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spdif jack used on dvd drives?

293 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by debennett2, Apr 7, 2003

Cbander

Discussion Starter · Apr 6, 2003

I've been trying for 2 days now to get my audigy1 platinum to pass a digital signal through the optical or coaxial output to no avail.

Probably a dumb question..but i have never used the spdif output on the dvd drive before. Is this supposed to be hooked to the soundcard? I was using a sblive/hoontech solution without that cable hooked up and it seemed to be fine.

I have gone into the creative AudioHQ app and selected spdif passthrough and I get no sound. If I put it to default, I get 2 channel sound only.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Mark

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ChrisW6ATV

· #2 · Apr 6, 2003

Mark-

You do not need to connect the S/PDIF on the DVD drive. It would only contain CD Audio data anyway, and that data can pass 'through the IDE bus' just fine, typically.

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Cbander

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 6, 2003

Thanks Chris, thats what I thought. Just ready to try anything here with The Audigy1 to get it to work for me. Running out of ideas.

Mark

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Sherbona

· #4 · Apr 6, 2003

Hi Mark,

S/PDIF Passthrough in the AudioHQ is for when you wish to have incoming S/PDIF be routed to the outgoing S/PDIF. For example, if you have an Audigy that has a LiveDrive and wish to route the incoming S/PDIF to the outgoing S/PDIF. To send audio generated from the computer digitally over the S/PDIF to your receiver, you'll want that setting on default.

If your playing a DVD on your computer and you only get the front two channels sent digitaly to your receiver, this most likely means that the receiver is getting a 2 channel PCM signal as opposed to an undecoded DD/DTS signal - doublecheck that you are not decoding the DD signal at the computer; ac3 decode should not be checked in the surround mixer. Also, your software DVD player should be set to S/PDIF passthrough in its setup.

Keep in mind that the only multichannel audio you can send over the S/PDIF is pre-encoded DD/DTS material (e.g., from a DVD movie) - otherwise you only have 2 channel PCM.

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Cbander

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 7, 2003

Ahh..well that explains the Passthrough part. I'll put it back at Default then.

Is the place to disable the ac3 decoding in Creative's software? I initially only had the Audigy drivers loaded, and now have also installed audioHQ. I'll go check and see if there is a surround app that I'm missing too.

Mark

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debennett2

· #6 · Apr 7, 2003

I have the same soundcard (Audigy PLatinum) and am just finally getting my HTPC environment hooked up since I finally built a VGA to component video transcoder. My scenario:

The computer is a floor below and approximately 30-cable-feet from the receiver I want to use (HK AVR525). I plan to use the spdif out on the front bay if possible so I can keep my 5.1 speakers that are local to the computer hooked up. I use the computer for normal use as well and as an HTPC second. Before I build the proper cable, will the spdif out pass digital data to the receiver even with the digital output only checkbox left unchecked? I kinda need it unchecked or it's gonna be a hassle to switch between the two...I'd like to keep things as seamless as possible.

By the way Cbander, the AC3 decoding checkbox is in the AudioHQ somewhere.

I hope someone can help me out.

On another note, does anyone know of a cool solution to have multiple desktops (controlled by commandline, shortcut, or hotkeys) so I can have a HTPC desktop and then my everyday desktop? Thanks.

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Cbander

Discussion Starter · #7 · Apr 7, 2003

I loaded the Creative surround mixer app and was able to uncheck ac3 decoding, and voila, now it works. Thanks all for the help!

And yes debennett2, I'm using the optical out on the front bay of the audigy module to a HK8000 reciever and am able to decode dts/DD etc just fine now, and this with the "output digital only" box unchecked. The "normal" computer speakers work just like they did before.

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debennett2

· #8 · Apr 7, 2003

Cbander,

That is awesome. Thanks for the info! Nice receiver by the way..I would have been killed if I went with that one instead of the AVR525...expensive stuff. Thanks again.

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