5.1 Dolby Digital ouput with Doom 3?

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Edwood

[H]ard|Gawd
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Mar 27, 2001
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Well, tried as I may, I could not get Doom 3 to output 5.1 Dolby Digital to my receiver.

Half the time it would not let me toggle Surround sound as it would give me an error saying that surround sound speakers are not hooked up.

Does Doom 3 not support digital output of Audigy 2?

-Ed
 
I am using the Digital out of my Audigy 2 to get 5.1 audio in Doom 3. My speakers, however, are Creative Megaworks 510D. Creative soundcards connected to creative speakers like the 510D allow for 5.1 audio in games via the digital out.

I do not like Creative's drivers, however, and use those by the KX Project instead.

One issue I do have is that when the sound source is directly behind me the sound drops out. It's as if the software is expecting a 6.1 speaker system.
 
Edwood said:
Well, tried as I may, I could not get Doom 3 to output 5.1 Dolby Digital to my receiver.

Half the time it would not let me toggle Surround sound as it would give me an error saying that surround sound speakers are not hooked up.

Does Doom 3 not support digital output of Audigy 2?

-Ed
Click to expand...

Actually that link the 1st response provided isn't really accurate either. What people need to know is that 5.1 sound is not the same as "DOLBY DIGITAL" 5.1 sound.

Doom3 has 5.1 sound (support for 5 speakers and a sub). It does not support (nor require) a decoder that decodes a dolby digital 5.1 stream.

So you don't need a dolby digital decoder. Also, I believe that digital connects (the optical or digital coaxial) won't work. You need the analog connects.

I have onboard 5.1 sound. 3 plugs for sound jacks: 1. fronts 2. rears 3. center/sub

Works awesomely with Doom3 (Logitech z5300 speakers).
 
That is crap.

Of ALL the PC games that are being released this year, the one that I would've expected to support Dolby Digital is Doom 3. Especially since it was touted as being a "theatrical" gaming experience. I was planning on gaming with my Home Theater, only to be met with the fact #1. it does not actually support widescreen resolutions (custom resolution entered via console, looks like ass, everything is just squished) ,and #2. It does not support Dolby Digital the home theater audio standard. Sure my Klisph ProMedia's can pump out some OK sound, but even the top of the line 5.1 multimedia speakers don't hold a candle to my Home Theater set up.

This is yet another area that XBox will win over the PC version. Sure, you can spend $500 and get uber high resolutions........

I hope HL2 does better. It'll be a better single player game anyways. :rolleyes:
Of course, if it doesn't get delayed again.......

-Ed
 
caesardog said:
So you don't need a dolby digital decoder. Also, I believe that digital connects (the optical or digital coaxial) won't work. You need the analog connects.

I have onboard 5.1 sound. 3 plugs for sound jacks: 1. fronts 2. rears 3. center/sub

Works awesomely with Doom3 (Logitech z5300 speakers).
Click to expand...

Digital output via SPDIF works, but it is only output in 48KHz PCM. Stereo only, basically.

-Ed
 
Edwood said:
Digital output via SPDIF works, but it is only output in 48KHz PCM. Stereo only, basically.

-Ed
Click to expand...

Your home theater receiver probably has analog connects. So you should be able to use your home theater speakers with the game for 5.1 sound.
 
Edwood said:
That is crap.

Of ALL the PC games that are being released this year, the one that I would've expected to support Dolby Digital is Doom 3. Especially since it was touted as being a "theatrical" gaming experience. I was planning on gaming with my Home Theater, only to be met with the fact #1. it does not actually support widescreen resolutions (custom resolution entered via console, looks like ass, everything is just squished) ,and #2. It does not support Dolby Digital the home theater audio standard. Sure my Klisph ProMedia's can pump out some OK sound, but even the top of the line 5.1 multimedia speakers don't hold a candle to my Home Theater set up.

This is yet another area that XBox will win over the PC version. Sure, you can spend $500 and get uber high resolutions........

I hope HL2 does better. It'll be a better single player game anyways. :rolleyes:
Of course, if it doesn't get delayed again.......

-Ed
Click to expand...
Tell me genius how is the audio going to get encoded into the Dolby Digital format? The Xbox can do it because it has hardware built in to do the endoding on the fly.

HL2 WILL NOT feature Dolby Digital encoding either, nor will ANY game made in the next 2-5 years. The only option for PC's for Dolby Digital output (pre-encoded DVD's not withstanding) is to use an nForce2 board, as it can do Dolby Digital encoding in the fly as part of the chipset, just like the Xbox.
 
There really is no way a game (nowadays) that can have Dolby Digital sound because there are an infinte amount of instances in a video game where the audio must be channeled to each of the 6 speakers. There is Dolby Digital in movies because it is static audio, no matter how many times you play the movie the audio will always be the same.

I guess in time there will be a way for developers to design an algorithm that will be able to take the enviromental sounds as they happen and encode them to a Dolby Digital signal but this will have to be done on-the-fly using CPU cycles as the soundcard in this case will just be passing through an already-encoded signal to be decoded by either the decoder chip on the sound card to output to the speakers or to an external decoded such as a home theater receiver.

The way the XBOX outputs Dolby Digital is the same way the nForce2 boards with SoundStorm do it. It is not the same kinda of Dolby Digital that DVD movies have in the sense that the nForce chipset is just converting a digital 2 channel signal into 6 signals using filtering algorithms (i am just guessing). DVD audio is made by recording or implementing each seperate audio channel as the movie is being edited.

Anyway, that was extremely long-winded and most likely very confusing.
 
What's so damn great about Dolby Digital anyhow? Just because sound is (or isn't) encoded in Dolby Digital doesn't mean SQUAT about how GOOD the sound will be. Dolby Digital is just a compression algorithim - ie a format to support compressing sound streams of varying channels so that they don't take up so much damn space! Uncompressed audio will always sound better.

I personally wouldn't encode a 5.1 sound stream on the fly into DD in a game, just for the sake of having DD. What would be the point? If you can get the 5.1 sound to your speakers without compressing it - that would be better!
 
You are right. It may just be me but I like seeing the little "Dolby Digital" logo light up on my receiver so that I know that I am truly getting a 5.1 sound. Well I like that almost as much as seeing the DTS logo light up but that is a different story.
 
rygy said:
You are right. It may just be me but I like seeing the little "Dolby Digital" logo light up on my receiver so that I know that I am truly getting a 5.1 sound. Well I like that almost as much as seeing the DTS logo light up but that is a different story.
Click to expand...

You ARE getting 5.1 sound with Doom -- just not "dolby digital" encoded 5.1 sound.

5.1 simply means 6 speakers (5 and a sub). Nothing about the technology used to encode the signal.

Easy way to check in Doom3. Stand in front of something discrete making lots of noise (like one of the flame jets). Then slowly turn in a full circle. You should hear the sound circle around you.
 
If your receiver has analog multi-channel inputs (ie: for a DVD-A player.) then you can go from your soundcard analog multi-channel outputs into those multi-channel inputs on the receiver. You will have to get adapter cables that go from mini-jacks (1/8") into 2 rca connectors. You buy 3 of these cables, and you are set. Basically it uses the PC for the sound processing and just using the receiver for the power wattage. It basically bypasses all the processing of the receiver. It's the same principle as hooking up regular computer speakers to the analog ports on the sound card, it's just that you have a "middle-man" if you will (the amplifier part of the receiver). In fact, you don't even need a receiver, you can just hook it directly up to a stand-alone amplifier if you have one of those.
 
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