Cesar*P

Connecting PC to A/V Receiver for DTS/Dolby Digital sound

Hi everyone, HTPC newb here who'd greatly appreciate some help regarding audio. I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card and would like to connect it to my Yamaha HTR-5550 receiver to experience the receiver's Dolby Digital and DTS sound to watch movies. Problem though is that I can only get the receiver to play in Dolby Prologic II mode. The only way I can get the sound from the receiver to work is by connecting a 1/8" mini stereo jack with RCA connectors. I plug in the 1/8" jack into the card's speaker output and the RCA connectors into the DVD audio input of the receiver. It's my understanding that the cable connection between the PC and receiver must be digital in order to get DTS and Dolby digital sound to work. So I plugged in the same cable to the VersaJack port on the Santa Cruz card. I went into the Santa Cruz control panel and changed the VersaJack setting to Digital Out. I left the RCA connectors on the opposite end of the cable plugged into the DVD audio RCA inputs but no sound comes out which is my objective. I even installed WinDVD Platinum and went into Setup, Audio tab and selected 'Digital (S/PDIF) out to External Processor.' I feel like I'm missing something but just can't figure out what it is. Could it be something that I need to install additionally to my sound card? Could be something regarding SPDIF? Please provide any suggestions. Thanks.

Cesar*P

No suggestions?

StephenL

You must plug the cable into your receiver's DVD digital audio input. Only one cable with the appropriate connector at each end is required. Check the manual for the sound card to make sure you are using the correct type of 1/8" plug (mono or stereo).

\"It\'s most disappointing. I shall have to go all-out on some modifications.\"

Cesar*P

Thanks for your response, StephenL. The only audio digital input I have on the receiver according to the manual is marked for the CD. What do I do if I don't have DVD digital audio inputs? The audio inputs I have on my receiver only seem to be for regular RCA connectors. I went to Radio Shack and bought a Stereo-to-Mono audio adapter. I plugged in the stereo mini jack with RCA connectors to the mono adapter and plugged in the mono adapter into the 1/8 inch digital out jack (or VersaJack)on the sound card. I plugged in the red RCA connector to the DVD red audio input on the receiver but still didn't get any sound. Any more suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Glenn Overholt

The digital connection you are tying to make should be with a single cable. RCA at one end (for the receiver) and a MONO mini jack at the other. This is almost the same as a coax from a DVD player out to your receiver's digital in.

Glenn

Matt DeVillier

Cesar,

connect a 1/8" stereo->stereo RCA adapter cable from the versajack to the coaxial digital input (which is fixed to the CD input on your receiver). I can't remember if it's the left or right channel that is used for the digital output, but it's easy enough to try both. you definitely have to use the CD's digital input, unless you want to also purchase a digital coaxial->digital optical adapter. you definitely don't want anything that says mono either.

so your connection should look like this:

(versajack)->(1/8" stereo to RCA stereo cable)->(RCA cable extension, if needed)->(CD digital input on htr-5550)

Cesar*P

Thanks to everyone who replied. Thank you especially, Matt. Your suggestion worked! I used the stereo 1/8" stereo cable and plugged the RCA connector into the CD digital input and sure enough I got digital sound!