optical cable question
 

hello, I bought these on ebay, and I can't get them to work right. I am unsure but are these optical cables only for audio, did i buy the wrong stuff. Or am I not doing something right? I am trying to hook up my dvd player and my reciever...
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...ndexURL=0&rd=1

Are you saying that you are trying to connect your DVD player to your receiver using this cable for video or audio? What exactly is the problem you are running into? No sound? No 5.1?

Re: optical cable question
 

Yes these are for AUDIO only. Both the DVD player and the Receiver need optical ports on them. The are squarish plugs.

If you have both sets of jacks then once connected you most likely need to enable the settings by checking the setup menu on the dvd player and checking any auto format decode settings on the receiver.

on the back of my dvd player, there are outlets to plug this into. I get no sound when I plug these in. and the fit isn't really tight, is it because I bought the wrong thing, or is it that I only paid $5.00 and I bought junk?

Re: Re: optical cable question
 

I have the reciever on the auto formating option, and the dvd player is switched to audio, optical uotput...

After you plug one end into the receiver, and one end into the dvd player, you have to do some checks. Make sure that your DVD player has "optical out" on. Next, check to make sure you assigned that optical input to the correct channel on your receiver. For example: if you have a DVD channel which the video from the DVD player is connected to, make sure that you set it up so that optical 1 (or which ever one you are using for the DVD player) is set to that DVD channel. If this doesn't work, it is possible, however highly unlikely, that the cable could be damaged.

You mean for example, if my dvd is video 1 on the reciever, then I have to be sure that the cable is pluged into the video 1 slot and the format is auto encoding...

The fit is made to be snug...unless, you didn't take off the little plastic covers on the ends (my first ever experience with an optical audio cable started out like that :p ) . I took of the covers, plugged them in with a pleasant "click" and was off and running.

--HN

Yes. If your DVD player is "Video 1" and you have your optical cable plugged into "Optical 1", you have to make sure that "Optical 1" is assigned to "Video 1".

The cable LOOKS fine to me, so it could be a setup problem. This happend to me when I first bougt my receiver. I had it all plugged in & ready to go but could get NO sounds--turns out I did not have my DVD player setup to "optical" sound. Changed that from no to yes and it's been paradise ever since...
Good luck!
Also, couldn't you try using the cable to connect something, like a CD player, to your receiver?

There may also be an option in you DVD player menu for "bitstream"

To get the 5.1 channel audio, either DD or DTS, from the DVD player to you receiver you may need to choose this option.

The cable will not be too snug, but being an optical cable it should click into the slot.

While playing some material unplug the cable from the receiver and look at the hole on the end. If there is a red light coming out it is sending a signal and it is probably the receiver no decoding it right.

I see the red light coming out of the dvd player, and the reciever is set on optical, but there is no sound. I don't know if this matters, bu thtere is also no light coming out of the other end of the cable

If one end of the cable is plugged into the DVD player and there is no red light coming out of the other end when you look at it end-on, then yes, that's a problem. You either don't have it plugged into the DVD plyer correctly or there is a break in the cable.

those RCA optical cables break easily, i know i had them
also make sure you take off the mini adapters. i say go with monster.

Don't waste your money on Monster.

It's one of three things...

1) There is a break.

2) You didn't take the platic mini plug adapts off.

3) You don't have your DVD player set to output an optical signal.

If getting better quality video and sound from a cable is a waste of money, then waste away I will.

Too bad you don't get a better video and sound from using Monster cables!

And before we stray too off topic:

ivelostr2,

If the light is coming out of the player, but not out of the cable plugged into the player it sounds like the cable may be broken inside.

Pick up another cheap optical cable from Radio Shack to check it out, you can always take it back.

Umm... I do. In fact I get much better video and sound from using Monster Cables.

Ah... the great Monster rules/Monster sucks debate... Guess I'll weigh in on this without getting too far off the topic of this thread...

We're dealing with a 6ft optical run here... There is NO video signal involved. So, let's drop that shall we? That brings us to ivelostr2's problem... I'm fairly certain that had ivelostr2 intended to spend $50 for a 6ft run of Monster, then ivelostr2 would have done so.

Now, if it's worth $40+ to you to have Monster, go for it. If you want your whole crib wall to wall with Monster, go for it. But, facts are, there's nothing wrong with that RCA cable except...

1) It's broken.

