Morrow373

Toshiba 3109 DVD hooked into Onkyo 575 reciever. For now I am only running mains.

So should I stay in 2 channel audio mode, or should I connect via digital cables and run in 5.1 but only select that I have the 2 front speakers connected?

Also, is there any difference in digital coaxial and digital optical? Which is better? And what do I select on my dvd player output...pcm or bitstream when running digital connections?

Thanks!!

Bill

Bose Pro

Optical cable is better than Coax Digital, but I'm not exactly sure on why there is more clarity in the optical. Probably a cleaner line. I'd go ahead and run the 5.1 now. Your receiver should be able to recognize that it doesn't have a center and rears. Then you'll ready to go.

Does your Onkyo have S-Video inputs?

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Morrow373

No, it doesnt have S-video inputs. So what do I select on my Toshiba 3109 for sound output.....PCM or BITSTREAM??

daledude

Whether to use optical or coax doesn't really matter if the receiver and dvd player are within three feet. You'll know if the receiver isn't getting the digital signal immediately, 0's and 1's are the same in either format.

As to whether or not to switch the hook up, try to listen to both ways. In a stereo system, it'll boil down to whether the dvd player of receiver uses better digital to analog converters.

As a owner of a 3109, I would reccomend leaving the rca connections for two channel listening simply because of the HDCD decoding. Some HDCD encoded disc sound a lot better thru the 3109 HDCD decoding versus regular cd playback, especially thru some Sennheisser HD-580's.

Morrow373

Thanks for your reply.....so do I select PCM or bitstream as an output format when using digital connections from my 3109?

daledude

Bitstream should handle all audio formats. PCM will not pass DTS.

Page 33 of the owner's manual shows the actual output in various modes.