Audio From Your LED Controller: SPDIF on NovaStar COEX

Many fixed LED installations need sound as well as picture: a digital signage screen in a shop, a church screen, a meeting room wall. With a NovaStar COEX controller you don't need a separate audio de-embedder. Every COEX model can take the audio from its HDMI (or DisplayPort) input and send it out over SPDIF, the digital audio standard most amplifiers and soundbars accept.

How it works

• The controller takes the audio embedded in the video source.
• It sends it out of its SPDIF optical port. No extra optical module is needed.
• An optical cable runs to an amplifier with an optical input, or to a small optical-to-analogue converter with RCA or 3.5 mm outputs.

Because the signal is digital all the way, it isn't affected by the interference and hum that analogue audio cables pick up near LED power supplies.

Which inputs carry audio on each COEX model

Plan your wiring with this table: on an MX40 Pro, for instance, connect the source that carries the sound to HDMI-2 or HDMI-3.

How to turn it on in VMP

1. Make sure you're running VMP 1.5.0 or later.
2. Open Screen Settings and go to the Output section.
3. Find Audio and switch it On.

If the source is a computer, set its sound output to the NovaStar HDMI device (shown as "NOVA" in the sound settings), otherwise the computer keeps playing audio through its own speakers. If audio doesn't come through as expected, contact us: some setups need a specific firmware version.

Where it makes sense

• Retail and digital signage: one media player, one controller, one cable to the amplifier.
• Houses of worship and conference rooms: keep sound and picture from the same source in sync, without extra boxes.
• Fixed installations in general: fewer devices means lower cost and less to maintain. NovaStar says future mainline COEX devices will keep supporting SPDIF.

Not sure which COEX controller fits your installation? See our NovaStar COEX buyer's guide.

Pixel Pitchers ships NovaStar from Sweden: order in-stock items by 14:00 CET for same-day UPS Express, with delivery in 1–2 days across the EU and no import duties.

Source: NovaStar COEX Wiki, SPDIF Solution.