mitchjs

Hi guys,

I'm trying to see if there is a market for this

I have made a a toslink in/out boards for Audigy2's and Sblives
just hast to have a AUD_EXT or AD_EXT

i did see a company did make them, but no longer available...
then i saw some company in korea making them, but i didnt see where to get
them...

so since i have pcb skills, and access to a machine shop

i made this


Im not 100% sure what my costs are yet...

Im just a hobbiest... i do make some other stuff for xmradio, and I'm know
on a popular xmradio forum.

im trying to find out, is there are market for these.. assuming my $$ is right
and i will try to get it LOW! electronics parts wise its like $18 (including pcb)
but the pci slot work, drives costs up a bit. I had a company qoute me for 50 of em
$8.75 EACH, SO OUCH, i had it machined instead

the design is fully buffered (not just toslink connectors connected to aud_ext or ad_ext)

look forward to hearing your feedback

I hope this is ok with the moderators here. maybe if its popular, DH could provide banner and make a good $ too

thanks
mitch

dj_stick

mithjs: not a bad idea, i could see these becoming popular. But may i make a suggestion? also adding the ability to use coaxial SPDIF connections aswell may make these units more versatile.

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mitchjs

Coax will drive up the cost...

my guess for out, is a rca connector, a pulse transformer, cap , 2 resistors

prob $5



for in, i think rca connector, cap , 2 resistors, and using the gates on the invertor IC

about $3



so its not too bad, some machining costs... drilling 2 more holes



Ill see... maybe rev2



im a optical guy... i like the ground isolation!



mitch

dj_stick

having the option for a seperate model with coax proably would drive up the cost, but then it'd also have a wider target consumer audience.

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pr0digal jenius

Considering how the "platinum" versions of these cards are like, $75-$100 more then the standard ones, I doubt you'll have a problem finding people willing to pay the $$

Logla

If I was to buy something like this, I'd want to have the best of both worlds.

hyakki

I have something similar that came with my older soyo motherboard it had an c-media card and it came with extra hookups (think they are called SPDIF ) but it has optical in / out and coaxle in/out ..

but since i don't have a c-media card anymore i have no clue how i could hook this up to my audigy 1 any ideas?

im trying to do something like this
http://users.757.org/~ethan/hobby/spdif/


but not on a live on an audigy 1
(here is close up of spdif)


http://shop.soyousa.com/product_image.php?imageid=16

i think this is the spdif wire pinout let me know where to pin it up to audigy at

SOYO Sy-AUDIO01
1 = SPDIF OUT
2 = SPDIF IN
3 = 5 volts in
4 = Key (No pin)
5 = Center channel line out
6 = Subwoofer channel line out
7 = GND
8 = GND
9 = Rear Right
10 = Rear Left

mitchjs

yes, thats easy

connect
SOYO ----- Audigy 1
1 = SPDIF OUT pin 17
2 = SPDIF IN pin 15
3 = 5 volts in pin 1
7 = GND pin 3


then run a jumper from pin 2 to pin 23 on the audigy
(use a 4.7k resistor, so u dont short something out without current limiting)

thats it...

I have that same board....

mitch

hyakki

thanks ill give it a try

mitchjs

board design is now updated with coax in and out



im gonna prototype it... make sure it works 100%



and let ya know...

who do i need to ask, if i can make a sticky advertising this product

and im working out the $$$

mitch

dj_stick

contact Zardon about advertisement

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hyakki

Hi again,
I was going to use my soyo one but decided against it ..
however i do have another spdif laying around i wanted to use i don't know much about it but maybe you can see from a picture i took ..

its 12 pin I'm not sure if it uses the same pin-out as the soyo one.

http://img242.echo.cx/img242/5784/dcp50522st.png

also is a resistor really necessary ? i don't care to much about inputs ..just want output for now

either toslink or coaxle is fine (maybe both?)

thanks

dj_stick

hyakki: you should be easily able to mod that device to work with a soundblaster card

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hyakki

yea although i don't know the pinout of this spdif i think its the same as the soyo one (SY-AUDIO01) (since this came off a soyo board too seems to be a new company that makes for soyo.. cause this came off the same board as my other post but revison 2 and i got this spdif instead (GT0001V1))..

