I'm about to buy my first flat screen TV and I've noticed many models comes with a S/PDIF or Toslink. But so far I have seen very little information on what kind of audio signals are actually available.
The TV will be running on DVB input, DVD component video and maybe later on blue ray. By now I will stick with my good ol' non-hdmi home theater. Hence my interest for the TV's digital audio output.
I would be most greatful for information on this signals. I.e. is it MPEG, DD, DTS, PCM,... or a menu choice? Also, it would be interesting to know if there are differences between TV brands or models.
The digital output on a TV is for OTA channels. It will do 5.1 when a station is broadcasting 5.1. When they aren't, it will be 2.0 surround. It will not output digital audio from an HDMI input. You will have to connect the DVD and Blu-ray digital output to the receiver.
It doesn't output DTS since no channels broadcast DTS. It is encoded DD and needs to be decoded by a receiver that has DD capability. I don't know if channels where you are broadcast 5.1 or not. It's only HD channels that do.
Yeah, a lot of uncertainty over here about those formats. It seems the initial DVB implementation here in Spain hasn't even left enough bandwidth for some decent audio in the channels.
I think it depends on the TV wheather it outputs anything on analog channels. My Panasonic plasma does, but I don't think the Sony CRT I had before the plasma did.