What was this DIG (or may be D G ) Interface on IDE (PATA) CD Writer?

Question

I hope this question is in scope for this site.

While I was just about to throw away my very old internal CD Writer (PATA Interface) in E-Waste, I saw two pins on its extreme left back panel interface mentioning DIG ( D G being Pinouts) on it.

See the snapshot, the next one right to it is a 4 Pin Audio interface and next to that is Master/Slave/Cable Select pins.

Does anyone know what was this DIG? There’s absolutely no reference of it on the internet.

pure guess... S/PDIF? 'dig'...ital? That would make D, G digital & ground. — Tetsujin, Dec 07 '17 at 17:30
@Tetsujin your guess is right. I searched with reference of SPDIF and finally found the relevant reference here http://www.co-bw.com/DIY_SPDIF_Connection.htm — rajeev, Dec 07 '17 at 17:58

score 20 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 07 '17 at 17:54

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Digital Out. This is how it's labeled on my CD writer:

Google "cd spdif 2-pin" and you'll find suitable cables.

answered Dec 07 '17 at 17:54

Kamil Maciorowski

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score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 07 '17 at 17:52

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It is digital out. The digital auto out has both channels encoded and passed along one wire pair.

Not sure why it is labeled D/G--perhaps so you don't think you can connect it to an analog receiver--but it is signal and ground. The analog audio connector requires a pair for each channel, and it is labeled Right, Ground, Ground, Left. In reality, most analog audio connectors I have seen use a shared wire for ground so the connectors usually only have 3 wires.

answered Dec 07 '17 at 17:52

Yorik

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"D" for "data"? – Kamil Maciorowski Dec 07 '17 at 17:55
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@KamilMaciorowski: probably. And also "D" for "Don't connect directly to a powered speaker? – Yorik Dec 07 '17 at 17:56
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D for Dance and G for Groove since it is audio output :) – Eric F Dec 07 '17 at 17:58
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it's DIG for DIG(ital) – user1306322 Dec 07 '17 at 18:47
@user1306322: I am referring to the D/G in the pin-out diagram below "DIG" – Yorik Dec 07 '17 at 22:29
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Data and Ground. Because getting them backwards could do Bad Things. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Dec 07 '17 at 23:14
"The digital *audio* out ..." – Mazura Dec 08 '17 at 00:02

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 07 '17 at 17:52

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Digital audio output for connecting to a sound card. Back in the day it (or the analogue equivalent) was required to play CD audio through computer speakers

answered Dec 07 '17 at 17:52

David Jones

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 14 '17 at 22:37

DIG = digital (audio output). D = data G = ground. Protocol should be compatible with S/PDIF standard, however electrical interface cannot be directly connected to any standard equipment. Signal output from CD have TTL or TTL-3v3 standard. This signal can be attached directly to any standard TOSLINK emitter but You need to add 5V supply or amplifier. This signal can be also converted to coax S/PDIF connector (signal level +/- 0.7V). Minimal set of parts include only two resistors and capacitor. Recommended set includes buffer (any logic gate).

What was this DIG (or may be D G ) Interface on IDE (PATA) CD Writer?

4 Answers4