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Wii U - No optical audio connector? Nintendo. Fix this!!

Teletraan1

Teletraan1

Banned
alr1ght said:
Yeah, it doesn't decode anything, just passes the signal through a toslink cable. I'm sure Nintendo is too cheap to license Dolby/DTS so you may be stuck with 2.0 unless you have an HDMI receiver.
Click to expand...

You are correct, both those 40-50 dollar boxes do nothing but pass through the signal. There is no decoding done. Put a 5.1 LPCM input and you get 2.0 PCM output through TOSLINK. Put a DD5.1 input and it passes it through TOSLINK as DD5.1. Some of the reviews even complain about this.

Nintendo wont license DD/DTS. So stereo unless there is a box that will decode on the fly. It probably wont be $39.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Matt said:
Most TVs do not do that. The optical out only sends DD from OTA signals. For the other inputs, it sends them in stereo.
Click to expand...

It seems you are correct.

I just tried mine (2011 Panasonic). Unless I missed some setting, it doesn't pass through any kind of digital surround sound through the optical output :p
 
B

Bony Manifesto

Member
chixdiggit said:
In my opinion, if your receiver doesn't have an HDMI input you have more important things to buy than a Wii U.
Click to expand...

Come on, it's not the latest technology, but it's still a standard output on even the newest Blu Ray players. And it shouldn't be Nintendo, of all people, being the first to ditch it in favour of new standards!
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Matt said:
Yep. Most people get this wrong, I certainly did at first.
Click to expand...

I don't think there's a technical reason why it could not be done.

Perhaps that is a no-no for the HDMI spec. HDMI is secured with the HDCP security handshake, and optical is not. Maybe they don't want people recording shit....

Or perhaps they are lazy? Or perhaps they want you to buy their HDMI-capable receivers? :p
 
W

woodypop

Member
Matt said:
Most TVs do not do that. The optical out only sends DD from OTA signals. For the other inputs, it sends them in stereo.
Click to expand...
This is the case with my TV. I was disappointed when I discovered it, so I send the audio directly from the PS3/360 to the receiver via optical.
 
M

Matt

Member
BocoDragon said:
I don't think there's a technical reason why it could not be done.

Perhaps that is a no-no for the HDMI spec. HDMI is secured with the HDCP security handshake, and optical is not. Maybe they don't want people recording shit....

Or perhaps they are lazy? Or perhaps they want you to buy their HDMI-capable receivers? :p
Click to expand...

That is exactly the reason. The only thing the optical out is meant to be for is sending the audio from OTA TV to a receiver. That should be sent in surround sound.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
Bony Manifesto said:
Come on, it's not the latest technology, but it's still a standard output on even the newest Blu Ray players. And it shouldn't be Nintendo, of all people, being the first to ditch it in favour of new standards!
Click to expand...

They're being cheap. No two ways about it. It should have been expected though, along with no ethernet port.
 
K

Kazerei

Banned
It really is funny that Nintendo went from "no HDMI" to "HDMI only"

I feel bad for the people getting shafted though :\
 
A

AzaK

Member
I'm actually now more annoyed that HDMI is the packed in cable. I have to go component, so I will have to buy an adapter.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
BocoDragon said:
This seems weird to me. If the TV only outputs stereo... then why put an optical output at all? They should just put cheaper analog outs. I would imagine all optical output-equipped TVs pass 5.1.... If not, it would be baffling why not.
Click to expand...

The reason it exists is so if you're pulling down OTA channels, you can output 5.1 audio from that source. It's a security issue which is why the signal is not normally passed through like that for an input source though. It's annoying, but it's very rare to find one that really works.
 
chixdiggit

chixdiggit

Member
Weenerz said:
Your opinion sucks asshole juice. Go buy your $200 receiver with hdmi.
Click to expand...
Yea.... That's it. You know nothing about me or my set-up. I have upgraded my receiver 4 times since HDMI was introduced and they were all many times more than $200. Cool for you if it's not your thing.

Bony Manifesto said:
Come on, it's not the latest technology, but it's still a standard output on even the newest Blu Ray players. And it shouldn't be Nintendo, of all people, being the first to ditch it in favour of new standards!
Click to expand...
I actually agree that it should have an optical input. But to me sound quality is very important and if I didn't have a receiver with HDMI I would be spending the money towards a new one in favor of a new console. That's just me. You guys are more than welcome to feel differently.
 
D

DjRoomba

Banned
Instro said:
Don't most receivers from the last 4-5 years have a HDMI connector...?
Click to expand...

I have a Panasonic home theatre that obviously has a hdmi, but only stereo or fake surround comes out of it. The optical is what makes it have the real surround sound. i think some people are missing that this is a popular setup and an oversight of Nintendo. Damn it Reggie.
 
Teletraan1

Teletraan1

Banned
Anyone know how much it costs to have a TOSLINK port and the licences for DD5.1? I tried searching but my google fu is weak. It cant be more than a few dollars and in turn it costs a lot of people who might be interested in the product much more than that just to get the same audio experience as they are currently offered on PS3 or 360. That has always been my issue. Am I supposed to care more about a company with a 30 billion dollar war chest coming off a successful console generation's finances more than my own? I also dare anyone to find me a mass market product that has HDMI only and no other audio options other than this product.
 
