Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems CLUX-11SA HDMI to analogue converter

Good news Shawn !
I test the analogue part also via my Radiance and are quite happy with it.
Only the signal level is little low compared with a other analogue sources.

shawn

as im not as techy as some could you explain why you have connected it as you have . I have the radience and would like to understand how it all hooks up .

will you be selling completed units ??

cheers

neil

Neil,

The Radiance has two outputs. You can set the second output to have a blank 1080i video carrier to be able to pass audio out the second output and use the first Radiance output to your display. I feed that to the CLUX and then take the output of the CLUX back into an unused input on the Radiance. It feeds back to the Radiance so the CLUX sees an active sink all the time which allows you to get audio from any of your sources without needing to have your display on. In the Radiance I have a USER EDID configured for audio.

"will you be selling completed units ??"

I am not sure yet. I haven't found a source in the US that is actually carrying the CLUX box. I will certainly modify owners boxes if desired.

Thanks,

Shawn

Wow this is great news!! Thanks Shawn.

So, to be able to play audio using the modified CLUX you need either to have your display on (you can't turn it off after playing started?) - or something that can return a proper EDID, acting as a display? A scaler, or a Radiance?

Based on what Jaco has said the CLUX needs an active sink plugged into it to function. I will double check that.

The Radiance is nice because it has individual HDMI receivers for every input. That allows it to receive HDMI from any of your sources (basically to act as a switcher for the CLUX) while at the same time also acting as a sink for the CLUX. I do not think many other devices out there can do this because they only have one HDMI receiver. And some will act as a repeater not a sink.

For those considering a modded CLUX that don't have a Radiance it would be a very good idea to try it in your system stock to make sure you can get analog audio from it in a method that works for you. If it doesn't then return it, if it does then consider getting it modded.

Shawn

Yeah, but what can be an "active sink"? That's the expression that's new to me...

The Clux is available here in Sweden at a decent price, so buying it and testing connecting it to my G68ADV wouldn't be a major financial concern. But modding it myself is pretty much out of the question - if I don't buy a couple extra for practising... But I have a friend that might help me out, to otherwise send the CLUX over to USA for modding will be quite expensive.

About how much would a kit cost, and what is the time-frame (if nothing negative shows up)?

HDMI basically has three classes of devices. Source, repeater, sink.

In theory.....

A source is the first device in a chain and is what initiates the negotiations will all other devices in the chain. A source is supposed to deal with every device in a chain.

A repeater is in the middle of a chain. A source can negotiate with it as well as with other devices downstream from it.

A sink is supposed to be the last device in a chain. Typically this would be your display. When your source encounters a 'sink' it considers this the last device in the chain and doesn't negotiate past this.

That is the theory and how things are supposed to be done per the spec.

The reality is that a bunch of equipment doesn't really follow the specs and things get confusing.

Many of the initial problems with HDCP were because sources didn't understand how to deal with one or more repeaters. The sources were coded to handle being plugged into a sink directly and wouldn't output into a chain that had repeaters in it. The lack of compatibility testing when devices first started coming out sort of hide this problem in the sources until repeaters came on market. So you had a source plugged into a display and everythign was fine. Then someone bought a HDMI receiver (repeater) and added it into the chain and suddenly nothing worked. Most blamed the receiver since 'it worked before.' The problem was that most didn't understand that the source was at fault as it couldn't handle a repeater.

So to deal with this some manufacturers strayed from the spec and had devices that were technically repeaters ID themselves as sinks to work around the crappy programming in the sources. This is fairly common. Per the HDCP/HDMI licenses this is a no-no as it prevents the source from seeing the entire chain therefor inhibits the ability of the black flag list to actual work. A black flagged device could be hidden behind a repeater that was actually telling the source it was a sink. If HDMI/HDCP took a hard stand against this they would black flag all the devices that mis-ID themselves.

Per what Jaco said the CLUX IDs itself as a repeater all the time.

This is a problem because the source is going to be looking for a sink. If it doesn't find one it won't output anything. So without a sink plugged into the CLUX you get no audio.

Technically what the CLUX could do is if anything is plugged into the output it should ID itself as a repeater (as per the rules) but if it has nothing in its HDMI output it should ID itself as a sink since it really would be the last device in the chain in that situation. But since it doesn't do this one needs to be able to give it a sink to get it to work at all.

"About how much would a kit cost, and what is the time-frame (if nothing negative shows up)?"

The 3x SPDIF transceiver cards are $165 plus shipping for DIYers. I'll try and get details of the mod in the CLUX up in a few days so one can see what is involved in the modification.

Shawn

"I'll try and get details of the mod in the CLUX up in a few days so one can see what is involved in the modification. "

Pics up at:

http://switch-box.com/S_PDIF_installation/Entries/2008/10/30_Cypress_CLUX-11SA.html

Shawn

Nice pics Shawn! I'm planning on using these connectors with a set of three blue Meridian cables. I can't find an equivalent of these 75 ohm cables in the UK.

Not too big a fan of those those. When I first got my G91 I used BNC-RCA convertors to be able to use a normal component cable, but the picture suffered quite a lot.

Your probably better off changing the connectors all together. Should not be too hard. Or make SPDIF cables with a 2.5 inch connector on one end.

We're talking digital here though. The only question I have is whether or not the 3.5mm male to RCA female converters are 75 ohms.