S/PDIF output on Acer 8204

Some problem here! I called Acer and they will fix it.. tomorrow they come to get my laptop... PPPFFFF!

Now that repair wil take 7 / 8 days

I have acer 5672

sure np m8

I have my acer 5 days

I heard i will get a new motherboard, but I will let you know!

bb

Hi Traxy,

So what happened to your laptop?

Btw I've been trying to find out if the SPDIF on my 8204 is coaxial or digital... anybody got info on this?

Thanks,
rio197

It's solved!
I purchased an optical cable with two different ends: one is 3.5mm (remember, it has to be optical) and one is normal optical or what's known as TOSlink. Another alternative would be to use a normal TOSlink cable and get an optical 3.5mm adapter in order to fit one end of the cable to the Acer. The audio receiver immediately detected the DD, or DTS, signals.

Your software DVD player has to be set to "use SPDIF" and the Realtek HD Sound Manager has to be set to "Output Digital Source". The Output Sampling Rate I could use are only 44.1 KHz and 48 KHz. I don't know why I can't use 96KHz and 192KHz, but my best guess is I would have to use premium (i.e expensive) optical cable... the finer the fibre, the bigger the throughput.

The SPDIF control on the Sound Manager will remain grayed. It's your audio receiver that has to decode the digital signal and then you have to adjust your volume from there. And NO, you can't actually see the LED blinking in the SPDIF hole.

This has got to be "the most obscure thing(tm)" I have ever encountered. The only clue I could find on the net that the Acer's output is optical is from this article: '...There’s also a full suite of audio ports – headphone, mic and line-in, the latter also doubles as an optical digital output.' link: http://laptop-notebook.blogspot.com/...-8204wlmi.html which is also not completely accurate!

Moreover the audio world knows the 3.5mm optical output as Mini-TOSlink. It could help your search in audio equipment stores...

--
rio197

I finally got around to checking this on my Acer Aspire 9410(Z)-2597 laptop running Vista Home Premium... YES! It is an optical digital (aka TOSlink mini) output - I got signal to the optical input on my Sony Mini-Disc recorder at both 44.1 and 48kHz outputs from the RealTek HD Audio Manager...

However: you must set the Default Output to Digital - then make sure the Default Format is set to something your input device will recognize. My Mini-Disc only sees 44.1 & 48kHz, so only those two will work in that case. (It also sees 32K but RealTek doesn't have that as an output choice)

Also: every time you change an output setting on the RealTek Audio Manager you need to restart (NOT relaunch, just hit stop, then play) the app playing the audio you're trying to output. I noticed that the volume slider on the Digital Out part of the RealTek Manager does affect the digital output level - nice, if needed!

BTW: if you need an optical cable, just look for one with the mini-TOS converters provided - usually attached near the ends of the cable near the normal TOS connectors. I bought one the other day at Long's drugs for $15.00 (GE Digital Optical Cable - AV22684 - GE's logo is on the package, but the actual company is Jasco Products Inc., distribited by Thomson Inc.) It's 6ft (1.8m) and includes 2 mini-Toslink adaptors. (Radio Shack doesn't even carry optical cables with mini-Toslink adaptors... but Long's does!!)