I would like to connect the analog and digital inputs from my CD/DVD player at the same time – because the 1050 doesn’t play digital MP3 I would need analog for that purpose only.

Will the system understand when its time to listen to the analog vs digital or do I have to hit a selector button?

Don’t tell me I have to reconnect plugs, otherwise the 1050 just won’t work for me.

One option: make both connections, and then assign the digital input to an unused analog input. For a player that is both your CD transport and your DVD player, I'd connect the digital and assign that to the DVD, then connect the analog to the CD and leave the CD input on analog. The 1050 doesn't have a lot of digital inputs, but they are addressable to any input, which can really help. This can also be a handy way of having separate decoding modes for different material -- leave the DVD input set on surround and set some other input (AUX, for example) set to stereo with the same digital input assigned to both DVD and AUX.

Are you sure you'll need the analog connection for MP3? My DVD player (Panasonic RA60) supports MP3 and I've played MP3's on it through my 950 using a digital connection even though the 950's decoder doesn't handle MP3.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I believe most DVD players that play MP3 decode internally to PCM.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

OK, Gonk - you and I both have the Panasonic - so you're telling me that the digital coax out of the DVD is actually decoded PCM, not pure MP3? everything out fo the DVD fits on the the digital coax and I can forget the analog input?

that's good news - cause I don't want to waste a precious input if I don't have to.

But that adds even more confusion - some AV receivers say they support MP3 - I thought that meant they take digital mp3 data and decode it - now I'm hearing that most players output already decoded PCM - not pure encoded MP3 - which is it?

And gonk - how is the CD playback sound on the panasonic? Mine is a $200 panasonic - forget which model.

greggk -- Like Matthew, I'm pretty sure that the output of a DVD player playing an MP3 file is PCM. I can toss one of my mp3 discs in tonight and see what the 950 identifies the stream as, just to be sure. I think that all of the Panasonic players use similar MP3 software (from what I've read, they are all pretty much equally minimal as far as interface goes).

Like you, I have never quite understood what the "MP3 support" on some receivers refers to.

The RA60 sounds good with DVD-Audio and with movies. I haven't used it as a CD transport much, but from some brief listening I thought that is was pretty comparable to using my Yamaha changer as a CD transport, and I've been very satisfied with my Yamaha. I haven't tried using it's internal DACs for CD playback.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

So maybe "MP3 playback" on a receiver is kinda like the "Digital Ready" sticker on my headphones about 10 years ago.

Or a butter knife that says "works great on margarine too!"

Hey, where did you get that butter knife?

Quick report: I tossed a disc of MP3's in the RA60 and hit play. The 950 reported that the incoming signal was in fact 44.1 PCM, so I wouldn't worry about needing to make an analog connection from your Panny to a 1050 to play MP3's.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

OK, now I'm told the panasonic has NO coax - just optical. someone told me the coax tends to be quieter and more reliable than optical?

more bs or ...?

I've used both -- my old Panasonic had both available. I have a real hard time telling a difference.

My RA60 has optical only. I haven't missed the coax at all. I wouldn't worry about it.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited July 11, 2002).]

I have a HK DVD-50 that supports MP3 connected to a 1050. I have found that most MP3s play fine through a digital optical connection, but some MP3 bit rates (or something, I haven't quite picked up the pattern) only play via the analog connection.

On a related note, I thought that Dolby Digital sound tracks as found on DVDs ARE just MP3 (MP3 being as shortening for MPEG3). If this is so, it would seem minor for any DVD player or AV receiver to support MP3. Maybe I'm all wet...

Some AV receivers that state that they support MP3 decoding will have a USB port somewhere on the unit that you can use to send encoded MP3 data into the receiver. I don't know if they'll accept MP3 data on an SPDIF input or not, or if there is any way to send MP3 data over an SPDIF input.

As far as I know, Dolby Digital encoding is NOT the same as MP3. MP3 is also not short for MPEG3, it's short for MPEG2 audio layer 3.

MPEG based audio encoding was considered for DVD, but was dropped in favor of DD. I don't know why. I think some foreign PAL discs may use MPEG audio encoding, but I'm not sure about that one.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net