M

Matt

Member
DjRoomba said:
I have a Panasonic home theatre that obviously has a hdmi, but only stereo or fake surround comes out of it. The optical is what makes it have the real surround sound. i think some people are missing that this is a popular setup and an oversight of Nintendo. Damn it Reggie.
Click to expand...

...this is not correct. There is nothing fake about audio from HDMI. Where did you hear this?
 
P

_PsiFire_

Member
bob page said:
Uhh, no. I have a soundbar that's only a year old, has great reviews, and doesn't have HDMI.

Not including optical audio on a HD console is quite bullshit.
Click to expand...

Just because audio equipment has great reviews doesn't mean it's as good as it COULD be; A lot of audio equipment has S/PDIF over HDMI because it doesn't need the extra bandwidth that HDMI provides.


In fact, one way that surround can output on Wii U is uncompressed LPCM 5.1 Surround.

That CAN'T be done on S/PDIF (Optical) because of the lack of bandwidth.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/215202/bluray_audio_quality_hdmi_vs_optical.html
 
F

Fried Food

Banned
Hmm maybe I should cancel my preorder, dead serious. I use optical to hook all my consoles up to an optical hub and I attach that to my astro mixamp. They're better be optical.
 
Chuckpebble

Chuckpebble

Member
Wouldn't passing the HDMI through a receiver first instead of just outputting from the TV to the receiver introduce input lag?

p.s. I am the farthest thing from an audiophile, forgive me if my suggestion was in any way offensive.
 
M

Matt

Member
Chuckpebble said:
Wouldn't passing the HDMI through a receiver first instead of just outputting from the TV to the receiver introduce input lag?

p.s. I am the farthest thing from an audiophile, forgive me if my suggestion was in any way offensive.
Click to expand...

Not if you have even a halfway good receiver.
 
chixdiggit

chixdiggit

Member
DjRoomba said:
I have a Panasonic home theatre that obviously has a hdmi, but only stereo or fake surround comes out of it. The optical is what makes it have the real surround sound. i think some people are missing that this is a popular setup and an oversight of Nintendo. Damn it Reggie.
Click to expand...

Matt said:
...this is not correct. There is nothing fake about audio from HDMI. Where did you hear this?
Click to expand...

Early HDMI receivers were pretty shady. A lot of the early ones only passed 720 video as well.
 
F

Foxix Von

Member
Fried Food said:
Hmm maybe I should cancel my preorder, dead serious. I use optical to hook all my consoles up to an optical hub and I attach that to my astro mixamp. They're better be optical.
Click to expand...

Don't hold your breath =/

chixdiggit said:
Early HDMI receivers were pretty shady. A lot of the early ones only passed 720 video as well.
Click to expand...

Bingo. It's the reason I bought one without HDMI at the time. A LOT of the models available early on didn't pass through video properly or didn't actually decode audio and just served as a sort of video switchbox. The models that actually properly supported HDMI at the time I was shopping were very prohibitively expensive, and far, far in excess of my needs.
 
L

Layd Dly

Member
People complained that the Wii was not technological enough and now the WiiU is to Technological.

Optical is old and does not need to be on the WiiU. Keep your 7 year old Audio system and game consoles and you will have no issues. The rest of us will be fine.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
Teletraan1 said:
Anyone know how much it costs to have a TOSLINK port and the licences for DD5.1? I tried searching but my google fu is weak. It cant be more than a few dollars and in turn it costs a lot of people who might be interested in the product much more than that just to get the same audio experience as they are currently offered on PS3 or 360. That has always been my issue. Am I supposed to care more about a company with a 30 billion dollar war chest coming off a successful console generation's finances more than my own? I also dare anyone to find me a mass market product that has HDMI only and no other audio options other than this product.
Click to expand...

This site says 60 cents per unit, plus the hardware cost. So $1 tops, unless I'm reading it wrong. LOL
 
C

CLEEK

Member
Fucking Nintendo. They haven't even added a RF modulator in the Wii U. How the fuck am I meant to connect it up to my old CRT 14" TV? You mean, I have to upgrade my AV equipment to something made this century? FUCK YOU NINTENDO etc etc
 
OverHeat

OverHeat

« generous god »
Layd Dly said:
People complained that the Wii was not technological enough and now the WiiU is to Technological.

Optical is old and does not need to be on the WiiU. Keep your 7 year old Audio system and game consoles and you will have no issues. The rest of us will be fine.
Click to expand...
So no WiiU for you?
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Matt said:
Hmm, never heard of this. Weird.
Click to expand...

The bigger issue was that for a while, HDMI receivers didn't support HDMI audio, nor did they support conversion from component to HDMI. So while they technically supported HDMI, you got pretty much none of the real benefits from it.

Anyway, I can kinda see a reason for wanting optical out. Nintendo's never gonna incorporate TrueHD or DTS-HD into the system, so all HDMI really stands to introduce is potential handshake issues. At least I know optical works.
 
D

DjRoomba

Banned
chixdiggit said:
Early HDMI receivers were pretty shady. A lot of the early ones only passed 720 video as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah i think this ones about 5 years old. I think i may be mistaken. It has hdmi, but thats only the picture. its when you connect optical to the tv, and hdmi to the console from the tv that its stereo or fake surround(by which i mean dolby pro II and not 5.1).
 
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