[marvin83]

I have sort of a tough (I hope not) question regarding a PC > Recevier setup.

I have a Abit AN8-SLi (that part doesn't matter much, really). Anyways, it came with an 7.1 AudioMax card I plugged in that has Optical Out on it. I have it plugged into my Yamaha RX-V2500 via optical. The Realtek Codec is ALC850 and I just recently installed their HD Sound drivers, because I couldn't get 5.1 working. Currently I have 2ch working and I'm trying to get 5.1 working on this thing. In the Realtek Sound Manager control I have S/PDIF-Out set to Output Digital Only as the other 3 do me no good (No Output, Output Digital and Analog, S/PDIF-In to S/PDIF-Out pass through mode).


I was curious if anyone has successfully completed this setup and got it working in 5.1. Also, on the receiver it only detects 'L' and 'R' on the display.

If anyone has any suggestions/answers, would be highly appreciated. This is driving me nuts.

 

[Captain Slow]

Onboard sound isn't the best for digital out, you only get 2-channel PCM from it. From the receiver, you'll need to enable PLII in order to get surround sound from it.


The other option is to use analogue connections for a direct output to the receiver. Your final option is to buy a soundcard that outputs Dolby digital for you. There are several good cards on the market for that.


Since your receiver is quite a highend one, I would suggest buying a separate soundcard with Dolby digital live. The best card right now is the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1, it's not cheap at about $180 but, it does everything very well.


Start with PLII from the receiver first, it's just free. If you aren't happy with that, work from there.

 

[marvin83]

Currently [][]PLIIx is lit up on the display as well as PCM. On the far right it shows just "L" and "R". In theory, if it does emit surround sound via this way (say it comes out of all 6 speakers), is it really 5.1 or is it 2ch matrixed?

 

[Captain Slow]

Currently, you're just getting matrixed sound. You'll need either analogue cables or a soundcard with DDL for full 5.1ch output.

 

[marvin83]

Also... If I were to purchase the CREATIVE LABS X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion 70SB046A00003 it should be able to handle outputting 5.1 via optical to a the RX-V2500, correct? It would obviously have to be plugged into the front panel of the PC, which I don't mind so much.



"Currently, you're just getting matrixed sound. You'll need either analogue cables or a soundcard with DDL for full 5.1ch output."

Agreed, but analog just plain sucks.

 

[Captain Slow]

Due to the design, the X-Fi cards only output 2.1 PCM over digital, they have no DTS or Dolby support. The Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is the exception, it has the X-Fi chip and DDL over digital.


With a digital connection, the soundcard itself is actually less important, because it just passes the signal down to the receiver, you can get away with a cheaper one. All you need is DDL and some PLII for upmixing. For $80, the HT Omega Striker 7.1 has everything you need.

 

[marvin83]

Awesome. Thank you so much for your help and bless your vast knowledge. Went ahead and placed an order for one on NewEgg.com.

Will let you know how it comes out.

 

[Captain Slow]

Good luck with it all. Hope it works out well for you.


I've actually got the X-Fi Prelude connected to the HTR-6030 with 5.1ch analogue cables, it's the best choice for me since the card has better components. Brilliant sound.

 

[marvin83]

Ok, I just received the HT Omega Striker 7.1

My receiver now lights up all available speakers and has [][]Digital lit up. I have a movie I downloaded in XviD format with 5.1AC3 audio codec as well as a music video that has 5.1 on it, and I still get some weird jittery noise constantly. The entire receiver display flickers and then when I stop the playback (i.e. close the program out), all of the speakers go away from the display screen on the receiver, but come back eventually after about 7 seconds. In the C-Media Xear3D application the sound card came with, under the 'Main' Setting' tab, I have Output Device set to S/PDIF-Out > Dolby Digital Live 5.1 or even DTS 5.1. The receiver will even say "dts" if I select dts in the program, so it's communicating perfectly with the receiver.

If I use Windows Media Player to play the XviD/5.1 file, it plays fine, but it sounds matrixed because I can hear the same thing out of every speaker no matter what the sound is, i.e. voices, action, etc. If I use VideoLAN (which I enjoy the program very much), it just eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh jitters and won't ever play a smooth, solid playback.


Anyone know any fixes?


Edit: Now on standby it shows no speakers on the receiver display until I play a sound, then it shows all of them, but still jitters in VideoLan. And If i right-click on the screen inside the program under "Audio Device>A/52 over S/PDIF" is selected.

 

[Captain Slow]

I'm using FFDShow to output AC3. You need to make sure the sound driver is set up to match your output, whether it be AC3 or DTS. Otherwise, you get the stuttery sound you're experiencing now.

 

[marvin83]

Ok, I downloaded the FFDShow Codec, installed it, made sure A/52\\AC3 was set to S/PDIF in the audio config settings. It works in Windows Media Player, but I'm unsure why it still stutters in VideoLAN. I expected it to be fairly high end for a free media player with 100x more options than Windows Media Player.

Could it be the player itself has issues?

Or am i missing an option somewhere I may have overlooked? Because I've tried all the settings I can think of. Not sure if you're too familiar with it or not, though.


Edit: I really dislike Windows Media Player. I try my best to work around it, but seems to be the only thing that plays AC3 normally... for now.


Edit again: Also, is it normal for th speakers displayed on trh receiver to disappear everytime i stop/pause playback? They don't licker anymore, they just disappear when I stop the movie.

 

[Captain Slow]

For some reason, I can't get VLC and FFDShow video to co-operate properly either, it doesn't show the tray icon.


If you don't like WMP (can't blame you for that), give Zoom Player a try. It's what I use and it does everything I need, including work with FFDShow.


Depending on your receiver, it might not show the speaker indicators unless something is playing. On mine, it displays them all in AC3 mode regardless. This doesn't actually make any difference at all.

 

[marvin83]

I'll give Zoom Player a try. Anything better than WMP and I need something to replace VideoLAN. I'm not sure what its issue is. It has the A/52 codec and everything, but still no go. Oh well, I'll see how Zoom Player is. As I said, anything's a step up from WMP, so I'm sure it will suffice.