PSC Cable Question

Am I correct to assume that the PSC Cables can be used for both my component (RGB) video and also for my Digital Coax Audio from my 950??

Thanks!

-- Cain

You are quite correct -- the PSC will work for component video, coax digital audio, and also composite video.

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

Cool, thanks..

Looks like I'll be buying four of these cables then!!

-- Cain

Gonk,
Can you give me a little help ? I'm waiting for the 950/770( Like all of us . I would like to know which type and how many cables are needed to connect 950 to 770. Also, component video cables and a digital coax cable for cd player. This way I can be ready when I get that all important email! Thank for all your help.

DMC

The 950 to 770 connection will require seven analog audio interconnects (if you are going Outlaw for the cables, you'll want the PCA for this -- there's now an option for a four-pack of PCA pairs, which will leave you one extra). That's assuming that you are using all seven channels of the 770. The Outlaw PSC will work for component video (you'll need a three-pack of the PSC's for a single component video run, or two three-packs if you don't have any component cables currently and plan to go from DVD player to 950 to TV). For coax digital audio, you'd also use the PSC -- just one of them. You might want to scope out cable length, too. If the 950 and 770 will be right next to each other, the 0.5-meter PCA's should work (which is a fair bit cheaper than the 1.2-meter PCA's or 1.8-meter). Similarly, you can probably get by with 1.2-meter from CD or DVD to 950 (for the PSC's), possibly even 0.5-meter if it is directly adjacent to the 950. The 1.8-meter is just downright long.

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

Is a digital cable necessary for cd player to receiver AND another digital from DVD to receiver?

What about a digital cable box (which plays music on some channels), does it need a digital cable also?

You only need a digital cable if you want the receiver to do the decoding. Anything hooked up via analog stereo connections will be just that, stereo. Unless you're using DPLII (exception to everything, right?), or some DSP, you won't have any surround capability.

Many people prefer the DACs in the receiver over those in their CD players and you have to go digital to do that.

As for the cable box and DVD player, unless you're using the 5.1 analog outs (and I don't know of a cable box that has those, although they probably exist) you'll need to go digital to get the surround processing (DD, DTS, etc.).

I'd go as far as to say, if your source has a digital output, and your reciever has an available digital input, you'll want to use the digital cable 99% of the time. The one exception is when your source has exceptionally high quality DACs that you want to use instead of the receiver's, in which case you'd want to use one of the pass-through inputs, if its available (the 1050 has one: the six-channel input).

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Please forgive me, I'm a total noob.

Does my DVD player need 1 Digital cable PLUS a pair of interconnects?....or only 1 digital?

I'm in the process of hooking up a new system consisting of cd player, progressive scan dvd player, digital cable box, vcr, tivo, amp, and TV.

What types of cables and how many of each are needed for this rig?

You kind help is most sincerely appreciated (I hope there's other's in my situation who can benefit from this wisdom.)

Thanks!!


[This message has been edited by TheeeChosenOne (edited June 13, 2002).]

For a DVD player, you really only need a digital audio cable and a video cable. If the digital audio output is used, the analog outputs aren't required. (One exception to this -- a player that also supports DVD-Audio or SACD discs, in which case you will want to connect the digital audio output and the 5.1-channel analog output, since DVD-Audio and SACD signals must be output from the player in the analog domain.)



I'll take a stab at this. The list below is based on connecting everything (audio and video) through a receiver or pre/pro.

CD Player - either a digital audio cable or stereo analog cables (I recommend digital audio unless the player has a really good onboard DAC)
Progressive Scan DVD Player - digital audio cable (coax or optical, it doesn't really matter which), component video cable directly to the TV (or through the receiver if the receiver has component video switching that supports HD video) -- progressive scan video can only be delivered across the component video output
Digital Cable Box - stereo analog audio interconnects, composite or s-video (use s-video if possible) video cable; if the box has a digital audio output, you can connect it, but in most cases the digital output will not work for all stations (the stations below 100 or 200 are not digital, and on most of those stations the audio will only be available from the analog output)
VCR - stereo analog audio in and out, composite video in and out (if it's a Super-VHS VCR, you can go with S-Video instead of composite) -- you may want to skip the VCR input from the receiver and use that receiver output for the TiVo (assuming you only have 1 VCR loop on your receiver, as is the case with the Model 1050 and the Model 950 pre/pro), or you may daisy-chain the digital cable and TiVo as I describe below
TiVo - stereo analog in and out, composite or s-video in and out (s-video preferred); as another option, you may want to daisy-chain from digital cable (stereo analog audio and composite or s-video) to TiVo to receiver
Amp - assuming this is a separate power amp (paired with a pre/pro or a receiver that is acting as a pre/pro), you'll need an analog audio interconnect for each channel of amplification, plus speaker wire from amp to speaker
TV - composite and/or S-video video cable from the receiver's monitor out (for switching between cable, VCR, and TIVO), component video (from either DVD player or component monitor out on the receiver)

That's all sort of general -- it probably gets the number of connections right, but exactly how they are arranged depends on the specific pieces of equipment. I've got a guide to home theater on my site that you may be interested in -- particularly the Cable and Sample Wiring Diagram section.

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

MANY THANKS for the info, Gonk.

This is exactly the information I needed!

Has anyone preferred/compared the PSC Cable to other coax digital products, if so....which ones? Thanks..........

(To name a few, I'm wondering whethere the stuff from DH Labs or JPS labs is better)

I just hooked up 3 Outlaw PSC component cables (Thanks to Gonk!) from Toshiba 3750 DVD to Sony 36xbr400 TV that was originally connected with a Monster S-video, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!BUT I did expect some improvement from s-vid to component.
DMC