2) The plugs are still on.

3) The DVD player is not set to output the stream.

If you are noticing such a dramatic difference between cables(referring to you optical thread also) I think the problem lies with the quality of your components and not the actual differences in cables!

While I do/did have a modest setup. I never noticed a difference with any Monster product I tried and they eventually all went back or in a box. IMHO they are the Bose of the cable world. All marketing hype with horrible quality.

I had a Monster S-Video cable a while back and saw no improvement. In fact the ends of the cable were so heavy they kept falling out of the socket on my TV!

I used some Monster flat cable($1/ft) that was decently made, but it offered no sound improvement over Recoton 12AWG cable($2.49 per 40/ft roll) I use. Although either does the Nordost Flatline cable($5/ft) I have either!

Positioning your speakers correctly, making sure they are calibrated, timbre matched, broken in, match your components tonal characteristics and making sure all the levels are matched is much more important than spending money on "boutique" cables and wire!

As long as a speaker wire is Oxygen free and at least 14AWG, a coax is 75 ohm and well shielded, a Toslink is not bent or broken;) and all your connections are tight there will be no real world improvement to justify the cost of more expensive cables!

I believe the problem might lie in the audio setup of your DVD. Go into the audio/video setup menu off your DVD and make sure that DTS sound is turned on and the output stream is changed from PCM to Bitstream. Hope this helps.

What brand/model of DVD player and receiver do you have?

Maybe some of us with those models can walk you through the steps and make sure you have it set up correctly:)

I think most people would agree that the $10,000+ system I am referring to is pretty quality. Not the best, but better than most. I switched out some cables I received with the products for Monster and saw a great difference. More recently, my friend just purchased a Sony Wega 36". He switched out the cheep s-video cable for a Monster and results were noticable. Monster is great stuff which will improve your system.

I checked, I have 2 options, D-PCM, or dolby digital.
it was set on dolby digital, no bitsteam option,


I have a sony dvd player dvps560D
and a sony reciever str DE 875


thankn you all for so much help, or attemps at it anyway

Let's not jack this thread too far into the Monster debate territory...

<b>ivelostr2</b> - What do you mean "off"? Your make and model of player and/or receiver might help... I have a Sony and I'm pretty sure in the audio setup menu there is a choice for optical out on or off. Obviously, it needs to be on. Start there and see what kind of options you have... I think we've gone about as far as we can with the info you've made available.

well, i don't have monster cables, but I also don't have $10,000. Maybe that is why you can tell the difference. I have a $400 reciever, $700 in speakers, and a $300 dvd player, I'm sure you can tell much more the difference in the quality on your system than I can on mine.

Okay, who here owns a DVP S-560?

Doesn't this model have an onboard DD/DTS decoder? Could that have anything to do with this problem?

sorry, I was doing 2 things at once and didn't pre read my post, I meant it say that it was set to dolby digital

I don't have Sony products so I can't help much sorry:(

There are alot of people here with those models though, so hopefully someone will be able help you out!

All I can say is try setting it to PCM and playing a CD to see if you get any sound that way.

I don't have Sony equipment... sorry I can't be of further assistance in helping you solve your problem.

do you mean, try playing a cd with the optical cable attached?

It does have a dd/dts decoder "onboard"

Yes and put it in PCM mode

I am just trying to determine if it is your settings or your cable, hopefully it isn't both:)

Does the optical cable you bought have Toslink to Toslink connectors on the end? The are two types of end connectors on optical cables, the name of the other type escapes me( I believe that some mini disc players use them) but the cable you need should have Toslink connectors on each end. If it doesn't, that could explain why they don't seem to fit right. I have a Sony dvd player and a Sony reciever, my dvd player is hooked by optical cable to the dvd/ld input, I also have a Sony laserdisc player that I hooked into the tv/sat input with another optical cable. Try hooking your cable into the other optical input (tv/sat) on your receiver, see if you are getting any output there. If not, it is probably a broken cable. Look around, you can usually find a decent cable for around $20

As for the Monster cable debate, don't waste your money. Not because Monster Cable makes an inferior product, but because there are are a dozen knock-offs that offer identical quality for a fraction of the price. High-end cables are good, Monster is a rip. You might as well buy your dvds in your local mall.

Also, NEVER BUY A HIGH END DIGITAL COAXIAL CABLE!!! There is no difference between high end and low end.