Digital/Optical Output

Just wondering since im not entirely 100% sure about optical outputs and those on the macpro, but is it always suppose to be shining red? its not bright at all but just wondering if it was normal for that to appear that way..
i had digital speakers connected to the macpro optical connection so i was wondering if its acting as if it were still there unless this normal for any macpro and optical in/outputs
thanks in advanced.

Hi AppleNewton,
when the mac Pro is on, the optcial digital out will always have this light red shining.
This is normal behaviour with every optical audio out port, since the red light is in fact the transportation medium for the digital signal.
Have Fun
Stefan

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Anyone knows if the mini-jack in ipad 2 dock is also digital (optical) output? ... like in the latest AirPort Express.

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thx

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
Standard audio jack.

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i checked in apple system profiler to see if i have an optical output available for my imac to connect for better sound quality to my new phillips blu ray home theater system. it appears that it does indeed have this type of output for high quality audio output
just wondering if this wire is the correct one i would use to connect my imac to my new phillips blu ray surround system? i checked my imac hardware settings and it says
S/PDIF OPTICAL DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT
Connection Combination Output
S/PDIF OPTICAL DIGITAL AUDIO INPUT
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i read in the manual for the phillips blu ray,that it has an OPTICAL INPUT for audio,would this wire work to simply connect from the imac to the stereo???
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this is the ebay listing for the wire i think will work:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160597409256#ht_1130wt_1141

even though i did just order the wire online, lets start over since you obviously know what your talking about when it comes to this kind of stuff.
i have a 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo imac(i believe late 2007) running latest version of snow leopard 10.6.7
i used to have a killer phillips surround system300 watts that sounded great even though its petty to todays standards,i usually hooked it up with a cd/aux wire(headphone jack one side,red white other side) from the imac's headphone port to the stereo's aux input(red/white) but then my rabbit chewed the wires and speaker beyond repair,so i bought this brand new phillips blu ray system 100 watts thinking i would get much better sound while connected to my imac while playing movies,games etc. but once i hooked it up like i used with the older system,it sounds basically the same,only slightly better,when it should be 700 watts better! but i figured i was doing something wrong wince the imac has all these crazy better quality output ports and the new system has all these crazy better input methods. dont want to sound ********,i do know a lot about basic audio,editing and all things computers! anyways, i was poking around with the system profiler application and noticed it said the S/PDIF output mode was available and the imac had a digital output capability. i also noticed in the manual for the phillips that it said something about a coaxial/digital input and thus i thought by buying a special wire i need to make the connection i would get much better clearer or ever dolby or dts audio output,which most of the blu rays and games i play on my mac have. so basically i have all the necessary components except for the wire to achieve this dream of mine. thats where you came in to help,thank GOD!
Here is the link for the exact model i ordered from walmart and already have set up and connected via the old method as we speak.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Philips-Blu-ray-Home-Theater-System-HTS3251B-F7/160049 41
by comparing the player with the imac i have can you tell me if i am on the right track as i thought i was before?? Or what would you suggest i do to get better or the correct high def sound out of the imac from whatever is playing and to play out of the new phillips blu ray system i just bought. Thank you very much for all your time and helping me with what should be an easy, simple problem.

How do you disable "digital optical output" so the red light in headphone jack goes off and I can use the internal speakers?

HI,
I have a red light in my headphone jack and I see "correct responses" listed as "when digital output is enabled speakers are disabled." That's all well and good but doens't really help. HOW do you disable the "digital output," get the red light to turn off and be able to hear through the speakers? What's the SOLUTION to the problem. Sorry, just a bit frustrated. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Best,
dpeast12

Allegedly this can occur if there is a contaminant in the headphone jack that makes the computer believe there is an optical connection there, so it shuts off the internal speakers.
Try inserting and removing a headphone plug repeatedly. This ought to dislodge the junk, and seems to have fixed the problem for others. Hope it helps!

IMac digital optical output cable

Has anyone used the iMac headphone output in its capacity as a optical digital output? Can you even buy a 3.5mm - toslink cable? If I buy one it would need ot be 7m long...
Thanks
Andy

Andy,
I've used these successful in the past, however never directly from my iMac to a receiver. I'v normally gone from my Airport Express to my receiver to play air tunes music from iTunes.
http://www.amazon.com/Quality-Digital-Fiber-Toslink-Optical/dp/B003V7DSH6/ref=sr _1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1369175582&sr=8-7&keywords=3.5+to+toslink+cable
which looks like it may be long enough for you.

