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Good Dolby Digital Decoder?


ultrosia

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I've been looking for a good hardware Dolby Digital decoder for some time now. What I mean by good is that it can downmix to 4.1, has large speaker support (for my promedias), and doesn't lose any channels (like LFE). I haven't had much luck in finding one that doesn't cost a fortune. Anyone know of any?

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Do you want a nice unit like the AD-300 made in Tiawan?

or XDTS80 that you solder power plug to, does hardware dts and leaves AC3 to software decode. Open case, all the way. $70 ebay

or something like the panasonic sh-500 whatever or a 500 watt reciever from egghead with good switching features with AC3, DTS, full, and small support, ect... $250- $300

I really hate to spend $300 to get the decoding of a $14 chip.

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Yeah, I was looking for something like the AD300 but I'm not sure if it can downmix to 4 channels and whether or not it can mix the LFE in with the others. I e-mailed them asking about it but I haven't heard back from them yet. As for a receiver, that seems like it would be a little too much for my tastes. The XDTS80 almost seemed good, but I would have to be able to decode AC3 and not so much DTS.

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Do you have a 4 channel sound card? If so get PowerDVD it decodes dolby digital. It will downmix to 4 channels and it has large speaker support. Otherwise get a good sound card (santa cruz or phillips) and PowerDVD and it will work fine. I'd go with the santa cruz. You don't really need a hardware decoder.

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rol1:

Do you know how to get the XDTS80 decoder to work? I bought one off ebay, but I can't get it working correctly. I have a SB Live Value and a H+ DVD decoder card. I have the XDTS80 connected to the H+ through the S/P DIF jack, the XDTS80 connected to the sound card using Y-adapters, and the promedias connected to the XDTS80 using various adapters. The analog sound works fine with the XDTS80, but I'm having trouble with the DTS signal. I know the signal is being decoded because the LCD displays the DTS symbol, and I can hear the sound when the DTS intro plays on DVDs. But when the actual movie starts, I can't get any sound except when I turn the volume knob on the XDTS80. And then its only for a second for each click of the knob. I don't know what's wrong, and I don't know how to fix the problem. Any suggestions?

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I posted this in another post but give it a shot:

To get the best DVD sound with your promdias try this...if u have a DVD with the

"THX optimode menu" you can test to see if its actually using all the 5.1 downmixed to 4.1.... if you dont have one with optimode rent the movie Titan AE, or fantasia 2000 which has it...im sure many others have it too.

when you play the audio test.. it will play a pink noise on

-left

-right

-center(in our case phantom "both left and right should be heard")

-rear right

-rear left

-subwoofer (you should hear a low rumble)

download dvd genie fire it up

note: you can enable LFE in the Dvd genie menu.

1-Make sure LFE is checked

2-Click on "more"

3-select 6 speakers

4-for audiorange select

"amplified more volume"

I strongly recomend that you DONT use Power DVD it makes anything sound like garbage ...at least with any live card ive heard...

WinDVD sounds excellent, try it if you can make sure you get winDVD 2000 ver 2.3, ive tried others which dont have multispeaker support.

Make sure you have liveware 3.0

That should sound fine for your needs ive heard a hardware decoder with the promedias and its not much different than that setup there. (unless you have a large room with left and right speakers really far apart and you have a center channel connected)

let me know if that works!

------------------

All your BASS are belong to klipsch.

-------------------------

------->

lmao hehehe

http://www.suave.net/~jason/ayb2.swf

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I tried WinDVD and it was able to get everything working nice. Thanks swerv smile.gif Also, I looked at the SH-AC500D and it looks like just what I was looking for just a little expensive, but it led me to find the SH-AC300 which looks like it is just right also. Thanks Sputnik-of-Bass smile.gif

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XF1013,

. It sounds as if the splash screen has a stereo .wav, then doesn't select the DTS as source.

Did you get a operating manual? If not you can download the .pdf's to get the details on selecting things like large and small, or stereo to 5.1 or 5.0.

KBlair is the one for an update about the XDTS80, as he actually bought one of the 3 piece mobile theatre sets flushed by ubid over the last few months.

Let me know how it works out?

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Ult I had the same prob for a long time and realized one thing, just get the ads-2000. I got mine new and shipped for 95.00 total. It's amazing. The remote kicks but, and if your doing the promedia deal, than why use the ads-3000 which is essentialy the same with rca jacks that you have to convert to mini-jacks when the ads-2000 has mini-jack connectors. The ads-2000 is great, cheap, and can be replaced (upgraded) easily at little cost if a "good" dts decoder comes out. I tried a jazz decoder once over at the campus and the 4 channel was horrible. If I were you i'd spend the 105.00 get ads-2000, buy two y-cables to get analog 4 channel from your soundcard and still be connected to the ads-2000 without switchin. Also if you don't have it fork the 25.00 for the real magic remote control, it kicks arse. The LFE I connected with a mono y and the difference is hardly noticable. The stereo center (uncommon) on the ads-2000 is awesome and the lfe/sub type channeling from your fronts and center easily replaces your lost lfe and then some. Save some cash, and wait for a "good" dts decoder or new decoder format in a year, thats what I'm doing, and can tell you, the battle over 5.1 and 4x gaming is easily solved with y's and the ads-2000.

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Also worth noting ult, 4x downmixing is horrible in some movies no matter what. Even in the small environment, I found I went crazy without a pair of 2.1's on the center (way worth it). My 6.3 rocks the house beyond breakage. If I were you I'd save the dough, on receiver, heck, I heard of some people round the board selling used ads-2000's for like 75.00, buy one of those, and used the extra dough on a ebay 2.1 or mysimoned pricewatched 2.1. It's way worth it if your dvd hollywood+ philin. I went that route and was never happier.

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