MySky HDi Audio

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paul151

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#32167 15-Apr-2009 09:39

I have an Onkyo Home Theatre Receiver that I have just connected to my MySky HDi via HDMI.

The HDMI seems to be passing only 2 channel PCM stereo to the receiver, reading some other threads here I understand this is the norm?

I also understand that I can use the digital audio out (coax and optical) to get a dolby 5.1 feed into the receiver?

Not sure how much I will gain by purchasing a coaxial or optical cable and establishing this link.

Can someone talk me through what content is broadcast with this superior audio stream, is it very much? Is it limited to the HD channels? (I only have TV3 in the starter package), If the audio quality is programme specific but not limited to the HD channels what proposrtion of content is broadcast in 5.1?

If I were to connect the HDi to the Onkyo do you recommend coaxial or optical, and what pitfalls should I be aware of if any?

Thanks for your advice.

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cyril7

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#207031 15-Apr-2009 10:35

Hi paul, TV3 transmits DD on its Sky HD feed 24/7 however only programs that have a DD track (typically only some that are also HD source). The rest of the time the DD feed will be only 2ch, but using the AC3 codec all the time. Some Sky sports HD material has DD5.1 but not all and most HD Movies do.

It seems a common issue that most DVB HD chipsets dont support transporting multichannel audio over HDMI so Sky NZ is not alone in this, infact I know of no DVB decoders that do support this, but I am sure they are out there.

I personally prefer a coax connection it is a lot more reliable than optical, although in practice they both work fine, but I have found optical is more prone to poor connections due to issues surrounding simple plastic fibre connections. The coax connection is fine, if the cable length is under 10meters or so then any basic RCA-RCA cable will do its a very robust interface, so dont spend any money on a cable, just a warehouse analog audio RCA lead is fine, obviuosly only one lead is needed.

Cyril

paul151

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#207045 15-Apr-2009 11:31

Hi Cyril,

Thanks for the heads up.

So the non HD channels are always standard pcm 2 channel audio?

I was wondering if a standard RCA audio cable would suffice for the coaxial connection and from what you have offered it will. Why coaxial in the first place, is it the braided shielding that it offers over the longer runs?

Sounds like ( no pun intended ) there may be little benefit to move to a coaxial / optical connection.

Regards, Paul.

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cyril7

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#207061 15-Apr-2009 13:00

Hi, the interface offically is a 75ohm coaxial connection as would be used with baseband video, however as the bandwidth is quite low (around 1.5MHz max) in short runs the losses and reflections presented by a simple hiZ shielded cable (ie basic audio cable) presents no problems, just as using a basic audio cable for a 2-3m run of composite video has no real impact on the image it conveys.

Yes there is probably little advantage except for those few prime time programs on TV3, and if you book a PPV HD movie.

Cheers
Cyril

clevedon

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#207206 16-Apr-2009 07:34

We have the above setup and only use HDMI for picture and optical for sound, at least when 5.1 is broadcast you have it. For the cost of the cheap cable, I can't see why you wouldn't set it up like that.

paul151

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#207309 16-Apr-2009 14:14

Follow-up to this thread..

I have connected the Onkyo to the MySky HDi viw the coaxial audio input using (as per cyril's suggestion) a standard 1 meter AV lead and everything works fine.

I'm now hearing dolby digital audio on TV3, waiting to find other content on any other channel I can also listen to.

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hairy1

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#207331 16-Apr-2009 15:55

Cyril,

OT, but you mentioned PPV HD movies. We bought one the other day from one of the Box office channels but it wasn't hd. Are the on-demand ones HD?

Cheers,

Matt.

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Loopykiwi

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#207367 16-Apr-2009 19:41

Hey Matt,

PPV Movies are not HD. The only Channels in HD currently are TV3, Sky Sport 1 and 2, Sky Movies 1 and Sky movies Greats. Coming soon however are TV1 and TV2, but not too much worth watching on those 2 channels

Hopefully Sky will have more channels ,Discovery HD, Animal Planet HD etc by the end of the year

Cheers,

Loops

cyril7

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#207677 17-Apr-2009 19:51

Hi Matt, my bad you are right, PPV is only SD. To my way of thinking (and prove me wrong) but to offer HD movies full time live as Sky does is a bit odd. Foxtel dont have a HD movie channel instead movies are delived via OnDemand, which is a much better use of bandwidth and conciderering all Sky Hd decoderss are PVRs (ie Ondemand capable) it makes common sense to do that, if they delivered movies that way there would be more bandwidth for them to provide DiscoveryHD and other channels etc.

Ah well

Cyril

allstarnz

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#207709 18-Apr-2009 00:09

thanks for bringing this up, had a bit of a fiddle and hey presto, proper 5.1 back on the sound system. Was also running the audio via HDMI for a while there

I agree, why have HD movie channels, just have less on demand and make them all HD

rugrat

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#207734 18-Apr-2009 10:11

allstarnz: thanks for bringing this up, had a bit of a fiddle and hey presto, proper 5.1 back on the sound system. Was also running the audio via HDMI for a while there

I agree, why have HD movie channels, just have less on demand and make them all HD

I prefer it the way it is. On demand costs $7 a movie. The movie channels cost around $20 a month with about 8 new movies a month (so would cost $56 if all watched on PPV), I have just got to wait 4 to 6 months from when movie appears on PPV to watch them at the way more reasonable cost.

In saying above, I don't understand why on demand isn't HD, as it's not like it has to download at high speed or anything, they can take 6 hours or as long as they like to download one movie to it, so can't see any band width issues with it.

I agree on demand should be HD, but disagree with doing away with HD movie channels with current price structures.

allstarnz

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#208572 22-Apr-2009 15:41

on a slightly related note, does anyone know why Sky aren't doing 5.1 audio for non New Zealand events? (except cricket from Nine in Aus)

I have noticed in the past few days that Super 14 from Aus, EPL and NASCAR are all only using 2 channels for their audio? I am 100% sure that NASCAR is in 5.1 (it sounds fantastic with the 'crank it up sections'), but totally sure about EPL and S14 from Aus.

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DS9

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#208708 22-Apr-2009 23:44

Hi,

I think once the 6th or 7th transponder is fired up for TV1 & 2 HD, I hope they will start adding HD ondemand movies, they have used up much space as I would like at the moment.

I aim to misbehave.