No sound from optical output when using hdmi/dvi cable

I am trying to connect my apple tv2 to my B&O Beovision 7. I have used an HDMI to DVI cable which is working fine for the picture; but obviously DVI does not carry sound. I have therefore connected an optical cable to the digital optical output on the apple TV and put this through a converter to digital coax, which then goes in to the TV. I know the optical cable / converter set up works fine as I have tested it on my sky box and it works fine. But I get no sound from the apple TV - any ideas?

I hav exactly the same problem... Did you resolve this??

After 10.9.3 upgrade no sound on digital/optical port

Hello All,
I have a problem with my Mini (Early 2009, 2GHz Core2Duo). After recent Mavericks upgrade to 10.9.3, sound through digital optical output port dissapeared.
1. I checked receiver's input, works with other devices on the same cable.
2. Cable output light is red (as always, seem Mac Mini transmitter works???)
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Regards,
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Hey Guys,
After recent SMC+EFI update on Macbook Air (Mid 2013) OSX v10.9.3, my internal audio device disappeared,
I tried everything I could find in google with no luck. (NPRAM+SMC reset, reloading kents etc.)
THIS IS WHAT SOLVED THE PROBLEM FOR ME:
1. I opened /System/Library/Extensions folder, there I found besides the usual AppleHDA.kext, also an AppleHDA.kext.disabled one.
2. I switched between them (swapped their names, sometimes you'll have to do it from the "get info" menu to take effect)
-- if you don't have this AppleHDA.kext.disabled one, try searching for one lil older than yours in the internet
3. then I unloaded and reloaded the kent dir again-
sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
And voila!
Hope it helps someone, as I spent hours until getting this to work again

X-Fi support digital OPTICAL SPDIF outp

From what I've been able to tell so far is that the only way to get the optical output is to spend a lot of money on the platinum version of the X-Fi. Am I wrong or is Creative being creative in manipulating their sales and their bottom line?
Thank you.
ATTN Creative: We the consumers need an affordable X-Fi card with digital OPTICAL output without the front 5 /4 bay or the external platinum device! Space inside my PC is precious as I have a multimedia type microatx box. Get your engineers working on a solution!

I have nothing against the coaxial method, I just have mostly optical inputs in my yamaha reciever with the exeption of one thats coaxial but I believe my x-box is using that right now. Anyhow I looked all over the net for the digital kit and could not find one. I just have to ask what does creative have against them? To me it seems like their trying to skew the market towards their $400 dollar package. I don't know about you...

My Mac Pro doesn't have an option to send sound to Digital Optical.

Hello
I've recently had a problem with my Mac Pro where the sound options tab does not display an option to my digital optical audio port. I didn't notice it until I got a headset that needed that port. I figured it was probably the headsets fault, since it wasn't being very cooperative with the computer in the first place. But when I got a new headset that was made for PC and Mac, I found that the option was still not there. I've looked around, and haven't really found a similar problem or solution.
I am running an early Mac Pro 2008 dual Quad Core @ 2.23GHz. I have 14GB of Ram installed, and run an ATI 5870.
Also, I have tested the headset on the Windows side of my computer, and that side IS picking up the digital optical output, so I know that it is working, just not with the Mac OS.
If you guys can help, I'd be greatful.
Thanks,
NetBlitzer

okay, it could be one of a few things-first, fire up Audio MIDI setup and see if that helps, secondly, there might be something stuck in the headphone jack in the on positin- maybe wiggling around in there with a plastic pen might fix it
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J.B

