Dolby Digital 5.1 Output Options

[nikonlarry]

I want to be able to play a DVD with 5.1 sound at a banquet. Created with Apple Final Cut Studio. I have a MacPro and can run the output out the optical cable. Just don't know what to put between the Mac and the speakers. I assume I will need say, 5 amps. I can do this at home with a 5.1 home theater receiver. But I don't think think the home receiver will work for a large room. Maybe I could take the output into a mixer with pre-amps and then to the main amps.

I can't find any information searching for this type of setup. Any help will be appreciated. thanks larry

[Jim Hoyland]

Certainly an integrated Surround amp with optical input is the easiest way of doing this. I believe that there are a couple of companies that make standalone surround decoders (e.g. Violet Audio ADP61) which you could use to hook up to a bank of PA amps or similar, but these aren't cheap!

As you've created your surround soundtrack in FCP, I assume you've encoded the files in Dolby AC3 format. If you have a core-audio compliant multi-channel audio interface you can use VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) to decode AC3 and route the audio to individual channels on your audio interface (you need to define your channels using the "Configure Speakers" button in the Audio / MIDI Set-Up Utility first).

Finally, it may be worth looking at sourcing a DVD player with built-in Dolby decoder and individual analogue audio outputs. There are a number of these available on the market, though they tend to be a little more expensive. One benefit of this technique is that these players tend to incorporate a basic calibration programme, using bursts of white noise to assist in setting the individual speaker levels.

[nikonlarry]

Certainly an integrated Surround amp with optical input is the easiest way of doing this. I believe that there are a couple of companies that make standalone surround decoders (e.g. Violet Audio ADP61) which you could use to hook up to a bank of PA amps or similar, but these aren't cheap!

As you've created your surround soundtrack in FCP, I assume you've encoded the files in Dolby AC3 format. If you have a core-audio compliant multi-channel audio interface you can use VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) to decode AC3 and route the audio to individual channels on your audio interface (you need to define your channels using the "Configure Speakers" button in the Audio / MIDI Set-Up Utility first).

Finally, it may be worth looking at sourcing a DVD player with built-in Dolby decoder and individual analogue audio outputs. There are a number of these available on the market, though they tend to be a little more expensive. One benefit of this technique is that these players tend to incorporate a basic calibration programme, using bursts of white noise to assist in setting the individual speaker levels.

Thank you for the information. I got a clue from your comment on the multi-channel audio interface. I have a MOTU 2408 I/O that I found out will let me assign the speakers to ports on the MOTU. So I am good to go if I run the 2408 out to preamps and amps to speakers.