[janovetz]

Quick question here... I have a Zoltrix Nightingale card and I want to do Dolby Digital/DTS output with the thing. Is it necessary to have the DVD digital out connected to the connector on the audio card?


I guess I figured this sort of stuff would transfer over the IDE bus or something. Am I way off on this?


Cheers,

Jake

 

[John Moschella]

No.


Your right it will transfer over the IDE bus.

 

[janovetz]

Ok... So, what do I need to do this? I'm running the latest (6.27) drivers and ATI DVD and PowerDVD and no Dolby Digital is coming out. The stereo sees a digital stream, but isn't detecting a Dolby Digital stream. Windows 2000 is the OS.


Any advice?


Cheers,

Jake

 

[genixia]

Ok...


Have you installed SP2 for Win2k? It is vital that this is done. After you have done this, you need to reinstall the Zoltrix drivers, and probably after that, WinDVD/ATI player/PowerDVD.


I don't know why, but the order seems to be important. After you have got this working the first time with SP2 installed, you can upgrade soundcard drivers without reinstalling WinDVD/ATI player/PowerDVD etc...(Thank God!)



BTW, the only time you may want to use the spdif in on the Zoltrix card is for playing DTS CDs. (note CDs, not DVDs). For this you select loopback mode in the Advanced driver properties.


The reason that this is needed is because DTS CDs are recognised by the software as being CDs, and the stream gets passed through the mixer which garbles the encoding. DVDs bypass the mixer...


Try using the search function on this fourm. There's been a reasonable amount of information posted about the Zoltrix Nightingale Pro 6, which is worth reading.

 

[janovetz]

Ok... So, I reinstalled Win2k, then the Zoltrix drivers (627) and then installed ATI DVD. Still no Dolby Digital, so I look at the mixer settings and click on the about button thingie and I see Mixer version 1.42, but then:


Chip Version: CMI8738 6 CH without SPDIF


What the hell does this mean? Is there such a thing? I bought a standard Nightingale Pro 6 and it has the SPDIF extender on it. Ideas?


Jake

 

[janovetz]

Ok... Turns out the "without SPDIF" thing isn't a concern (though it bothers me somewhat).


In any case, the problem has been solved by using DVDGenie to turn on SPDIF in the Cinemaster (ATI DVD) decoder. I didn't realize this needed to be done. Mostly, I just thought DVDGenie was for unnecessary tweaks.


Turns out, DVDGenie is needed even for simple-should-be-available features of the DVD software. I couldn't believe it. If I'm wrong, please correct me. If I'm right, please remember to tell newbies of this. It just plain doesn't make sense. Why would anyone design a player that had the capability of some feature, but require a third party vendor to enable that feature!?


Jake

 

[RyanDinan]

janovetz,


I have basically the same sound chip as you (CMI 8738) running under Win2K sp2. I could not get PowerDVD 3 to output DD/DTS via SPDIF. WinDVD 3 works perfectly, and Cineplayer kinda worked (not without hiccups in video/audio).

I ended up having to install service pack 2 for win2k, and getting the latest CMI drivers for the sound card.

However, PowerDVD still doesn't output.....Don't really care though, since WinDVD looks so much better and smoother....


-Ryan Dinan

 

[janovetz]

Yes, after reading this forum for some time, it was clear that SP2 is necessary for Win2k and SPDIF out. It wasn't clear that DVD Genie was necessary to turn this on. So, here's the skinny:


+ Zoltrix Nightingale Pro 6

+ Windows 2000


One must have:

+ Service Pack 2 for Win2k

+ Updated drivers for Zoltrix (CMI8738 chipset)

+ DVDGenie


SP2 is required to have Windows support the SPDIF output. The updated drivers are also required for this. ATI DVD does not (to my knowledge) allow you to directly output the DD stream via the SPDIF output without the use of DVDGenie to turn that feature on. Now things are working fine.


Cheers,

Jake

 

[Matt Stryker]

I thought I would resurrect this; I'm having a very similar problem.


I'm running Win98SE with a Zoltrix Pro 6 and the latest drivers. My player is WinDVD 2000 v2.6 (came with the sound card). I used DVDGenie to force SPDIF output out of the coaxial output;


My Denon 2801 plays any stream as stereo/DPL instead of DTS or DD 5.1. Is there anything I missed? Do I need WinDVD 3.1? Does the DD/DTS passthrough only work with optical?


All help is appreciated; I finally got the LT150 mounted and going and I have to deal with this. I'd like to get the thing working before I reformat the computer and build the HTPC from scratch.

 

[welshed]

Matt


Take a look at the following thread. I was having the same problem and it was caused by having the wrong set of drivers installed and the fact that uninstalling the incorrect one to install the right drivers did not seem to work correctly.

Nightingale Pro 6 not passing DD


Ed

 

[Matt Stryker]

I'll try that tonight Ed. I've only tried WinDVD, and I guess I could always try it in Windows 2000.


However, when I installed under Win98SE, it did ask me if I wanted the WDM or VXD drivers; I chose VXD. Hmmmmm.

 

[Matt Stryker]

Sucess! Thanks Ed! I got DD/DTS working in both 2000 Professional as well as Win98SE!


Now I have to choose which one to reinstall; I use the X10 Mouseremote, so its software pretty much dictates 98.


Why didn't I go HTPC/FP sooner?

 

[Make]

Just in case anyone wants to know why you need to use VXD drivers with Win98SE, here's the thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...threadid=32746



Make