Do I use a receiver or other to convert digital to analogue?

[BrianD]

Excuse the ignorance as I am not an expert. :roll:

I have a TV that has an optical output, I wish to connect it to my amplifier and speakers. (The TV does not have an analogue output).

So.....do I need a receiver to attach the TV optical output which then converts it to an analogue output for my amp? :?:

Ideally it would be pleasant to connect several other devices into this device resulting in output to my amp etc.

Am I way off here?

:?:
Lastly, any recommendations for a budget of up to £200. (BTW my amp is a tripath type amp amazing sound thus I wish to retain it)

 

[SimonB]

Hi Brian, it sounds like a DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) is what you need. It's not something that I have ever looked at in detail to make any recommendations, but seem to recall that, budget dependent, sometimes offer multiple inputs, though you may find they are of differing types, to give some flexibility. You don't say what other devices you might want to connect, and therefore whether you require additional optical or coaxial digital connections.

Since your TV has optical out, is it a surround sound one - if the digital output is encoded in any way (eg Dolby Digital etc) then I believe this may confuse the DAC and you might need to make sure you can configure your TV to just output two channel stereo.

As I said though, not an area I know a lot about, but hopefully this might give you a nudge in the right direction.

 

[RobertMP]

If your amp is stereo and all you need it analog output from the TV you could pick it up off of a scart socket by using a scart to phono adaptor. Like a scart plug but has L + R audio and composite phono sockets. Some have s-video sockets too.

eg

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=13372

They do through versions too so you don't lose the scart for other things.