Can someone please explain if I would get any advantages running an optical instead of coaxial signal to my DVD. I have a Pioneeer DVD-09 and a Lex MC-1. Please give me some kind of explanation as to which and why I should use.

Thanks,
Mark

Well, it really is kinda a mute point. The signals you are sending are a digital bitstream. Pretty much impervious to noise induction anyway. But, I guess logically the optical cable would have 'less' possible noise induction of it's inherant design.

I've never heard a difference in the two cable types, nor have I heard any difference in cable quality....to a certain extent, I mean a good cable is necessary, but 100 bucks a meter is nuts.

I have heard that you can sometimes get an unreliable connection with the optical cable and that co-ax is more secure, but other than that the signals ahould be identical.

"Pretty much impervious to noise induction anyway"

Ever heard of Jitter or Bit Error Rate (BER)? Digital signals aren't impervious to noise, its just that you may not notice because the error detection/correction algorithms will tend to filter it out.

From what I've learned about the two standards, the coaxial link uses a significantly higher carrier frequency than the optical link, so theoretically at least it should provide a "better" signal. In practice, I think you'd be hard pressed to notice any difference even with high end audiophile gear.

Graham

Graham is certainly correct. Optical signals are also much more susceptible to cable length, and in fact because the carrier frequency is lower, the wavelength is longer and optimal cable lengths are also longer (about 2 meters). A better optical connection was introduced several years ago (ATT glass) but never really caught on except in very high end equipment.

John

Thanks for all the information, I know when I first set up the system I was tod to use coax but never given a reason.

Thanks Again,
Mark

I have also heard that the connectors that are used on optical cables tend to introduce a lot of reflections/noise/loss.

Regards,
Bruce

Well, I would call them errors rather than noise induction...but so be it.

Then again, with all that error correction, are there still errors???