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Review on πŸ”Š J-Tech Digital Premium Quality 1080P HDMI to HDMI + Audio Extractor Converter (SPDIF + RCA Stereo) - The Ultimate Audio Solution (JTDAT5CH) by Marco Cervantes

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Be careful, NO Dolby Digital Plus

I got this so I can extract HDMI audio from my NVIDIA Shield (which doesn't have SPDIF) and send it to my old receiver's TOSLINK optical input , which does not support HDMI. Up until now I haven't been an expert on digital audio formats and unless you know what you're looking for (and I don't) you'd think this would give you 5.1 sound over HDMI, but it doesn't. This device and many similar devices do not support Dolby Digital Plus (not the same as Dolby Digital) or Dolby Atmos and this is very important even for non-4k or 1080p. Some video streaming apps like Netflix, Revain Prime, and Disney+ use Dolby Digital Plus (DD+/E-AC-3) to send 5.1 multi-channel audio to your TV or AV receiver. SHIELD TV streams bitstream audio to a TV or receiver via HDMI. As this device cannot decode Dolby Digital Plus, you will not get any sound when streaming Dolby Digital Plus content. You will be forced to select a 2-channel audio track in the program. Also, I didn't get anything from the Shield in 5.1; only Dolby Digital, which is not 5.1, and stereo. I read that TOSLINK (SPDIF) doesn't support Dolby Digital Plus, maybe that's why. If this is the case, such a device has to decode the sound and re-encode it into a different format. After searching everywhere I found "U9 ViewHD" which seems to do this. Reviews show it will do what J-Tech can't, so I'll give it a try. Without Dolby Digital Plus, I'm just not sure how useful this thing is.

Pros
  • GOLS certified
Cons
  • Only available in black

Comments (3)

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May 10, 2023
My old plasma screen (no ARC, no optical) now plays through Sonos Beam
May 01, 2023
Can you hear me now? Yes!
April 22, 2023
Helps our PS4 work with our older TV & sound system