Xbox 360 and Sound card optical

[jsfarthing]

Hi,
bassically i've got a C-media CMI8768+ sound card and logitech x-540 speakers, and i wanted to connect my xbox 360 to it using optical so that i could get 5.1 sound. The sound card appears to support dolby digital although im not sure if it can decode 5.1 dolby digital. This is the only way i know how (apart from buying a Av reciever or something) since the x-540 only has analog connections. So does anyone know how to get it to work, or would i just have to connect the xbox using analog output and just use the matrix button (which i don't really want to do since it won't be true surround). I downloaded AC3filter but I'm not technical enough to know how to configure everything in it.
thanx

btw if anyone needs any screenshots of the software and stuff then just ask.

[Caudovittatus]

You'd have to use the Xbox's analogue output unfortunately - optical output is always digital and so needs a Digital to Analog Converter... I'm not near my Xbox now, but I've got a feeling that it can stream PCM via the optical out, but that would still require a DAC (and I think some of the units designed for decoding CD output cost more than an AV receiver - I've not even looked at them recently and they may not even be available anymore - they were always for higher end kit than I could afford). Is there any chance you could pick up a cheap AV receiver (maybe secondhand)?

[DDY]

Unfortunately the CMI8768+ lacks the capability to decode 5.1 DD, with that soundcard you're stuck with 2ch PCM at best.

[jsfarthing]

ah thanks, well that explains it.
I'm just wondering, does anyone know of a cheap av reciever or something that could decode dolby digital 5.1 into analog? If the price would be over £200 then it's not worth it for me.

thanks.

[Caudovittatus]

Just a quick search, but there's a few in this list... only thing is that I'm not sure they'd be compatible with the speakers you have

http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=5...=next&start=50

Maybe worth trying to get a low-priced receiver/speaker package though I'm not sure what to suggest there.

[jsfarthing]

Hmm there not too bad.
Although I found this as I was searching around:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...source=froogle

I know its designed for Sharkoon headphones but it was optical in (which supports dolby digital) and also 5.1 analog out. I read that those connections were for a third set of headphones, but since the connectors are the same as the ones for my 5.1 speakers, would that still work well?

So does anyone own the headphones or just the control unit, if so can you help me.

Thanks

[Georgy291]

not very good on this topic, but they should. since you arent using that thing as a amp or anything your just getting the sound to the speakers. you can plug you head phones straght in to your mobo jacks...and i know that works

[Caudovittatus]

Sounds like it would work. It may be worth raising it on the Scan section of the forums... the folks from scan are always reading the posts there and are very quick to respond; they've probably got experience of the device and should be able to tell you exactly what it can do.

[jsfarthing]

ah thanks will do. I just thought because its designed for headphoness, the ports might not be suited for speakers (even though that doesn't really make sense since you can plug headphones into the mobo ports like georgy291 said). Silly me. Thanks for the help!