i'm not sure about using resistors. i can move the wires around but soldiering isnt my strong point and i dont have a electronic store near by so i cant pick up resistors easy (dont think radio shack would have them)

dj_stick

if any resistors were needed, i think they would have been soldered onto the pcb of the module

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hyakki

ok i tried hooking it up i did pins 1,3 17 (skiped the input ones) i see the red light through the optical cable but when i hook it to stereo it says no digital data and no sound comes through..

however coax seems to work (just playing mp3s and stuff) but i couldnt get it to switch to ac3 dobly ..etc it stayed in prologic mode also just used a normal audio rca cable ..is it req to have a coax digital cable? any ideas?

thanks

dj_stick

that'll only work if the original sound is encoded on AC3

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hyakki

yea i tried a dvd and a dts/dobly trailer movies but it wouldnt switch over

mostly from here
http://www.trailer.eu.org/Ac3Test/?navbar_indexsel=6



also to dubble check
is this is the right way the pinout is on audigy 1?

dj_stick

that pinout seems right

have you enabled passthrough within the driver software?

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hyakki

well i tried selecting 5.1 / digital output only / also used windvd to test the ac3 movies (messing with the options in there spdif ..etc) i couldnt get it to switch

im wondering it maybe its because im using audigy 2 drivers on my audigy 1 .. but i thought that only had problems with dts..



also here is a picture of my hookup but its not easy to see ..didnt want to shut pc down to take picture (the red wire is hard to see but its there beside the blue one) )

http://img257.echo.cx/img257/4065/dcp50583tq.jpg

hyakki

(update) It works (not the optical for some reason but coax) i had to enable spdif in "audio HQ - device controls" instead of the mixer software.

now to figure out why optical doesn't work any suggestions?

i have never used optics before i have a cable and when i hook it up i see the red light through the middle but when i put it to the stereo i get nothing (when i use coax i get audio no matter what format its in).

how durable are these optic cables since mine has been laying around for quite some time as far as i can tell it has no physical defects (no dents or rips) all that might be wrong is Len's on tips of the cable could be dirty from people touching them.

and is there any reason to use optical rather then coax?

dj_stick

is the optical circuit getting 5V power? you migth want to connect it directly to the red wire of a molex/floppy power connector

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hyakki

I'm pretty sure isnt the pin 1 and 2 on audigy vcc 5v? The light shines bright red through the cable.

I think my optical cable might be bad since i tried it on another pc before and i remember it got no sound so i dunno if it was cable or the mixer in the other pc.

when i look at the cable really close i see the red but the center looks black but that might not have anything to do with it since its hard to focus on something this small

here is picture :)
http://img242.echo.cx/img242/364/dcp50762ft.jpg

(my camera really sucks)

mitchjs

when i look at that board
if the coax works, the optical has to, unless the optical transmitter is bad

pin 1 is 5v on the audigy, got a scope? u should see 5v pulses at the in pin of the optical transmitter

like i said, it should be working....

the jumper from 2 to 23 through a 4.7k resistor is to tell the creative drivers you have a livedrive (HENSE enable spdif in in the mixer)

u dont need the resistor, but its there for saftey!!!

mitch

hyakki

unfortunately i don't have a scope



what options enable in the mixer when its jumpered ?
can you send screen shots ( i use audigy 2 zs software with my audigy 1) ?
this is what my mixer looks like now (without the jumper)

http://img242.echo.cx/img242/5614/clip3cs.jpg


also
http://www.imageshack.us/

is a good place to upload pictures if you need (its free and fast no sign ups )


as for optical i think its my cable ..it could be the optics since i have never tested them before on either the spdif or my stereo.. I'm ok with using coax for now.

(and no idea what a 4.7k resistor looks like i know they are little round things with color stripe on them would these work http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=271%2D1330)

do you know the chances of it blowing out without the resistor? i dont know if the voltage fluxuates or not..i did notice on my optic cable (left it hooked up so i can see the light) when i reboot the light gets brighter then shuts off i wonder if this would be from increased voltage

mitchjs

without the resistor, its just that if u make a mistake and connect pin 2 to a gnd pin, u will short out your PCI slot!!!

be 100% sure when u jump 2 - 23 on audigy 1



now i think it only enables spdif IN



your digital out, seems to be working, you said you get coax.. if you get coax, you should get optical, all from pin 17

i havent messed with out, too much, just spdif in
ill mess with mine, later today... let you know

mitch