5.1 format out of them if you don't have 6 analog connections or a dvda/sacd player.
If you have the option, try switching b/w the dvda/sacd playback and the DD or DTS tracks for a comparison of the formats.
A friend and i did this the other night. I think i posted some thoughts on this awhile ago. The short version, DD seems to be more immersive, adds a more echo like quality to the music while the dvda format brings the presentation up front and the surrounds are not nearly mixed as loud.
Both formats were excellent but i prefer the more forward presentation with less 'echo' effect. My friend preferred the opposite. He brought over Seal: The Best of 1991-2004 and it was an excellent mix.