Aspire 3680 SPDIF out

Purchased an Aspire 3680-2633 from Best Buy last weekend - all in all a very nice machine for $399 - even came with DVD-burner drive although advertised as only CD-RW/DVD read.

At any rate, I immediately wiped off Visa and put XP SP2 on.

I am curious, does this machine, with the Realtek AL883 Intel HDA audio, actually have SPDIF out?

I used a 3.5 mini mono-->RCA-->coaxial digital in on my receiver, just like I used to do with the older Creative Live! cards in desktops. I did not get any signal - in fact, the REaltek HD Audio Manager applet though I had plugged in a pair of headphones. I made sure the Realtek HD Audio Manager applet was set to allow Digital Out.

After reading the forums, it looks like this may function via optical rather than coaxial. Indeed, if I look inside the headphone jack, there appears to be a little round thing at the very back of the port, which is not present in the microphone and line-in ports.

I want to make sure whether or not this model has SPDIF out before I buy the mini Toslink adapter.

 

now you have got me looking all over the house for my mini Toslink adp.....Grrrrrr
but looking at the manuel it has got SPDIF in the headphone jack.

 

Yes, SPDIF in the headphone - but coaxial or optical?? - i could not get coaxial to work...I'm thinking it is optical but don't have the adapter to try

 

i can't get coaxial to work as well keep showing as headphones.but i didn't think about optical.doh.....until i saw your post...i've been all over the net looking and found nothing..

 

well, we'll find out b/c i went ahead and ordered the adapter - only $2US - anyone else know the answer to this query?

 

lets hope it works and if it does whoopy.
best of luck mate.
don't forget to pop back and let us know.Cheers

 

any look yet with the sound output......

waiting to see if it works....yes..or no..?

 

Hey - finally received the adapter, and it works

using the adapter I linked to above, just make sure you've enabled Digital Out in the Realtek Control app and plug in the adapter - internal speakers will shut off and sound output via the optical connection

So Nice!!

 

cheers gritmaster.you are a star.

is the sound nice and clear
and im so looking forward to connecting mine up now.

 

that just sounds the mutts nuttz........even the wife is impressed.

was watching lord of the rings using laptop sound 5.1 and svg out. wow that was just a test.

 

i thought it was coaxial for like a week til i found this thread, i already had mini toslink laying around from my macbook pro which i sold, works great though. but wm hd content does not play through optical for some reason.

 

Acer tech support was no help on this issue. It took them a week to answer my email. They told me for SPDIF out I needed a mini mono to rca which I already tried as others here have done. I have a 3680-2682 and am assuming the toslink to mini optical will work based on this thread. I ordered a right angle adapter to reduce stress on the jack and cable. I reviewed the laptop on the Circuit City website after I bought it. I recommended this forum for info rather than be misled by Acer tech support.

 

i gave up on Acer tech support because they didn't know my laptop had optical which can only mean one thing there crap

so long live NBR the best tech support on the web

 

As I noted in a prior response, Acer Tech Support told me I needed a monomini to rca plug for spdif. In response I sent them this thread. This is my response to their response to the thread:
Dear Raymond Gendreau,

I apologize for the delay in responding. There isn't much information in the specifications concerning spdif but I was able to speak with a senior tech who confirmed that it is optical. Please get back with me if this does not help in your situation.

Thank you,
Tammi Gray
Acer Technical Support

Subject: Re: WEB98256 headphone/spdif line out
To: "Tammi Gray" <[email protected]>

Thanks Tammi,

The real thanks go to the Notebook Review.

Ray Gendreau

 

so should we get Acer to pay us HHmmm

 

Got my adapter and am listening to the Bourne Ultimatum movie trailer from the Yahoo website with a dolby 7.1 (PLiix) decode. Spectacular. I'll be loading a dvd with dolby 5.1 EX for my next test.

Maybe Tammi will join our Forum. It was good of her to admit her mistake.

 

the sound is stunning,im now waiting for my new 36" LCD which will be nice as a monitor

if the wife doesn't mind

 

I tried my 32" Sharp 1080P TV using the Svideo out of the laptop. Very good picture using Acer Arcade, but I'm a bit spoiled due to watching Blu-ray disks at 1080p using a Sony PS3.