HELP! I'm losing my mind - Audigy 2 ZS digital coax output to receiver

I've very close to throwing my Vista media center PC out the window trying to get my Audigy 2 ZS to output a digital signal to my home theater amp/receiver. I've read as much as I can find on the subject and, as far as I understand it, the digital out 3.5mm mini jack on the back of the ZS is actually a multi speaker output designed for connection to Creative speakers, but to output a digital signal to my amp I need to plug in a 3.5mm mini jack to RCA connector then connect my digital coax cable to it and the other end to the amp, so I bought this little guy to connect to the ZS and my RCA coax cable: http://www.rakuten.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=263718980
Then I went to Vista's Sound-Playback settings and disabled the onboard sound (which was working perfectly thru the amp via its SPDIF digital optical output) and made the "SDPIF Out Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)" the default device. I had already installed Daniel's excellent driver/software pack 5 for it so I have the latest drivers and control software. Then I went to the Creative Audio Console and selected "SPDIF Passthrough (Dolby Digital / DTS Digital Out)". Then I did a reboot for good measure.
In the meantime I set my amp to the Digital Coax 1 input into which I'd plugged the coax cable from the ZS's digital out port. When I rebooted and played music I get the green bars flashing next to SPDIF Out in the Playback tab of Vista's Sound settings indicating that the sound card is outputting an SPDIF signal, but don't hear anything out of the amp. Interestingly if I change the "Digital Output (PCM) Sample Rate Setting" to 96Khz in the Creative Audio Console my amp recognizes the change and flashes 96Khz which makes me think there is at least some information coming down that coax (I then switched it back to 48Khz).
The most annoying thing about all this is that my crappy onboard mobo sound has a digital optical output which connects directly to the amp and just works immediately without any messing around - when my amp receives a DTS or Dolby signal it says it's receiving that type of signal and pushes it out to my 5.1 speakers nicely. And this ZS card is supposed to be an upgrade to give me more functionality but I can't get a peep out of it (digitally), although the analog speaker outputs do work on the ZS so it's not a completely faulty card and actually makes me think I'm probably just missing something very basic.
I'd be very grateful for any suggestions/ideas before my media center ends up as a new modern art feature in my yard.
Cheers
Simon

Generally i found this thread because i've also got troubles with coax output my problem is in choppy sound with scratches and clipping in Windows 7, when i try to play Dolby Digital or DTS audio in movies or even test sounds from speaker control panel. In win xp all works fine - and in win7 only pcm stereo can normaly being output.
I try with different drivers (official and from daniel) and nothing helps...
yep...bios of my motherboard was configured to lower CPU ratio and voltage when idle (C1E option). I turn this option off and all works fine now)

Audigy2 ZS platinium pro Optic output to receiver 5.1 - 6.1 -

Hello there, i`m having the same problems that everybody else... i try to connect the Audigy2 ZS platinium pro to my receiver using the digital optic output, the results, only the front L and R speakers work in the test, can someone explain me how to resolve this isue?
This is my current setup:
OS: Windows XP
Sound card: Audigy2 ZS platinium pro
Recei'ver: Philips FR 965
Speakers: Bose acousticmass 6
thanks

I am having this same kind of issue
I am currently trying to output using my optical out on my Audigy2 ZS to my Pioneer 85 reciever. I have selected to use the SPDIF passthrough and tried SPDIF bypass on my settings and my reciever is not seeing the coding coming to it (It has a indicator on it when it is recieveing the signal) I have checked both of my guides on my reciever and sound card and I cannot get it to work for me at all.
If I take the cable and plug it into my DVD player it works just fine. If I try my DVD rom dri've which is using the SPDIF on my player or any of my games, it only outputs to my L/R speakers.Message Edited by Ericn84 on 06--2005 06:5 AM

No more digital audio output

Hi!
After my last update of the smplayer (and the packages that were updated for the same day) my system quit using the digital optical output to my speakers.
I checked my settings using alsamixer and the kmix from KDE4 but none of the settings were changed.
But as soon as I activate the SPDIF passthrough in smplayer I'll get the following error and nothing will be played:
AVI file format detected.
ID_VIDEO_ID=0
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
ID_AUDIO_ID=1
[aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO: [XVID] 608x336 12bpp 23.976 fps 605.2 kbps (73.9 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
Software: VirtualDubMod 1.5.4.1 (build 2178/release)
ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME0=Software
ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE0=VirtualDubMod 1.5.4.1 (build 2178/release)
ID_CLIP_INFO_N=1
ID_FILENAME=/home/downloads/bittorrent/Movies/SGA Season 3/Stargate Atlantis - Season 3 - Episode 20 - First Strike.avi
ID_DEMUXER=avi
ID_VIDEO_FORMAT=XVID
ID_VIDEO_BITRATE=605208
ID_VIDEO_WIDTH=608
ID_VIDEO_HEIGHT=336
ID_VIDEO_FPS=23.976
ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=0.0000
ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=8192
ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=96000
ID_AUDIO_RATE=0
ID_AUDIO_NCH=0
ID_LENGTH=2609.53
xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window.
Opening video filter: [screenshot]
Opening video filter: [expand osd=1]
Expand: -1 x -1, -1 ; -1, osd: 1, aspect: 0.000000, round: 1
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
ID_VIDEO_CODEC=ffodivx
==========================================================================
Trying to force audio codec driver family hwac3...
Opening audio decoder: [hwac3] AC3/DTS pass-through S/PDIF
No accelerated IMDCT transform found
hwac3: switched to AC3, 96000 bps, 48000 Hz
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, ac3, 96.0 kbit/6.25% (ratio: 12000->192000)
ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=96000
ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
Selected audio codec: [hwac3] afm: hwac3 (AC3 through S/PDIF)
==========================================================================
[format] Sample format big-endian AC3 not yet supported
Error at audio filter chain pre-init!
Exiting... (Fatal error)
Like I said, it worked flawless before. Also the kaffeine player which I'm using for watching sattelite TV at the moment does not work with the digital output any longer. Analog Headset is still working but nothing else...
Is there anything known about that?
I couldn't find any solution to this for around a week, so maybe I'll find help in here!
Thanks in advance!
BYE

