I am SO frustrated. Here's the situation:

I have a DVD player with the following outputs: RCA-L,R,Video; and optical digital audio out.

So basically there's no digital decoder in the DVD player.

I also have no decoder in my receiver, but have the inputs for 5.1 audio.

Now you might be able to tell me why the hell can't I find a stand-alone decoder anywhere?

Seriously, I've been searching for about an hour and can't find a damned thing! I would think that this situation might come up quite often. It's a question of having the wrong combinations.

All I've found is this product on ebay, but it looks super old, judging by the tape input (why do you need 5.1 surround for a casette?), and the bad pictures that don't let me see if there's an optical digital in or just those two RCA jacks. I have a feeling it's the latter. Wouldn't that mean it just splits the stereo signal? That sucks.

Do you guys have ANY idea where/if I can find something like this?

That ebay unit doesn't look like it does what you want. I saw a Technics unit in Crutchfield a while back, but they don't seem to carry it anymore. I found it refurbished here for $79. At that price, I would personally buy a new DVD player with a built-in decoder.

While searching for the Technics, I also came across the Sony SDP-EP9ES which also seems to do what you want. There is one on eBay right now.

Usually, people would buy either:

a) A DVD player with 5.1 decoding built-in, or,

b) An amp/receiver with 5.1 decoding built-in.

Since both of the above items are terribly common, the need for a separate external decoder is so rare that no one could make money selling them.

At least not now they can't. I remember when DVD players first came out, there were a few external 5.1 decoders on the market to help people "transition", but I haven't seen one in literally years. There's just no market for them.

For now, just use the stereo outputs from your DVD player into the stereo inputs on your amp/receiver. I would assume that your receiver has regular Dolby Surround decoding built-in? That will work fine, you will get surround sound from all of your movies. It just won't be six discrete channels, it'll be four matrixed channels, which is still pretty good.

I have to admit that I'm not 5.1-capable in my household yet, I'm still running regular Dolby Surround and I'm quite happy. Just tonight I was watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and thinking to myself how good the system sounded and how well-balanced it was.

Eventually, you'll get a new amp or a new DVD player and you'll be able to get 5.1 decoding in whichever one of those items you get. But for now, don't sweat it.

You probably can't find one because the main cost is "everything else" besides the dolby digital decoder chip...

Off the top of my head, I know of two digital decoders, neither of which are too cost effective. The first is the Creative Extigy usb sound card, which also works as a standalone dolby digital decoder. The seccond is sold by Klipsch as an add-on to their promedia line of PC speakers. I have the extigy as a sound card for my laptop, and it's a neat hack, but USB and sound were never meant for each other. If you've got a laptop, it's the best you're going to get however.

Both of these are goign to run you $150 or so new. You'd probably be better off investing in a new DVD player or reciver, unless the ones you have a really top of the line or you feel like adding a USB jack of sorts to your home theater system.

Matthew

Yes, I've come to the sad realization of this fact.

The problem is that my receiver is somewhat on the cheap end. Therefore it has the 5.1 inputs, but not the decoder built in. The DVD player is possibly the cheapest on the market (I got it for free) and it has the digital optical audio output, and no decoder built in.

I can see why they wouldn't have made an external decoder since in most cases it's people buying the less expensive stuff anyway, so the money you save would be spent on an external decoder anyway.

Anyway, the problem I'm running into now is that I want a new DVD player, and really want the new Philips DVDR985 (DVD Recorder). The unit, I was suprised to discover, also does not have a decoder built in.

So I'm thinking I'm going to need to buy a new receiver.

I have a Videologic DigiTheatre Decoder, which works great.

It has both Optical and Coax digital inputs, plus analog inputs for Dolby Surround.
Dolby Digital only though, no DTS (if you care about such things)

I paid about 100ukp for it. I don't know if it is still for sale anywhere (their site shows it as unavailable), but you might be able to find one second hand from someone upgrading.

Click for Details

No, I couldn't find that item for sale anywhere.

Tony, my problem is that my cheap receiver has a design flaw in it: it forces 5.1 sound on me. If I select the DVD input, it expects all surround channels to have input into them from either the DVD player or decoder. So what do I get? Since I have it set up for the equipment I have, I get nothing but front left/right. Nothing out of the rears, center, or sub. I also can't select ANYTHING but 5.1 surround, and the LED flashes whenever I try. It's a stupid design, but what can I expect from Radio Shack crap.

So that's the basic story of why I was looking for that input selector a while back. I was starting to get limited to the inputs on my receiver (because I couldn't put anything into the DVD input) so I needed a selector. Now it's like anything else I have going into the receiver, the stereo signal is sent to the different channels. It's fine for now.

I'm either going to get a new (but cheap) receiver, or the 5.1 add-on to the Klipsch Promedia speakers. I had completely forgotten about that unit (even being the big Promedia fan I am).

Thanks for the help guys!

A new receiver is the way to go - it is possible to buy separate decoders, but only in the audiophile domain, and that doesn't sound like what you are looking for.

What would your budget be? You can pick up some great receivers for under $350 now... eg Onkyo TX-DS595, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1353819558

You'll be much better off with a new receiver than a DVD player with built in decoding. A receiver will likely have more flexible bass management choices to more accurately match the capability of your speakers. A current model receiver will also likely decode DTS which is a lesser used but superior 5.1 format to DD. Dolby Pro Logic II is also trickling down to the cheaper receivers and it is supposed to do a credible job of extracting 5.1 channels out of a stereo source. I have not heard DPL II myself but I have heard the high end predeccesor developed by the same guy (Jim Fosgate) and it was impressive. And, most importantly, a receiver allows you to decode other digital sources like DSS, digital cable, DTS CDs, XBox, computer or a future DVD player you might buy.

If you can somehow find a way to scrape the cash together I'd encourage you to get a receiver that has multiple optical and coax digital inputs and that will switch s-video (maybe even component). Depending on your equipment, these may seem like unnecessary luxuries now but they will save you from having to buy another receiver or cascading switchboxes in the future as you acquire more/better source equipment. As you've discovered, it's a pain in the ass when your central hub (the receiver) doesn't have the inputs or capabilities you want. You end up spending more money for a half ass solution that requires multiple switchboxes and is cumbersome to operate.

Good luck.

-Dylan

I have been selling quite a few things privately through this BBS lately, so why not another? I have a Sony STR-DE945 I am about to dump on eBay. Tons of inputs, optical and coaxial, S-Video and composite video switching. The only reason I'm not using it is lack of component video swtiching.

Let me know if you're interested. I will take pics of the back of the unit if you want.