Well I have been a lurker around this forum for a long time and it has given me some useful help in the past, but finally a problem that is sufficiently arcane to defy solution by the tried and tested method of google has appeared.
I am the custodian of a well wired (since I build it 😀 ) A/V system that has been assembled on a budget for my University Hall of Residence - since I often have to use whatever kit is around and have to wire it myself it has ended up using YPbPr 1080i video with lots and lots of cheap RG6.
The video (and currently audio) is switched by a Extron Crosspoint I picked up on ebay for Scrap metal prices - however current expansion will require purchase of a new switch.
Unfortunately the 16x16 switch we bought has fried audio circuits and since repair on such an obsolete unit would be difficult and probably expensive I have decided to buy yet another switch (since they are ridiculously cheap) on ebay and wire it in parallel using S/PDIF for audio. Also the captive screw audio connectors on the Extron have caused me nothing but trouble.
So far so good - but then my standard mission creep problem has appeared and we would like to have true surround audio on one of our audio zones where the source is available rather than simply relying on Pro Logic.
My current plan is to get all my inputs in the form of S/PDIF coaxial and then put them throuh cheap distribution amplifiers to produce duplicates, the stereo only sources would have these routed into two of the channels on the second switch (as it will likely be an RGBHV or S-video switch as these are the ones that tend to turn up on ebay) - whilst the surround sources would have one fed into one of the channels whilst the second is mixed into a stereo PCM channel and fed to the second.
Outputs that only require stereo would plug into one channel (Y for example) whilst those that could handle surround would plug into the second (C for example).
The currently projected scheme has only two surround sources and one output so far, but this flexible approach allows this to be changed easily as required in the future.
And so to the actual problem - I include the earlier explanation of why to help provide context to my actual question.
I need a way to convert DTS/DD encoded S/PDIF signals to stereo PCM signals (also in S/PDIF) in real time with the lowest possible latency.
I am unable to find any inexpensive solution and in my desperation am now even considering using a Raspberry Pi with an SPDIF input card, followed by software crunching to stereo before recovering the output from the Pi's HDMI output using a cheap audio extractor on ebay.
Has anyone got any other suggestions?
It doesn't appear very elegant and I am not sure the cheaper Pi models will be up to the task while keeping audio latency on the stereo output within reason.
I am the custodian of a well wired (since I build it 😀 ) A/V system that has been assembled on a budget for my University Hall of Residence - since I often have to use whatever kit is around and have to wire it myself it has ended up using YPbPr 1080i video with lots and lots of cheap RG6.
The video (and currently audio) is switched by a Extron Crosspoint I picked up on ebay for Scrap metal prices - however current expansion will require purchase of a new switch.
Unfortunately the 16x16 switch we bought has fried audio circuits and since repair on such an obsolete unit would be difficult and probably expensive I have decided to buy yet another switch (since they are ridiculously cheap) on ebay and wire it in parallel using S/PDIF for audio. Also the captive screw audio connectors on the Extron have caused me nothing but trouble.
So far so good - but then my standard mission creep problem has appeared and we would like to have true surround audio on one of our audio zones where the source is available rather than simply relying on Pro Logic.
My current plan is to get all my inputs in the form of S/PDIF coaxial and then put them throuh cheap distribution amplifiers to produce duplicates, the stereo only sources would have these routed into two of the channels on the second switch (as it will likely be an RGBHV or S-video switch as these are the ones that tend to turn up on ebay) - whilst the surround sources would have one fed into one of the channels whilst the second is mixed into a stereo PCM channel and fed to the second.
Outputs that only require stereo would plug into one channel (Y for example) whilst those that could handle surround would plug into the second (C for example).
The currently projected scheme has only two surround sources and one output so far, but this flexible approach allows this to be changed easily as required in the future.
And so to the actual problem - I include the earlier explanation of why to help provide context to my actual question.
I need a way to convert DTS/DD encoded S/PDIF signals to stereo PCM signals (also in S/PDIF) in real time with the lowest possible latency.
I am unable to find any inexpensive solution and in my desperation am now even considering using a Raspberry Pi with an SPDIF input card, followed by software crunching to stereo before recovering the output from the Pi's HDMI output using a cheap audio extractor on ebay.
Has anyone got any other suggestions?
It doesn't appear very elegant and I am not sure the cheaper Pi models will be up to the task while keeping audio latency on the stereo output within reason.