Asus Rampage IV Extreme - SDPIF 5.1 Output to Kenwood DD/DTS Amp

[bewarned]

Hi,

Bit stuck so any help would be great!

I have been given a Kenwood Dolby Digital Receiver and I have now purchase a 5.1 speaker setup. My Asus Rampage's Realtek 7.1 soundcard is connected to the Kenwood via SDPIF (Optical) but all I get is 2 channels, even when watching a 5.1 Blu Ray. I have tried all settings and cannot get it to work. I have read up that a 'passthrough' mode must be enable, which I think it is, as I cannot configure the Digital Output via the Sound control panel and there are no options in the Realtek Audio Manager.

I have read SDPIF will only output in 2 channels if not in passthrough. Can anyone shade any light on this? I have tested the speakers via the amp and they are all connected and working correctly. Do I need a better soundcard? Creative or Asus? I notice the Realtek has the three jack output for Front, Rear & center - does it only support 5.1 via these and not SDPIF?

Any help will be gratefully received!!

[fatguy666]

Had a couple of beers but off the top of my head it depends on the settings in your codecs?

If the ffdshow audio codec there is an option for passthrough.

I generally used ac3filter as I liked it more. Can set that for either passthrough or converting everything to 5.1 if needs be.

[bewarned]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I have installed AC3Filter and tried to config the 5.1 options, SDPIF etc but still don't seem to be getting any further, I don't reply know to much about audio settings so a bit lost really. Is it worth trying ffdshow?

[bewarned]

My friend has found out the problem for me. I need a soundcard with Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect. So I have ordered one.

[Agent]

You only need DDL / DTS Connect when you're working with sound which is not already encoded (such as most things realtime like games) in a valid 5.1 format.

For DVD / Bluray, the pass-through should just go right to your amp, and you should get surround sound - provided your amp supports that format.

edit - see my posts in http://forums.hexus.net/general-cons...mp-please.html