Using the SPDIF out, my receiver Sony STR-DG800 decodes Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, DD surround EX (7.1), DTS (5.1) and DTS EX 7.1(matrix and discrete) off disks played on the laptop. (Gangs of New York and Lord of the Rings Return of the King). DTS wasn't decoded until I changed the audio settings in Acer Arcade. I have decided that Acer Arcade and QuickTime players (for HD trailers) are the best to use. I rarely use the Windows Media player. I can't detect any difference between the audio from the PS3 and the Acer 3680.

 

Sorry for bringing back this thread. I have an acer aspire 9300-5390 and it has three jacks in the front...1st has a line in sign, 2nd has a mic sign and 3rd has both a headphone sign and spdif labelled. I was able to listen to headphones with this jack. Lately I have not been able to get the plugs go inside the headphone/spdif jack. It had always been a bit tight but not this tight. Nothing ever got stuck in there. When I throw some light in and look inside I can see something that resembles a lens although i'm not so sure. Is it possible that a same jack can handle optical and stereo. Do you guyz think tht this acer also has an optical output....I'm also planning to buy a home theatre receiver since my old dvd htib does not have any digital inputs. How to go abt this.

I even have a dell inspiron 6400. The user manual says that the the seven pin svideo also tranmits digital audio. They sell those kind of a splitter which splits it into a standard 4pin svideo +composite video+ digital audio. Currently I use a self made svideo to rca cable that I made by cutting off a 4pin svideo cable and a standard video rca and then joining the 2 grounds of svideo to ground of rca and the other 2 wires of svideo to the rca composite. It works great!! (got both cables from a dollar store!!!) I am condidering trying to use a 7 pin svideo cable instead in the above step and trying to then extract the digital audio to a separate rca from the extra pins. It gotta be coaxial cuz I dont think it is possible to send optical audio through svideo pins. Do you ppl think it will work or will i have to buy the dell adapter.

 

the jack handles both. you need a mini tosslink adapter and you need to switch on SPDIF. YOU WILL LOVE IT.
optical uses a glass fibre lead and shows as a red light when you plug it into the headphone jack(from the small lens) you can use that audio only and the s-video is just for picture.
Acer tech support didn't have a bloody clue about optical or that there laptops had it

 

Just an addendum to Hoggies post: The s-video minidin jack on your computer is 7 pin, but if you are driving a TV with s-video input, you can use a 4 pin s-video cable, it can be plugged into the 7 pin jack. If you have a composite input to your TV, you might think about upgrading to a new TV with s-video in. Usually an s-video 7 pin minidin provides both (pin 1 through 4= Ground (Y), Ground (C), Y (Luminance/intensity) ,and C (Chrominance/color). This is the same as pin 1 through 4 on the 4 pin minidin. Pin 5 on the 7 pin is usually unused or may carry a control signal; pin 6 is composite video and pin 7 is Composite video ground. I suppose 6 and 7 could be used for monaural audio out, but I have never heard of that application.

In re the home theater receiver, you may want to check out the Onkyo receivers.

 

Ya I'm thinking abt the onkyo ht-sr800 7.1 system cuz it it is so inexpensive and comes with speakers too. So it is as convenient as buying an htib but is a receiver with speakers which can be upgraded too.

Here is what is there in the manual:

 

what bugs me as theres nothing about optical or s-video on the acer web site.
i use the s-video and the SPDIF(optical) with and LG 7.1 sound system.
can't tell you how good it all sounds

 

What's in the manual? I couldn't find anything on tripod.com.

 

Sorry for that...they removed the pic. I am now pretty sure that the headphone jack on my acer has optical. just waiting to get it work (gotta buy the cables). However the svideo and spdif thing that i said was abt my dell. It might be the wrong section but since its related to the spdif topic, here is the image again:

 

Very interesting. Did you try using that cable you made (7 pin s-video to 4 pin s-video and rca (for SPDIF)) on the acer? SPDIF refers to both coax and optical. I'm assuming you have a receiver with SPDIF coax input. Anything is possible with Acer. Unfortunately, the only way to find out if this works is to try it yourself. I wouldn't bother with Acer Tech Support.