Hi, I recently purchased a player with ac3 Dolby output. I would like to know what I need to have in order to enjoy this option. Is it necessary to have an rf demodulator? Thank you

=> https://www.lddb.com/help/ac3rf/

Julien

I've got a decoder for sale, its a rare one.
Meridian.

You’ll need an RF demodulator (every player does, yep, even that one) to convert the AC-3 to regular Dolby Digital. They vary only on convenience features, all doing fundamentally the same thing and all vintage at this point, no new ones have been made in quite a few years.

You’ll need an AC3-RF Demodulator or get a Surround Processor that has the AC3-RF Demodulator built in along with an S/PDIF output to connect to your current AV Receiver or Processor. This Surround Processor option can be cheaper (as well as more convenient as a digital input switcher) as not a lot of people think about it as an option.

Currently, I don’t see these models on eBay at this time but they do show up (just have to be patient if you really want one and at a good price).

These are the models to look for....

Sony, SDP-E800
Sony, SDP-EP9ES
Denon, AVD-2000


Also, you can simply get a vintage AV Receiver that had the AC3-RF Demodulator built in but then you’ll end up having to use it in place of your current model which probably has newer technology like HDMI switching and more modern surround codecs.

I recently got a good deal on the little Yamaha one. It’s pretty dinged up, if it wasn’t built into this ridiculously/wonderfully overbuilt military grade case I’m sure it would have been broken by now.

Before that I was using the ADP303, same difference really but now there is a lot less cabling behind the system (six line level channels as opposed to one digital coax) and less heat.

People love saying that, but in reality, "military grade" is absolute garbage.

I’ve worked on a few military projects before and in many many ways you are correct. It’s hard to say comprehensively though since military standards are not consumer product standards. There are nearly zero free market forces at play in military design, rather a specific spec or stated objective is being followed which one way or another is essentially law. Often “moron-proof” is the main goal, so that the 19 year old mechanic working on it doesn’t accidentally do something that would cause the machine to fail in the field. In the meanwhile the thing is pissing filthy oil out of every crack like a 1956 Ford with 8 million miles on it making it look massively completely inferior to even a Toyota Yaris. In some cases, dwarves make this s**t under a mountain somewhere, I swear...but it’s not designed to be trouble free for years and years, it’s designed to be shot at, serviced, and shot at again.

To be clear, the Yamaha RF demodulator isn’t really built to any version of military since it has a cheese grade extruded aluminum case that wouldn’t stop a higher powered air rifle let alone a bullet. Also if it were for the military it would have some olive drab round DIN on it rather than a plastic switch and sockets that won’t resist splash. Regardless, like an all-copper Elite deck, it’s worth more in scrap than modern AV gear costs new.

Scrap doesn't pay squat, I took over 300lbs of steel and other stuff and got a whopping 32.50 not worth my time, back and car damage.
When I open my hatchback the bumper and area above have scratches from pushing and pulling the garbage in and out, won't do that again.

Now I'll do it for gold or silver only, maybe copper?

It goes up and down. Steel is always pretty worthless compared to anything. Aluminum is much more but very down now. Copper is way up from that.

At work we pro scrap some stuffs and other s**t we just leave outside for the lower tiered scrappers to just take in the middle of the night. I don’t know how they load the stuff up...must have some kind of crane on the truck...it would only pay by the ton, as you say.