[nickr]

I think the real problem you will face is finding an amplifier which accepts HD audio over TOSLINK. Most of the manufacturers probably do believe wikipedia.

[forest]

See? Here are some encouraging reports:
http://www.audiostream.com/comment/49676...ent-496769

[Milhouse]

It's not a hardware issue as the optical fibre has bags of bandwidth, more than enough required for lossless HD Audio.

However there's a protocol in use by TOSLINK, called S/PDIF, that was never designed for HD Audio and has never been updated to support the transmission of lossless HD Audio - for that, there is now HDMI.

A TOSLINK transmitter/receiver can physically transmit lossless HD Audio over the optical cable, but you'd need a custom protocol to replace S/PDIF and then hardware at each end of the link that implements this new protocol. That would be a lot of work and expensive custom hardware for not much gain.

[Flaq69]

Hallo to everybody,

I am not a big expert and not so good in English. I just want to share my setup .
I have the Rpi2 together with the HiFiberry Digi+. I am running the latest build from Milhouse #0212 (A big Thanks to him).

At first I was in doubt how to install the HiFiberry but it turned out to be straight forward because of the overlays.
In the Kodi system setup I have ALSA Default (HifiBerry) as default audio output device.
For the receiver I have a Denon AVR 1713. I have Digitale Assigned the Inputs from Rpi2 HDMI to Optical.

It works really great. It is easy to change back and forth between the Hdmi and optical sound for comparison. The sound from the optical cable is audible (!) a lot better

[goujam]

Hallo to everybody,

I am not a big expert and not so good in English. I just want to share my setup .
I have the Rpi2 together with the HiFiberry Digi+. I am running the latest build from Milhouse #0212 (A big Thanks to him).

At first I was in doubt how to install the HiFiberry but it turned out to be straight forward because of the overlays.
In the Kodi system setup I have ALSA Default (HifiBerry) as default audio output device.
For the receiver I have a Denon AVR 1713. I have Digitale Assigned the Inputs from Rpi2 HDMI to Optical.

It works really great. It is easy to change back and forth between the Hdmi and optical sound for comparison. The sound from the optical cable is audible (!) a lot better

Thats strange it should be exactly the same? Thats the point with digital signals unless there is some processing of the signal going on before sending the signal to your amp. Are you bitsteaming dolby digial and DTS (passthrough)

[noggin]

Haven't you answered your own question?? - "TOSLINK does not have the capacity to carry the lossless versions of Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and LPCM."

Ha... You believe everything on wikipedia without substantiation? You're funny.

I believe numbers. So far, the numbers I've found for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio appear to fit within the limits of the hardware in question. So, without more information, the claim that it won't work looks a lot like an overgeneralization, which in my experience is quite common in tech fields and even more so on the web. That's why I'm asking questions and searching for more details. It would be pretty sweet if it turned out that we have another option for HD audio, even if it's not within the currently-official TOSLINK spec.

Side note: The capacity constraints in that spec have already been upgraded once since the original spec. I haven't yet seen any reason why they couldn't be upgraded again.

Toslink and Coax SPDIF have both supported >48kHz/16bit audio for many years. My first Marantz amp happily accepted 88.2kHz over an optical Toslink SPDIF connection, and my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX supported 96kHz/24bit stereo over SPDIF Toslink many (10+) years ago. The issue isn't bandwidth (though 8 channels of 192kHz/24 bit is quite a major bandwidth increase over 2 channels of 48kHz/16bit - 30Mbs compared to 1.5Mbs?) it is of protocol.

There would need to be a major protocol re-write to allow Toslink/Coax SPDIF (or a replacement for SPDIF) connections to carry Dolby True HD and DTS HD-MA/HRA bitstreams, and manufacturers would need to add some content protection (as required by rights holders) to carry this content. It is likely that such content protection, like HDCP, would be bidirectional. This would require significant re-engineering (as SPDIF is currently unidirectional).

It is very unlikely to happen - HDMI is the standard for carrying bitstreamed HD Audio. SPDIF is now a legacy format that is slowly retiring. The Hifi and Blu-ray player manufacturers aren't going to upgrade Toslink/Coax SPDIF standards now that HDMI is established.

It has never been a technical limitation of what can be carried over a stretch of optical fibre (though carrying 30Mbs rather than 1.5Mbs over coax might be) - it has always been a protocol issue. The SPDIF protocol doesn't support HD Audio bitstreams, because manufacturers can't offer the security required by content owners.

