[SteveOwens]

I bought a CLD-980 laserdisc player when I was in college many moons ago and it still works like a champ. Since I am putting together a little more high end room now, I decided to upgrade since I have a lot of great LDs that I can't let go of.


I bought a Pioneer Elite CLD-95 from eBay for $220. Great picture! The unit has been modified to add a AC3 RF output so I just ordered a Yamaha APD-1 from the guy in Australia that is selling them currently on eBay.


I have the optical out of the CLD-95 running into my Denon AVR-3802 receiver and the DTS discs are working great! I never thought Laserdiscs could sound so good.


When the Yamaha AC-3 Demodulator arrives and is connected, it receive the RF and output either optical or digital coax DD signal. I guess I will have to run that into the receiver into another digital input. That will force me to change the receiver setting from one digital input to another, depending on the type of disc that I am playing.


On to the question.... is there any other way to set this up to avoid having to make that change each time?


Steve Owens

Atlanta, GA

 

[Stanton]

That is, unless you want to buy a new receiver with an AC-3 LD input (which I guess you've already decided against since you bought the APD-1) or an external digital audio "switcher" that selects the active signal between it's inputs and yields one output (but that may not even work since most LD's have PCM or DTS soundtracks active all the time).

If you had asked this question earlier (before you started buying stuff), I would have recommended buying a newer receiver that has:

1) An AC-3 RF input (like my Yamaha) that automatically scans the LD input "tree", or

2) User assignable/selectable inputs (although you may only be able to assign a coax+optical to one input, not 2 optical--but you get the idea).

To make your existing setup work, you'll have to use one of the inputs (like a CD) that won't switch off your video feed when you bounce back and forth!

 

[John Wilson]

If your 3802 has an auto priority option for any of the inputs, it will be able to determine which digital input is active and select that one. Your LD player will either output a digital signal from the optical out (DTS) or the RF AC-3 out but not both. My Sony 777ES has a priority scheme for each digital input so it just keeps looking until it finds an active input. I hope I haven't confused you more as I don't have a 3802 and was just trying to interpret from the online owners manual.


John

 

[Rachael Bellomy]

Steve, you can use an outboard digital switcher to get what U want. One of the Audio Authority switchers will no nicely. Their switchers have four prioritized inputs, some models also have a 5th, front panel optical, mine does. The thang looks for an active signal at 1, then 2, ect. So, you'd take the output of the demod and put it into 1. Then put the optical into 2 so that if there's no AC-3 the switcher does PCM or DTS. Plus you'll have 2 or 3 extra digital inputs. You could also use an MSB Digital Director to do this too but it doesn't have a manual over-ride if you wanted to sample the PCM on an AC-3 disc, which you might? I have AC-3 discs where I prefer the PCM myself. Best wishes from Laserland!

 

[Tom Blizzard]

Rachael,

You've got my curiosity up. Which Lds do you like the PCM better than AC-3? I'd love to see if I've got'em and do an A/B comparison.


I do remember that Gary R. use to make that same comment sometimes in

Widescreen Review.

 

[Rachael Bellomy]

Tom, just off the top of my head THE FLY (original), GONE WITH THE WIND, STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, and the last time I viewed STAR WARS & THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (SPECIAL EDITIONS) I switched back and forth and decided the PCM was better. I've never played many of my AC-3 discs in PCM. With AC-3, typically, the dialog is nailed to the centre channel better but that seems to be the main advantage. Usually, everything else sounds better with PCM. I do prefer the AC-3 on COURAGE UNDER FIRE, the sounds effects, particularly helicopters, come off better.


When AC-3 first came around I got so infatuated with it I forgot to listen to PCM. I heard some people comment that they preffered PCM over AC-3 and when I've checked it out for myself, I often have too. Best wishes!

 

[drewman]

I have both a Panasonic RP-56 and an XBOX that output optical audio. I didn't want to buy an optical switcher (my amp only has one input), so I took a chance and bought this $10 optical splitter from RadioShack. I then wired it backwards, so instead of two outputs, I fed it two inputs and the other side wired to my amp.


It works great! As long as the DVD player or the XBOX is off while the other is on, I don't have any problems with dropouts. If both are on, I occasionaly get audio, but mostly just noise.


So, if each output of your LaserDisc is only active when a signal is present on the disc, I think this should work for you too.


Andrew


edit: I guess it won't since the main optical out will always have something on it. I'll leave this up though for others to use if they want

 

[S Dayton]

I have the Audio Authority 1177 switch and it works like a champ. I have the digital output of three LD players and the Yamaha demod all hooked into it and the auto sensing works like a charm. I have not experianced any audio dropouts either. May be worth looking into.

 

[SteveOwens]

For those of you that were hanging on the edge of your seat to see how this thread was resolved....


At the suggestion of Rachael, I got the Audio Authority 1177 and it does exactly what I need. Priority switching of the following inputs...


Input 1 - Yamaha ADP-1 AC-3 Demodulator Output (Doldy Digital)

Input 2 - PCM Optical Output from Pioneer CLD-95

Input 3 - MyHD HDTV Card Output from HTPC

Inout 4 - Audiophile 2496 Sound Card Output from HTPC


The LD takes highest priority since the HTPC is on all the time and LD is used more rarely. Then the MyHD card takes priority when the software is launched. Otherwise it's the PC audio.


The output of the AA1177 is run into my VDP input on the Denon AVR-3802.


Thanks to everyone for the help.


Steve Owens

 

[Rachael Bellomy]

 Steve, does you AA switcher have the front optical so that you stille have one silly jack left? You loaded it up!


To anybody else contemplating using a prioritized switcher, I got an MSB Digital Director too about the same time I got my AA unit. Anyway, the cheap light AA unit is stille going strong and the heavier, more expensive DD has taken the road to perdition. It drops out for about a second every twenty to forty minutes. It also seemed to cause some lipsync problems with my HLD-X9 and one of my DVD players the last time I had it hooked up. It didn't last much beyond it's warranty. On paper the DD looks better but AA has delivered. Best wishes from Laserland!

 

[SteveOwens]

Nope - no jack on the front so no inputs left - full house! This is the one that I have - http://209.248.228.2/aacconsumers/1177detc.html


But I still have 2 optical inputs available on the receiver.


Thanks again for your help and suggestions.


Steve

 

[Rachael Bellomy]

You're welcome Steve! Mine is an 1155 and has S-Video switching too. Best wishes!

 

[tomdkat]

I'm not sure but the Pioneer RFD-1 RF demodulator might be what you need. It has an AC-3 RF input and optical and coax digital inputs and outputs and will auto-switch between AC-3 and non-AC-3 digital inputs and ouptut a digital signal to BOTH digital outputs (optical and coax).


Send me e-mail: [email protected] and I will send you scans of the manual for the SPARE RFD-1 that I have that I AM willing to sell, but for a price.


Those units sold on eBay like HOT CAKES and fetched MUCH HIGHER dollars than the Yamaha APD-1s that are still selling on eBay. The Kenwood RF demods were also outsold by the Pioneer RFD-1s as well.


Peace......