ould wrote:
My digital sound stops working every once in a while as well, specifically PCM stuff (mp3's, wav's etc) Usually my Dolbly Digitial and DTS passthrough continue working though. Anyways I find running this command fixes things:
iecset audio on
Try that,
Kevin
Amazing, that fixed the problem with my digital out!
Now I just have to find out what it does.
Thanks a lot.

How to connect Digital Optical Audio output iMac with Receiver Input

I have connected iMac with onkyo hts-3300 home theater system receiver through optical audio TosLink Cable.( http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Audio-TosLink-Cable/dp/B001ZU3G2I/ref=sr12?ie=UTF8&qid=1292865309&sr=8-2 ). Unfortunately there is no sound coming out from the Home theater system. I have verified the Receiver optical input is working fine by connecting with my TV optical audio digital out put and the it's working great. The only difference between TV and iMac is, on my TV, it has optical audio digital output and I can use this cable (http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-A102-02M-Digital-connectors/dp/B0002WPREU/ref=s r11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1297320792&sr=1-1) to make it work. I can also verified my optical audio TosLink Cable working because I can see the red light coming out from the cable. So the only problem could be from iMac. I doubt I need to change the additional setting to configure iMac to use external optical audio setting instead of the buit in audio setting. Hoe can I able to do it? or my iMac(IMAC 21.5"/3.06/2X2GB/500GB/9400M-ITP
MB950ZP/A) doesn't support optical digital audio out put? I have follow this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12769423&#12769423 and to my surprise which doesn't work out for me. I doubt that i need to change some setting, but when I got to setting>> sound I cannot change any setting. I was quite depressed aldy. Can someone answer my question as i m a newbie here. Thanks a lot

Thank you very much for your reply.
@Király : May i know how to Open Audio Midi Setup? Is this Audio Midi Setup is in the locatated in the Setting in Mac Snow Leapord OS? or how to locate this "Audio Midi Setup " in Mac enviroment. Is it possible to open this Audio Midi Setup in windows 7 enviroment also? I Just want to get the audio from my iMac in Hts-3300 onkyo home theatre. YOur help is much appreciated
@rkaufmann87 : Thank you very much for your sharing about this http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ connection. for me what i understand is the digital audio output in airportexpress is the same as the audio out put in iMac in terms of details sepcs. So this airportexpress will only help you connect wirelessly to home theatre system, rather than waired connection. Other than that nothig much difference. So there is no point for me to spend extra bucks to attain the wireless connection. Unless the airportexpress have optical digital input, which i believe not. Correct me if I m worng, thanks

How do I change the audio output to digital optical for my home theater?

It's only using the hdmi for audio on the television..

Welcome to the Apple Community.
Unless the Apple TV is broken it always passes audio over the optical output.
Check your sound system is set up correctly, or try changing the Audio out and Dolby Digital settings on the Apple TV (settings > audio & video)

I cannot hear any songs or movies from my laptop speakers - the headphone port works and a red light is showing? The output sound settings are showing as digital optical only? Any ideas :)

I cannot hear any songs or movies from my laptop speakers - the headphone port works and a red light is showing from the port? The output sound settings are showing as digital optical only? I used the headphones in the laptop for the first time yesterday and have had this problem ever since. Any ideas

The internal switch in the audio output port is stuck. Try inserting the earphone plug a few times. If no success, try jiggling a tooth pick inside in order to trip the switch.. If still no success, have the technicians at the Apple store genius bar do it for you.
Ciao.

Digital/Optical Output

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