Need help getting 5.1 from my Amp Please

[Agent]

Yeah buddy, as long as you don't go and buy MonsterCables......you get my drift

[neonplanet40]

Ok guys i got the prelude

Not sure as for the best settings though. Im still using that cable i bought from creative

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Am i better connecting it through the digital lead or sticking with this?

When i select CMMS now it makes no difference.....

[Gerrard]

Sorry the bump, but I've just got a Samsung HT-X250 home cinema system and am having similiar problems. After some research (mainly here) I now understand why I am having the problem. I (like most people no doubt!) thought SPDIF did surround sound straight off, not realising the encoding required.

My setup at the moment is my PC SPDIF output going into the receiver. I then have my PS3 going through the PC's SPDIF input and I change the settings to pass through as and when I swap them around (I use my monitor for both). The PS3 works fine as I now understand it encodes its sound and then the PC simply passes this info onto the receiver. My motherbaord (Abit AB9 QuadGT) has the Realtec AL888 chip, which I thought did DTS encoding. It seems that's not the case, so it look like I am looking at a new sound card to get my surround sound from the PC.

Which leads me to my question. Reading the review for the Terratec Aureon 7.1 PCI sound card, it sounds like it would do the job, but it's only £35. Will this work? I only need 5.1, but the 5.1 version doesn't seem to do this Dolby Digital encoding. Or am I going to have to pay the £100 for the Auzentech?

Thanks in advance.

[neonplanet40]

I forgot to say, i got mine working. Connected now through SPDIF and one word - Awesome

[Agent]

I've just looked on my AB9 Quad-GT and it has the ALC888 chip which does not support Dolby digital encoding. However, the ALC888DD does - but that's not the one used on our boards .

Its worth checking out my last post in this thread: Spdif
As apparently AC3 filter can encode in AC3 now - how true this is, I dont know, as I would assume there is some licence breakage going on if it can Try it, but YMMV.

Which leads me to my question. Reading the review for the Terratec Aureon 7.1 PCI sound card, it sounds like it would do the job, but it's only £35. Will this work? I only need 5.1, but the 5.1 version doesn't seem to do this Dolby Digital encoding. Or am I going to have to pay the £100 for the Auzentech?

Well it says:

To put it another way, you can get 7.1 channels out of the Aureon’s four analogue stereo jack sockets, or 5.1 digital sound out of the optical S/PDIF socket, ready for your Dolby-enabled amp.

and

There’s a fair choice of 7.1 channels sound cards – ones with three channels at the front, two at the side, two at the back and sub-bass - but few of those offer Dolby Digital Live (DDL), too.

So assuming that's correct, it should take your sound and send it via 5.1 over the S/PDIF without an issue. I have no experience with the card though.

I would be wary about buying such a cheap card with DD Live though - Their website doesn't seem to go into a huge amount of detail about what other support features it has. Don't get me wrong, it could be an amazing buy, but I have to question why no one seems to mention / use these cards that I've seen.
The Auzentech on the other hand really is one of the best soundcards on the market and has reviews to reflect it.

I go by a general rule when buying parts: spend peanut's, expect problems. That money could usually have knocked a fair wack off the cost of the better product

[Gerrard]

Well, I've tried AC3Filter, and it only works with media players but not games which was my intention. So looks like I am going to have spend over £100 on a sound card now . The Terratec might well do the job, but the reviews were a bit lack lustre. On everything else other than the DDL, the X-Fi beat it. So with the Auzentech, it should be best of both worlds!

Can I just confirm that this will let me have 5.1 surround sound in games just the same as if I was using the 3 analogue stereo jacks, but encodes that information on the fly to send down the TOSLink to my receiver for exactly the same effects (i.e. like the Xbox and PS3)?