[sci.electronics] Sony serial digital-audio converter

rgs@megatek.UUCP (Rusty Sanders) (01/14/88)

I've heard that Sony is making a chip which accepts a serial digital
output stream (like what comes off that back of a CD or DAT player) and
converts it to 16 bit parallel (serial?) format for easier use. I have a
need for such a chip in a device that I'm coming up with.

Does anyone know of this chip? General specifications and a part number
would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to get the info directly from
Sony, but when I don't know exactly what I'm looking for it's somewhat
difficult for the sales rep to figure out what I want.

Please e-mail responses, and I'll post the eventual answer.

malcolm@spar.SPAR.SLB.COM (Malcolm Slaney) (01/14/88)

In article <255@megatek.UUCP> rgs@megatek.UUCP (Rusty Sanders) writes:
>I've heard that Sony is making a chip which accepts a serial digital
>output stream (like what comes off that back of a CD or DAT player) and
>converts it to 16 bit parallel (serial?) format for easier use. I have a
>need for such a chip in a device that I'm coming up with.

It's not clear what you want.  If you just want to convert the serial bit 
stream to a parallel bit stream then a couple of shift registers and a 
PAL will do it much cheaper than anything with a Sony label on it.

If you want to convert the serial bit stream into a pair of analog 
channels then Sony makes a couple of chips.  Call Sony at (201) 368-5020 
for more information.  I have in front of me a "Sony Semiconductor Product
List" from January 1985 that lists a number of Serial D/A converters.  For 
example the CX20152 is a dual 16 bit 88khz multiplexed D/A.   This part 
a year or two ago had a price of $25 (I forget the quantity.)

Cheers.

								Malcolm	

rgs@megatek.UUCP (Rusty Sanders) (01/15/88)

in article <290@spar.SPAR.SLB.COM>, malcolm@spar.SPAR.SLB.COM (Malcolm Slaney) says:
> 
> In article <255@megatek.UUCP> rgs@megatek.UUCP (Rusty Sanders) writes:
>>I've heard that Sony is making a chip which accepts a serial digital
>>output stream (like what comes off that back of a CD or DAT player) and
>>converts it to 16 bit parallel (serial?) format for easier use. I have a
>>need for such a chip in a device that I'm coming up with.
> 
> It's not clear what you want.  If you just want to convert the serial bit 
> stream to a parallel bit stream then a couple of shift registers and a 
> PAL will do it much cheaper than anything with a Sony label on it.
> 
[ ... Stuff about Sony serial D/A converters ... ]

No, no, no... and you are right, I probably wasn't sufficienctly clear as
to what I wanted. The digital output ports of a CD or DAT player use a
standard protocal and encoding scheme. From what I seem to remember it's a
fm encoded bit stream (I won't get into it, but it's non-trivial to decode)
that arrives in frames. Each frame of data is <n> bits long and includes both
subcode data and many 32 bit data packets for each left/right channel sample.

What I believe sony makes is a chip which will do the demodulation of the FM
signal, and split the subcode and data streams out to different ports. It's
basically a protocol converter. I don't want to figure out the protocol myself,
nor come up with the design to decode it.

I have the Sony D/A-A/D parts book (1988) which you mentioned (they have a
second book for memories, by the way). The chip I'm looking for isn't in
it. I remember the chip being mentioned on the net, but that at the time
Sony was still deciding whether they were going to market it in the US
or not. Last I heard Sony decided to go ahead with it, but that was only
a couple months ago. The chip wouldn't have made it into the book yet.

So, has anyone heard of such a beastie?