S/pdif Digital I/o (rca) ? Options

[Xajen]

Please Excuse me if i sound stupid when I ask, what is the deal with S/PDIF digital I/O (RCA), or S/PDIF in general?

Ie, Quality, Channels, etc...

For example, the Mbox from Digidesign offers S/PDIF digital I/O (RCA), how many seperate channels is that, can i assign each channel to record its own channel path?

Ie, hook up a 8 XLR input device that has S/PDIF digital I/O (RCA), route it to the Mbox and have the ability to record 8 seperate channels of pristien audio at the same time? Or is this just a pipe dream?


Xajen

[davey]

Hey Guys, I am an audio pro who was just looking for topics on s/pdif to explain to my assistants. Most pro audio such as s/pdif and aes/ebu
send a stereo signal digitally down one single cable. (AT least it looks like a single cable) Whether you are going to or from a box, or even the Mbox, This is the only way in or out digitally.
It is only a stereo pair. There is usually no true digital locking of the signal as
it is just a nice quick way to stay in the digital domain. Most pro gear has AES/EBU I/O ports which demand pro cabling. On Consumer devices today, you will most likely find s/pdif outs. CD Players, Recorders, Guitar multi effects boxes, signal processors of all kinds. As soon as you go pro, you will be interfacing gear with AES/EBU ports. There are tons of adapters on the market. The Pro and Consumer worlds are blending much more these days. Your best bet is to start lokking at pro gear that they don't sell in musicians friend or wherever you do buy from. the pro's don't buy their gear from a catalog. Unless we really want to. Or we want what you want at home for fun.