Charlie
02-08-2005, 10:31 AM
I have a Creative Inspire 5500 decoder and speaker set. I've had it for just
over two years (typically it breaks *just* as the warranty runs out!) and
it's been fine up until now. Now though, analogue/stereo (decoded into
Pro-Logic or played as plain stereo) sources play fine - but anything Dolby
Digital, like DVD's played from my PC through the SPDIF out from my sound
card to the decoder, various optical digital and coaxial digital sources
(like my stand alone DVD player and my Xbox) are playing back with
intermittent 'flicking' between digital and analogue - you can clearly hear
this happening and actually see the LED's on the front of the unit flicking
intermittently between 'Dolby Digital' and 'Stereo' (with no set pattern,
just flicking from one to the other quite fast).
I found no mention on the WWW's various forums and groups of this problem
with this particular Creative set - but I found a few mentions of this
problem with various other models of decoders - PC based or Home
Entertainment units in general. It seems the actual digital decoder inside
has turned it's toes up. Is this a widespread problem? Do digital decoders
have a lifespan as such? Also, anyone think this is worth getting fixed or
should I just toss it on the scrap heap and buy a new one?
Thanks.
over two years (typically it breaks *just* as the warranty runs out!) and
it's been fine up until now. Now though, analogue/stereo (decoded into
Pro-Logic or played as plain stereo) sources play fine - but anything Dolby
Digital, like DVD's played from my PC through the SPDIF out from my sound
card to the decoder, various optical digital and coaxial digital sources
(like my stand alone DVD player and my Xbox) are playing back with
intermittent 'flicking' between digital and analogue - you can clearly hear
this happening and actually see the LED's on the front of the unit flicking
intermittently between 'Dolby Digital' and 'Stereo' (with no set pattern,
just flicking from one to the other quite fast).
I found no mention on the WWW's various forums and groups of this problem
with this particular Creative set - but I found a few mentions of this
problem with various other models of decoders - PC based or Home
Entertainment units in general. It seems the actual digital decoder inside
has turned it's toes up. Is this a widespread problem? Do digital decoders
have a lifespan as such? Also, anyone think this is worth getting fixed or
should I just toss it on the scrap heap and buy a new one?
Thanks.