Analogue audio output on THP55

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ADKM

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#85311 17-Jun-2011 00:32

Almost sold on a Panasonic THP55 ST30z and reading the specs I see 'DigitaI Audio Output (Optical) 1' and no mention of analogue audio output, which I need.

Have others struck this and is there a solution? Thanks

Cheers - Kirk

fahrenheit

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#482186 17-Jun-2011 12:27

Panasonic NZ site is often incomplete. Looking at the Australian site and panasonic.net helps to fill in the blanks.
Of course there is still a chance that its not on the NZ model but thats unlikely.

What I found really interesting is that the 42" and 50" ST30s are assembled in thailand and have four fans on the back. The 55" is assembled in Japan and has the cutouts for the fans, but no fans installed.

Dunnersfella

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#482346 17-Jun-2011 19:54

Yup - it has analogue audio outputs, as well as a headphone port and an optical port.

ADKM

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#482348 17-Jun-2011 20:06

Thanks for the info. Pleased it has, as there is no way to convert optical back to analogue AFAIK. Or nor easily, maybe there's DIY kitsets. Fortunately no need to now.

For anyone interested, I found out more about the USB port recording options. Primitive, you can only time shift on the channel being watched. No record to flash drive, only HDD or SD Card, and not transportable to any other platform, or even another identical TV.

Cheers - Kirk

Dunnersfella

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#482648 18-Jun-2011 19:12

Yup - the HDD recording has improved from last year... but not in a way to make it a real viable option. The SD recording is the only way I could imagine using it personally.

And for the record, you can use a DAC (Digital Analogue Convertor) to convert optical to RCA. You'll find them from $100 to $150 I guess, can't tell you if they're any good.
In the hifi world, separate component DAC's are used a lot, especially to convert USB out of a PC, into an amp - all to offer superior sound.

sbiddle

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#482657 18-Jun-2011 19:53

ADKM: Thanks for the info. Pleased it has, as there is no way to convert optical back to analogue AFAIK. Or nor easily, maybe there's DIY kitsets. Fortunately no need to now.

For anyone interested, I found out more about the USB port recording options. Primitive, you can only time shift on the channel being watched. No record to flash drive, only HDD or SD Card, and not transportable to any other platform, or even another identical TV.

SPDIF to analogue converters aren't hard to come by, last time I looked on eBay you could pick them up for NZ$50 and from memory Jaycar also used to stock them.

The ability to record only the channel being watched makes total sence as a TV only has a single tuner.

ADKM

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#482661 18-Jun-2011 20:13

The ability to record only the channel being watched makes total sence as a TV only has a single tuner.

LOL - so true, my apologies. Guess I was thrown by the way it locked down whatever was recorded. I bought a HDD for it thinking it would be useful for porting to other platforms etc, plus double as a media player but didn't even bother connecting it. The book is full of warnings and worrying statements like "may not play back properly' and "automatically deleted" etc. Pitiful. It won't even record to a memory stick.

But it does have analogue audio out (at least on the NZ model). Thanks for the tip about convertors, good to know.

Cheers - Kirk

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sbiddle

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#482672 18-Jun-2011 20:59

Lockdown is something content owners enforce on manufacturers who have no choice but to enforce it.

USB flash drives and HDD's are different classes of USB mass storage devices and I'm guessing Panasonic decided for whatever reason they wouldn't support flash drives.