Coax - Optical converter - worth it?

[chimpuk]

Bought a new freeview digital box today, and was happy to see that it had digital audio out, however its coax rather than optical, and my AV receiver only has optical input for TV/SAT.
Theres some converters on Ebay (altho only in america for some reason) but Im just wondering if its worth it? Would the signal stay digital throughout the conversion? And is it worth it cus a)no freeview broadcasts in 5.1 or anything, just standard PLII or whatever is used, and b)ive already got it connected to my AV receiver with VERY good quality RCA leads.

Would i notice a difference or is it a waste of time?

[plonky]

I would imagine it does stay digital throughout the conversion.

As for whether its worth it, technically your receiver is almost certainly going to have a better DAC than the freeview box, but whether you would notice the difference on your setup is another matter. Suck it and see I guess!

[Gohan5052]

ok i dont know if i have the same problem or if its just a little similar. i just downloaded windows media center edition and if i get it working i want to get this tv card http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3731146. i was thinking of running the coax cable line into that and have an svideo cable comming from my video card, convert it to an rca connection and then have it go to my tv. but my tv doesnt have the av ports so i would have to run it through the vcr but i dont want to do that cause i hate the vcr. i wanted to know 1. with the video running through all that stuff would the quality go down any? and 2. is there a converter that i can get to change the av signals from the red white and yellow cords into a single coax cable like this ? http://shop3.outpost.com/product/1645718?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[plonky]

To answer your first question, you will be taking a coax feed into the card and outputting that as S-video which should be ok (although I have no idea what your pic quality is like on the coax in) but you are then looking to convert it to composite video which in itself is a step down in quality. You should still get a decent picture if you use reasonable cables (reds may shimmer a bit though)

Re point 2, you need an RF modulator and a VCR does a grand job of that :)

[Crossy]

Bought a new freeview digital box today, and was happy to see that it had digital audio out, however its coax rather than optical, and my AV receiver only has optical input for TV/SAT.
Theres some converters on Ebay (altho only in america for some reason) but Im just wondering if its worth it? Would the signal stay digital throughout the conversion? And is it worth it cus a)no freeview broadcasts in 5.1 or anything, just standard PLII or whatever is used, and b)ive already got it connected to my AV receiver with VERY good quality RCA leads.

Would i notice a difference or is it a waste of time?
Lo m8, u can get the convertors from maplins for about £8-10 but in all honesty u wont need it as nothing broadcasts in digital yet anyway only pro-logic. i got mine hooked up with some decent RCA leads and its fine. But if it was a digital signall it would stay in digital through that setup coaxil to optical.

Cheers Crossy

[jase1]

As Crossy says there are no 5.2 transmissions on Freeview, only PL (although the signal is digital obviously!!!) but the DAC may not be that good in the DTT box (esp if it's a cheapo one) and a digital connection might improve things.

One thing is for sure, your DTT box doesn't warrant high quality phono leads -- put some cheapos on and use the cable for something more deserving.

[chimpuk]

well all this time later im quite happy with the sound, it sounds as good as PLII can, some stuff sounds pretty impressive actually
i will pick up a converter though for the sake of 8 quid if i see one

jase1 it might not warrant them, but ive got my dvd hooked up via digital, xbox via digital and ps2 via digital, only other analog connection is my VCR and that DEF doesnt warrnt them :)