The GefenTV Digital Audio Decoder -- an answer to a question we're afraid to ask
by Steven Kim 
posted Jun 9th 2009 at 6:24PM
We can't remember the last time we had a piece of gear that supported Dolby Digital but didn't have a pair of stereo out jacks on the back, but if an unforeseen (read: just plain crazy) use-case is going to pop up, it'll be this Friday. And wouldn't you know it, Gefen has a box just for these contingencies. The GefenTV Digital Audio Decoder will take a Dolby Digital audio stream over optical or coax and, presto, turn them into a stereo signal on a pair of RCA phono plugs. Specific custom install situations aside, we can't help but think there are better -- and at $129, cheaper -- ways to crack this nut.
Filed under: Other hardware, Others
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick Catalano @ Jun 9th 2009 8:16PM
I present to you, the JY-M2: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-MOCHA-JY-M2-AC3-DTS-5.1-DIGIT-AUDIO-DECODER_W0QQitemZ130310989712QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxq20090606?IMSfp=TL090606138001r35822
Probably totally-unlicensed Chinese-made 2 Optical 2 Coax 2 Analog Dolby & DTS decoding 5.1 preamp that works great once I trained it to work with my Harmony remote and connected it to my dumb amps that I cannot change the volume to via remote... also takes 2.0 audio and turns it into 5.1 rather well
RSR @ Jun 9th 2009 9:38PM
The price isn't cheap, but the size and simplicity is good. Send digital audio around on one cable is a nice wiring scheme, but sometimes you need to get back to 2.0 analog without having a whole A/V rack in place.
Are there any other products in the vein out there?
ndsprang @ Jun 10th 2009 8:20AM
This is perfect for Windows Media Center PCs (XP/Vista/7). It is not possible to get simultaneous 5.1 and stereo output from the pc, so connecting a separate stereo amplifier (to power speakers in another room perhaps) off of your Media Center surround sound system was not possible.
It's been a problem for a while: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/261017.aspx
tsamb @ Jun 10th 2009 8:37AM
Inherently this means that this little device contains a DAC. Depending on the quality of the DAC, this may be worth the price or not.