Compal HEL80 + SPDIF optical/electrical??

Hello!


What kind of SPDIF does HEL80 have?

Is it optical or electrical?

Thanks for the answers.

 

Uses a standard 5mm headphone jack... Not sure what "electrical" means since both optical and standard headphone jacks use electricity..

 

I meant optical => Toslink (red light)

electrical => RCA-jack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPDIF


Which one is it??

Thanks.

 

It should be Toslink, as that is the norm nowadays.

 

There are only TWO audio ports located on this laptop, a microphone in, and a headphone out... The headphone out is a standard 5mm connection that can also be used to pass digital signal much like a "black" jack on a Live/Audigy series sound card. I use this port to output 5.1 audio to my home system.

Try looking at reviews for pictures of all the ports.. or check powernotebooks.com.

 

is this true of the hgl30 also? Or does it not have spdif ?

 

It should be the same. powernotebooks.com has a great specs page on the HGL30. You can confirm it there.

 

powernotebooks actually doesn't say specifically that it has spdif ports, which leads me to believe it does not have one

 

I remembered seeing it being discussed earlier. You can always contact Powernotebooks. They will be happy to answer your question. I am quite sure it is SPDIF, but if it's a big deal to you, you should confirm it with someone who knows for sure.

 

Isn't SPDIF digital out standard as a "black" connector according to AC99? Thats what I'm using to connect my 5.1 set. It's round... normal like a headphone 5mm jack... If you turn on digital output though, you can output all 7.1+2 or whatever the hell these things have... its not a hard concept to grasp. There is no optical connection or anything BUT a 5mm mic and a 5mm digital capable output.

 

Has anyone gotten this to work? I bought a 5mm mono plug to rca adapter from radio shack and connected it to my reciever via the coax in. I had my dvd player hooked up to the same connection so i know it works. I just can't seem to get sound from it. I looked in the audio i/o portion of the audio driver and i enabled it. Still no sound. is there another driver or setting i am missing?

Hope someone can help

Thanks in advance

 

I tried plugging just the black connector from my cheapy logitech 5.1 speakers into the headphone port, then enabled digital out in the I/O tab. however all I hear is soud comming from he sub and rear speakers, and the little diagram still only shows 2ch speakers or headphones for options.using the realtek driver, v 5.10.00.5247

 

Change the speakers in control panel > Sounds and Audio... I think thats what I had to do... I don't remember having digital turned on either..
I'm using 5.10.00.5224

 

The choices for S/PDIF are optical or coaxial (not electrical)

We have always represented the HEL80 (PowerPro L 8:15) has an optical S/PDIF port (the headphone port) but as a result of this thread I will investigate to double check.

I will report the result on Tuesday...during business hours.

 

The only coax I was aware these systems had was for the CATV and only if you had the TV Tuner upgrade... are we sure the user is correctly identifying their ports?

 

I did try changing it to 5.1 speakers, however it didn't change anything, and the realtek panel still showed the same, headphones or 2 channel speakers. I'm thinking it may be that I need a s-pdif input on the speaker system itself. to get surround on my desktop I plug in the green, orange and black connectors.

 

On my altec 5.1 system I just used the black 5mm from the headphone, and set windows control panel to 5.1.... But.. (think I already said this) I had to use a newer driver. I don't remember if I got it from the bizcom site or from realtek.. Has never shown more then headphones or 2 channel from the Realtek audio config program.

Documentation is rather sketchy as well since it's all aimed at the chipset rather then the implimentation... (Like some say to use all 3 5mm wires, which notebooks don't have, but the desktop card with the same chipset do...)

 

Did anyone figure out how to use/or if the Hel80 has a SPDIF capability? To help clear things up, there are two types, 1: optical, which many of you have seen as a toslink connector and an RF signal which uses the famouse RCA style connector. However i have seen many laptops that use the small head phone jack to out put the RF type in which case you need the adapter to convert headphone to rca. I just hope this laptop is one of them

Thanks for any help you all may provide

 

well, I managed to find a version 5.10.00.5296, but I still have yet to get surround sound, the best I can do is either the front two speakers (use the green connector) or the rear ones (using the black).

 

I am guessing that the answer is "NO SPDIF". It is a shame would have been a beutifull feature

 

Haha! I think I figured this one out.

I have been trying to get the same SPDIF working as well, and I figured the connection was electrical as well, however, it turns out it is, in fact, a TOSLINK optical connection. The LED output is off by default, however, when you plug in a TOSLINK cable with the correct adaptor, the optical turns on.

Here's a picture of my TOSLINK cable with adapter. I believe that it came with the cable when I bought it.


Here's a picture of the SPDIF LED output when the adapter is plugged in.



Hope this helps.

 

You are the greatest. I have never seen that type of connection before and never assumed that was even available. This makes life great again. thanks for the help

 

OPTICAL IT IS!!! I just bought a cable from wally world and it came with the toslink adapters. Plugged it in and it works like a charm. I am now even more happy with my HEL80. Great machine

 

Thanks for the info mate. I will try to get a hold of one of those adapters asap to test the quality of said sound.

 

What I'd like to see, is whats on the other side, in other words, can my logitech X-530 speakers be connected. I get the sad feeling they can't, but hey, thats what you get with 70 dollar 5.1 speakers.

 

as long as they accept an optical in connection they will work. If they don't then you need a 5.1 dts or DD decoder to drive the speakers.

 

Hi, wondering if it is possible to connect this laptop to X-Fi XtremeGamer desktop PC card? The idea is that the x-fi would convert digital to analog itself and played it on 5.1 system. Which cable I should look for? Maybe it is possible to do it myself?
Or maybe ther is a way transfer digital signal through Ethernet, if there is software for that?

 

Okay, so now i get how to get optical, but most cheapo 5.1 pc speakers don't support that.
It seems its coax as well?

It sounds like its a home system tho and maybe the cheapo pc ones don't have that..I dunno.
I guess we'll just wait for paladins ruling.
-James

 

Hey Could we revist this?
I'm looking to buy the logitech x-540's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121006&Tpk=x-540

and i'm really confused how i'm going to hook up my hel80's spdif to the x-540's.

what exactly would i need? The speakers dont have spdif in..so i'd need to like..convert it or somthing huh? Any other speakers in the same price range?