Using a DVD (BD) drive as a Digital Transport

[darkmatter]

As a follow-up to my earlier thread here I am considering SATA DVD or Blu-Ray drives

Using a DVD (BD) drive as a Digital Transport

For discussion, has anyone here tried or seen details online to make a digital transport from a SATA DVD (BD) ROM drive?

It would be interesting to read others experiences to see if it is possible to avoid using noisy computer power supplies etc, and build an effective digital transport.

I may have seen in the past some kits to convert old IDE drives to make CD players but nothing, nor DIY plans to convert SATA drives to allow extraction of digital data in the form of S/PDIF or I^2/S data streams?

Thanks,

Simon

 

[darkmatter]

A bit of research!!

Extracting digital data from CD / DVD rom drives needs care!!

The output from a CD-ROM is a straight bitstream at 5V TTL level, not S/PDIF 1Vpp level. Interfacing it to the coaxial is simple enough, though.

Some other problems you might find are: Not all CDROM's activate the digital output at all; often, the output is continuous and may have spikes, there may be problems synchronising the signal at the start of a track with a DAC

Then again, it may work perfectly, once the signal level is adjusted.

I found these three links:

PcMus: Problems with CD-ROMs cable, no audio or sound.

epanorama.net/S/PDIF Interface

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/137415-easy-ttl-s-pdif-coax-converter.html

Simon