[noggin]

Hallo to everybody,

I am not a big expert and not so good in English. I just want to share my setup .
I have the Rpi2 together with the HiFiberry Digi+. I am running the latest build from Milhouse #0212 (A big Thanks to him).

At first I was in doubt how to install the HiFiberry but it turned out to be straight forward because of the overlays.
In the Kodi system setup I have ALSA Default (HifiBerry) as default audio output device.
For the receiver I have a Denon AVR 1713. I have Digitale Assigned the Inputs from Rpi2 HDMI to Optical.

It works really great. It is easy to change back and forth between the Hdmi and optical sound for comparison. The sound from the optical cable is audible (!) a lot better

Weird. If you are bitstreaming then I have absolutely no idea how that could be (as the audio remains in the compressed domain and has to be presented 1:1 bit-identically over either connection otherwise your amp couldn't decode it). If you are listening in PCM, then again, unless the Pi is somehow altering the audio through scaling over one route but not the other, I don't get how it could differ.

My understanding is that the real benefits of the bolt-on audio adaptors is to add digital audio outputs (SPDIF Toslink/Coax) or to provider better quality DACs than the relatively modest quality of the on-board PWM solution.

[username145]

Since I bought a Pi 1 like a week before the Pi 2 came out (Pi 2 on back order for March), decided to see how it runs as a PVR backend and client on Raspbmc, while recording to a NAS over wifi. It did surprisingly well, no problems at all. Only issue is UI sluggishness. Simply scrolling the EPG timeline, for example, or even navigating menus during playback, is quite choppy. If this choppiness does not exist with the Pi 2, I'll order 3 of them

[bertybassett]

Since I bought a Pi 1 like a week before the Pi 2 came out (Pi 2 on back order for March), decided to see how it runs as a PVR backend and client on Raspbmc, while recording to a NAS over wifi. It did surprisingly well, no problems at all. Only issue is UI sluggishness. Simply scrolling the EPG timeline, for example, or even navigating menus during playback, is quite choppy. If this choppiness does not exist with the Pi 2, I'll order 3 of them

here is my tube video of a fully set Raspberry Pi 2 with Aeon Nox with OPENelec and TVheadend and the guide going insanely fast and smooth.

Live TV bits are near the end.

P.S. don't forget the advancesettings.xml with <algorithmdirtyregions>3</algorithmdirtyregions>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjqEj0ArQEg

[disrupted]

Since I bought a Pi 1 like a week before the Pi 2 came out (Pi 2 on back order for March), decided to see how it runs as a PVR backend and client on Raspbmc, while recording to a NAS over wifi. It did surprisingly well, no problems at all. Only issue is UI sluggishness. Simply scrolling the EPG timeline, for example, or even navigating menus during playback, is quite choppy. If this choppiness does not exist with the Pi 2, I'll order 3 of them :P

here is my tube video of a fully set Raspberry Pi 2 with Aeon Nox with OPENelec and TVheadend and the guide going insanely fast and smooth.

Live TV bits are near the end.

P.S. don't forget the advancesettings.xml with <algorithmdirtyregions>3</algorithmdirtyregions>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjqEj0ArQEg

"this video is private" :(

[doldi]

"this video is not private" :-) i can see this in germany ...thx @ angelika.merkel lol

look's very fast with Pi2, in two weeks i've also an Pi2 [happy]

[Memphiz]

its angela... *kopfschüttel*

[Milhouse]

P.S. don't forget the advancesettings.xml with <algorithmdirtyregions>3</algorithmdirtyregions>

Please do forget this, it's not required.

[username145]

Since I bought a Pi 1 like a week before the Pi 2 came out (Pi 2 on back order for March), decided to see how it runs as a PVR backend and client on Raspbmc, while recording to a NAS over wifi. It did surprisingly well, no problems at all. Only issue is UI sluggishness. Simply scrolling the EPG timeline, for example, or even navigating menus during playback, is quite choppy. If this choppiness does not exist with the Pi 2, I'll order 3 of them

here is my tube video of a fully set Raspberry Pi 2 with Aeon Nox with OPENelec and TVheadend and the guide going insanely fast and smooth.

Live TV bits are near the end.

P.S. don't forget the advancesettings.xml with <algorithmdirtyregions>3</algorithmdirtyregions>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjqEj0ArQEg

Thanks for that, have ordered 3 now!

[rgedgaudas]

Any experience on USB HDD on Pi? What download speed would i get if i download torrents through Windows pc to HDD connected to RPi2? Normaly i get 10MB/s