Multi-Channel Sound (1 Viewer)

[Darren Hunt]

What is everyone using on their Home Theater PC's for generating multi channel Sound? I have seen a few 5.1 sound cards, but no cards that can handle more channels.

Are there cards out there that can support more channels for connecting up to a 6.1 receiver?

Thanks.

 

[Max Leung]

I don't have a 6.1 channel receiver (I have a Yamaha DSP-A1), but my nForce motherboard has built-in real-time 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. It's actually pretty cool to play Grand Theft Auto 3 in true DD5.1.
Theoretically it could output 6.1 DD-ES, but I doubt it.

 

[Travis Olson]

It's actually pretty cool to play Grand Theft Auto 3 in true DD5.1.

Is the game's sound encoded in Dolby Digital or is it just processing done by your computer? I'm curious because I have not picked up Grand Theft Auto 3 yet and if it where encoded in Dolby Digital it would be a nice little bonus.

 

[Max Leung]

GTA 3 has the option of making Directsound 3D API calls (it uses the Miles Sound System API, so you have different options). However, this means that the nForce audio drivers redirects the audio onto the DD5.1 encoding hardware, so Dolby Digital encoding will only work on nForce motherboards. My understanding is that because of all the hardware audio processing, CPU usage is under 4% with 256 Directsound 3D streams (typically around the 2% range for most situations).
So, no you cannot get DD5.1 on a Soundblaster Live! or Audigy card, for example. As far as I know, no other sound card manufacturer has this feature.
I wish that someone would put out a hardware DD5.1 (or even DTS!) encoder card...that would be awesome! But alas, you poor shmoes will have to live in the PC gaming audio dark ages.
(My motherboard is the Asus A7N266-C. Has an special ACR slot and audio card which contains a coax digital output and the analog audio outputs. However, I do NOT recommend using the analog multichannel outputs of any nForce motherboard product at this time...it is flaky and many peopel report loss of bass and left/right speaker phase problems. Just stick with the digital output.)

 

[Darren Hunt]

Just to clear up a few things for me....

Who is using their DVDROM with a front projector as their dedicated theater setup? I have read that by doing this, you avoid the requirement of a line doubler in between a DVD player and the projector for the bigger screens. Using a high quality video card removes the requirement of a line doubler since it can be scaled by the video card. This covers the video side of things, but what about the sound? I do not have a DVD ROM drive, so I do not know if it has any other connections to it for sound, or if there is some sort of break out panel you can get to either connect up to a 5.1 sound card to get the high quality sound, or it has the outputs suitable for a 5.1 receiver. How does it all fit together, and are there ways of getting 6.1 out of the computer for use in a home theater?

Thanks for the help.

 

[NickSo]

but what about the sound?

Im pretty certain that you just need a sound card wtih digital out (Optical or S/PDIF), that'll pass the DD/DTS signal to your reciever.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Any sound card capable of passing DD and DTS digital datastreams out through an spdif can pass DD EX and DTS 6.1 to a receiver as well.

 

[Travis Olson]

I've been having trouble with Creative's AudioHQ software in XP Pro. I have a SB Live! and in order to get the SPDIF out to work properly, for Dolby Digital, I have to set it to "Single Digital Output" or something like that in AudioHQ's Device Controls tab. The problem is that when I try to open the Device Controls tab, AudioHQ crashes. I have tried re-intalling it and tried all the compatibility modes. Has anyone else had a similar problem in XP Pro?

 

[Max Leung]

I can only suggest uninstalling the Creative Labs drivers and assorted apps (pieces of sh*t!), rebooting, then reinstalling them.

They are flaky as hell. I hate Creative Labs.