Darren Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Optical or Digital coaxel - any difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 If you buy glass optical, there's no difference until you get up over 5 meters. The standard plastic optical has a tendency to smear the HF content. I just ordered a case of 2M Ultralink Advanced Performance digital coax to fill CCSakura's order for a piece, so if you need a couple, let me know - drop me an e-mail from the forum and I'll get you a price list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 This is a toss-up for most, I think. Based on cost and durability, I lean towards coax over optical. You can use a good quality video cable. The digital coax label does nothing, IMHO, but give an excuse to charge more (not saying Griff is doing that - just cable companies in general). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsakura Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I read about they don't make a difference until you run very long cable(I forgot the number, 100ft? ). Because of the coaxial's signal will start to degrade after that range and the optical still remained more or less the same. The other difference is you have to take care about the optical cable that don't let it bend or being stuck under some component by accident. They break easier than the coaxial. I don't really fully understand how the optics don't degrade as it passes thru the cable since there's some molecules inside the fiber(if this degrades then the quality goes down alot and more noise). Other may give you better explanation about this . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 ---------------- On 3/1/2004 2:11:05 PM ccsakura wrote: I read about they don't make a difference until you run very long cable(I forgot the number, 100ft? ). Because of the coaxial's signal will start to degrade after that range and the optical still remained more or less the same. The other difference is you have to take care about the optical cable that don't let it bend or being stuck under some component by accident. They break easier than the coaxial. I don't really fully understand how the optics don't degrade as it passes thru the cable since there's some molecules inside the fiber(if this degrades then the quality goes down alot and more noise). Other may give you better explanation about this . ---------------- That's totally incorrect, actually. While it's true that you can run 100 feet of digital coax without significant loss, plastic optical fiber will lose signal stability at 6 meters or less, depending on the grade. Glass optical is much better for long runs, and is the only apropriate path for high-rez audio (above 24/48) - but it still won't go much more than 30M on a single run without some type of re-amplification of the light signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 ---------------- On 3/1/2004 2:08:51 PM dougdrake wrote: This is a toss-up for most, I think. Based on cost and durability, I lean towards coax over optical. You can use a good quality video cable. The digital coax label does nothing, IMHO, but give an excuse to charge more (not saying Griff is doing that - just cable companies in general). ---------------- LOL! FWIW, I sell Ultralink Matrix series composite video and digital coaxial cables at the same price ($22.50 for a 2M run) I recommend moving up to the UDC (Advanced Performance) as I did with CC because they use a two-conductor twisted-pair configuration for the signal carrier - big time RFI and EMI rejection difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsakura Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 ---------------- On 3/1/2004 2:25:50 PM Griffinator wrote: That's totally incorrect, actually. While it's true that you can run 100 feet of digital coax without significant loss, plastic optical fiber will lose signal stability at 6 meters or less, depending on the grade. Glass optical is much better for long runs, and is the only apropriate path for high-rez audio (above 24/48) - but it still won't go much more than 30M on a single run without some type of re-amplification of the light signal. ---------------- You should be the right, that could explain the decrease in quality after certain ranges. Or I just mixed both of them up . My bad Anyway, I always prefer coaxial over optical, the optical seems to be more appropriate for the portable audio like MD walkman that can't plug anything like coaxial RCA plug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Optical definitely has its uses, but they're primarily restricted to the Pro Audio realm where (as I do) people use ADAT-type interfaces for multitrack transfer from an A/D converter to a recorder or digital audio workstation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsakura Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 ---------------- On 3/1/2004 2:08:51 PM dougdrake wrote: This is a toss-up for most, I think. Based on cost and durability, I lean towards coax over optical. You can use a good quality video cable. The digital coax label does nothing, IMHO, but give an excuse to charge more (not saying Griff is doing that - just cable companies in general). ---------------- As you go to buy some cables in bulk, people will usually figre out coaxial, tv's coaxial and the video share the same thing........ besides the plugs. There are too many shops that place different name on the same cable(recalling some scenes that just exchange the package and say there's another products in some old comedies). Well just marketing, placing the word "digital" increases a product 30% price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Only exception I'd make to that list is the TV(cable) coaxial - if that's what you were referring to. I don't know of any composite video or SPDIF cable that uses plain RG-59 or RG-6 with RCA plugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 ---------------- On 3/1/2004 2:55:46 PM Griffinator wrote: Only exception I'd make to that list is the TV(cable) coaxial - if that's what you were referring to. I don't know of any composite video or SPDIF cable that uses plain RG-59 or RG-6 with RCA plugs. ---------------- i have 2 surr.systems hooked up to ONE dvd player in the big screen pj room. i used rg-6 as a digital coax cable run from the dvd player to-get this-the output of a 2-way a/b switch. the 2 inputs are being used as outputs to the digital coax in on the yammy rxv-1400/and/fosgate pre-pro. i don't know how many 'rules' i broke, but it works great! avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 EEEK! Hey, if it works for ya, great. I just gotta wonder how it would work vs. a proper discrete path from one box to the other with a properly shielded piece. Hey - I got an idea on how to solve this! I'll get back with you shortly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 o.k. griff-standing by av. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 Oh - I didn't mean for you to sit and wait for it. Give me a day or two. I think I can sort it out pretty quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 whew!!! now i can eat lunch btw-interested in what you come up with,but it really sounds fine av. P.S. here's another one for you: using a manual a/v switcher backwards(turning 4-in/one out into 4-out/one in)as a component video switcher!(INCLUDING HD!) i use the video for green,red audio for red,and white for blue. once again, probably breaking 'rules', but IT WORKS! avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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