Page 1 of Help me regarding Dolby Digital Decoders!!

Please help me! I`ve just acquired an LG DVD player with a built in Dolby Digital decoder. Can I just buy some speakers and hook them up directly or do I need to buy a 5:1 amp to hear anything? I`ve been confused about this for months!!

Thanks for any help!!!!!

Yes, you will need either an external amp or a TV with a built in dolby digital amp. I am no expert but have spent time reading the answers in this forum so I am afraid you will need an amp for the Dolby Digital. You can link it through your hifi for stereo sound but to get the full delights of the Dolby digital I am afraid that you will need an amp.

Just one last question!! If my DVD player has a built-in Dolby Digital decoder with outputs and i have to buy a Dolby Digital amp as well to get 5:1 sound, why doesn`t everyone just buy a player with DD5:1 outputs via a coaxial lead as most amps can deal with these as well??

Thanks for your help in solving my muddled mind!!

Aha! But you don`t need to buy an amp with DD decoding. Richer Sounds do some AV Amps (Sherwood, Kenwood, etc) which start at £99 (no DD decoding), so you can take advantage of your on board DD decoder. You`ll obviously need a harness of leads, though. In comparison, DD amps seem to start at £179, so you`ll save some money.

I have ended up buying a cheap player with decoder, but am putting the 2 channel sound through my existing HiFi. I started a posting a while back on the merits of amps/using HiFi etc, and the conclusion from that was that I ought to keep the HiFi for fron speaker duty, and get something like the Yamaha DSP E800, which is a decoder, but also a 3 channel amp, for rear and centre speakers. In the meantime, my hifi sounds a hell of a lot better than the tele, so I`m happy for the moment! (Also broke - so I convince myself I`m happy!!!)

Hope this helps
Richard

as handy as dolby/dts decoders are,even the very best ones fitted to mid-high price machines(sony,pioneer,toshiba etc),are still no match for an amp with onboard dolby/dts decoding.more often than not these are borrowed from an av reciever,neither are purpose built to give the all out flexibilty of an av amp.
however,as mentioned ,if you have an ageing pro-logic reciever,this can be a handy route to the delights of dolby digital sound.its a good taster of what multi-channel sound is about,so i dont want to downplay it too much!
my sony s735d has a dolby/dts decoder,and is one of the best ive heard fitted to a dvd player,but its still no match for my denon reciever. co axial and optical outs are a standard fit on all dvd players these days,and unless you fancy forking out nearly £8000 on a pair of meridian active speakers,there`s no way you can plug in speakers directly to the dvd outputs(unless you have some kind of death wish!)

all the best

westy

Just to make thing right, the above comment is absolutely correct, DD amp better that DD player decoder, except one the comment of PaulBu (sorry mate). That is if u have a DD decoder, u do not need a DD amplifier, just need a Pro Logic amp. The reason that many people opt for DD amp is because of the difference in price is now negligible. Also they usually come with DTS decode, which DVD player does not have, except Pionner 616. There is however one exception, if u are an audiophile, then u need to buy a more musical amp such as NAD, or ARCAM, which are a lot more expensive with DD decoder. My advice to u if money is tight, Denon 2801 would be a good start. For musical sound, also go for brand that specialise in music.

Sorry, forget to answer your question, if u ahve DD DVDplyer, use the normal phono lead (ie 5 pairs of phono interconnect), as the sound is decoded by player to analogue then send to amp. If u have a DD decoder, then is digital cable (optical or coaxial interconnect- just 1 interconnect), connect to DD amp because the sound will be sent digitally to DD amp, the decode by the amp. Hope this help