SPIDF Optical Out Issues and Questions

D

Derfman

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
1,220
I recently purchased a surround sound system and I have been trying to get Surround Sound from my PC Games through the SPIDF Optical Out on my motherboard... I have had success with DTS but from what I have read DTS just takes a 2.1 channel source and "turns" it into a 5.1 channel source for my receiver...

Thats fine and dandy but doesn't that mean that my games suffer quality loss over conventional PC Games and analog 5.1 surround sound systems?

So I decided to look at what sound cards are out there and it seems everyone offers the same stereo output through an Optical SPIDF connection... Of course video files encoded in Dolby Digital work just fine and provide real surround sound...

My motherboard has a SPIDF coaxial out but I am unsure if this will provide different results (and I don't have a cable to test this out and wish to find this out before putting the money out for one)...

I originally bought this home theatre setup to serve as a surround sound system for my 360, PS3 and PC... I have a very small room so I didn't want anything to blow me out of the water or get me kicked out of the house... It meets my requirements but the inputs are a bit limited due to it not being "top of the line"...

Here is a link to the system....http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8724366&st=sony+brava+1000&lp=12&type=product&cp=1&id=1200703057943

Is there any options that I have to get true surround sound out of my PC Gaming or will I have to suffice with a good system for everything else and just 2.1 or DTS converted material with this system?

Also if I am stuck with no other options in sight, can someone recommend me a good sound card that offers great control ability in Vista... I like the fact that I can adjust my settings for my on board to allow all 2.1 channel sounds to be converted to DTS... If I am stuck with this as my only option I would like to be able to have this functionality in an actual sound card...

Sorry for the long winded explanation, I hope someone can give me some advice here...

Thanks!
 
Will this allow me to get true surround sound out of my games, like Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3?

Thanks for your input that card is quite affordable too.
 
Also DTS is a surround format. It is 5.1 (or more) just like Dolby Digital.

I don't own the Asus Xonar but from what I have been reading, yes it will. Also it will convert stereo sources using Pro Logic IIx.
 
450 said:
Also DTS is a surround format. It is 5.1 (or more) just like Dolby Digital.

I don't own the Asus Xonar but from what I have been reading, yes it will. Also it will convert stereo sources using Pro Logic IIx.
Click to expand...

My problem is the fact that I don't want it to convert stereo sources to 5.1 if the game itself can support 5.1... Unfortunately games like Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 don't have settings to tell it exactly how many speakers my setup is... It goes by what Windows has setup and unfortunately at least through SPIDF on both my Creative X-FI Xtreme Audio (that crappy PCI-E card that actually uses your processor unlike most sound cards) or my on board Realtek sound card, I am unable to receive an option where I can set what speakers I have...

It will send Dolby Digital as 5.1 so I know it can send 5.1 but it seems to send stereo for everything else... It would be nice if I could get around this without having "convert" in-game stereo sound to 5.1... Losing quality compared to actual 5.1 surround sound from the game itself...

Thanks again...
 
Derfman said:
Great!

Just the answer I was hoping for...
Click to expand...

I should note however that some people have had mixed sucess with using it. The main issue is latency where some sounds aren't coming through fast enough. (mainly an issue with fast fps games)

I haven't looked into DTS connect, I will do that now.
 
Well, I don't know if DTS Connect will be better with latency. I think it depends more on the implementation.

HDMI that supports multichannel PCM output is probably the best solution if you have a receiver that'll take it.
 
dandragonrage said:
Well, I don't know if DTS Connect will be better with latency. I think it depends more on the implementation.

HDMI that supports multichannel PCM output is probably the best solution if you have a receiver that'll take it.
Click to expand...

HDMI is one solution, with the other being 5.1/7.1 analog input.

What I don't understand is...how did the Xbox 1 and nForce 2 do it while the new stuff can't? Am I missing something?
 
Some current cards that can feed 5.1 sound via digital are Xonar, X-Fi Platinum and the Prelude.
Only 2 cards (out of all the DDL/DTS compliant cards) can decode EAX fully in hardware and feed it via digital, these are The Creative X-Fi Flatinum and the Auzentech Prelude. They both use the X-Fi hardware sound processor.
The Xonar emulates EAX so not all effects are correct or present.
Without hardware decoding of EAX, you are limited to EAX 2.0 max. ie no EAX HD, EAX 5.0...

Hardware support for EAX also allows hardware translation of OpenAL sound.
 
Nenu said:
Some current cards that can feed 5.1 sound via digital are Xonar, X-Fi Platinum and the Prelude.
Only 2 cards (out of all the DDL/DTS compliant cards) can decode EAX fully in hardware and feed it via digital, these are The Creative X-Fi Flatinum and the Auzentech Prelude. They both use the X-Fi hardware sound processor.
The Xonar emulates EAX so not all effects are correct or present.
Without hardware decoding of EAX, you are limited to EAX 2.0 max. ie no EAX HD, EAX 5.0...

Hardware support for EAX also allows hardware translation of OpenAL sound.
Click to expand...

I was looking into the Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty PCI-E card, it delivers EAX 5.0 and DDL...

As long as the latency isn't horrendous like 2+ seconds off I will survive with it being a bit off... Yea I am looking for a great FPS experience but to say that I spend most of my PC Gaming on FPS games would be an outright lie... So I guess I will take this as my best option available and hope for the best because I don't want to spend $200 - $300 on the HDMI Xonar card and ATI is having an issue displaying 1080P directly on my 1080P TV sets which is my main PC monitor in this case...

I actually ordered a ATI 4550 for $50 just to test out the HDMI sound on it, I had the same issues with the latest drivers with 1080P display and even though my receiver supports 8CH LPCM specifically through HDMI I was unable to get surround sound in Crysis... Windows / Realtek settings did not give me an option to input how many speakers my setup was so I was unable to tell it that I had 5.1, etc... Which is probably why Crysis sent over 2CH since that and Unreal Tournament 3 output their sound based on the settings you have in Windows / Sound Device Panel...

If it wasn't for the 1080P and the issues with getting it to send surround sound through HDMI to my receiver I would definitely be getting a 4870X2 next week when I get paid (and also get some Birthday money from my parents to make the purchase even easier)... It looks l will be upgrading my 8800GTS 512MB to a 280 GTX FTW...

Thanks again guys... I'm pretty good at researching stuff when it's software or hardware related but the sound card and receiver home theater market is still very foriegn to me... You have educated me well and I hope it pays off when I get my system fully upgraded, sound card, graphics card, and all. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top