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One nearly free alternative to buying an Apple TV
Authored by: deadkarma on Oct 24, '07 08:08:02AM
All the modern macs have optical out on the audio ports.

I don't know if G5 iMacs have them though.

With the right adapter (http://www.amazon.com/TOSLINK-TO-OPTICAL-MINI-ADAPTER/dp/B0002MQGRM) you can watch your DVDs in 5.1 surround sound.

I currently use a mac mini and VLC as my media center :) ... iTheater looks promising, I'll check it out, thanks for the info.




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Limitations of optical out and 5.1 sound channels
Authored by: makip on Oct 26, '07 08:01:05PM
Looks like it doesn't quite work that way, unfortunately.
I remember reading in the documentation the Handbrake video encoding program, that there are limitations in QuickTime and the Mac OS Core Audio system that prevent sending 5.1 discrete channels over the optical out. Its possible with some analogue devices but not the mac's optical connection.

Refer to point 3 on page http://handbrake.m0k.org/trac/wiki/SurroundSoundGuide

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