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I hate creative

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Boostage

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
327
I own an Xtremegamer card. my PC is not used only for games, but its also a HTPC. Im also using Logitech z-5500 Speakers. First thing I realised is that 5.1 only worked through Analog, Optical was limited only to Stereo. WTH!! seriously what sense does that make? and to make it worse, I cant get DTS out of any blu-ray movies because of this.

So after more research it tuns out that you have to buy a special adaptor in order to get optical to do more than Stereo this thing..

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=16&product=1780

1780_1.png


I shouldn't have to buy more parts to get my Sound card to output Optical in more than 2 channels. so anyway I get the part. and for the life of me I cant get any sound to come out at all. I go on creatives site just to find out all X-fi cards support this EXCEPT the xtremegamer.

So in order to get this to work, I would have to upgrade to the Fatality edition that cost $70 more. in previous research I bought my card over the Fatlity because the only difference was X-ram which less than 5 game supported. so it wasn't worth it, but nowhere was it clear that the other difference is that you can actually get HD audio via optical with it. and with the Xtremegamer you cant. Creative is a scam. its bad enough I have to deal with their Horrible drivers, but even their hardware is half assed. this is the last creative card I will own.

EDIT- For movies will using the inboard coax be sufficient? or So I still need a dedicated sound card for that too?
 
The two channel PCM limitation is a limitation of S/PDIF, and not in any way Creative's "fault". For encoded signals, such as AC3 or DTS, you can still output 5.1 via S/PDIF if your card and software are both configured for S/PDIF passthrough.

You absolutely can get 5.1 DTS out of the S/PDIF output so long as everything's correctly configured.

 
If your amp supports DTS then you wont have a problem playing back pre-encoded DTS material.
To get 5.1 gaming and windows sounds via digital, you need a soundcard that supports DDL (Dolby Digital Live) or DTS connect.
 
Yeah, as others have said, normal S/PDIF uses PCM for regular audio, which is the same as CD audio, and is limited to two channels. The only way you're going to get 5.1 over digital is using Dolby Digital or DTS, but the card actually has to be capable of taking its channels and encoding them into either of those codecs.

If the movie you're trying to play has a DTS or Dolby Digital track then there is no encoding involved, it just passes along the signal. You might have to actually set your DVD player software to pass sound out over the S/PDIF as typically that won't be the default setting (in which case it might be trying to downmix the signal or something instead of just passing it untouched).

If you want to stick with your current card instead of getting a new card that can encode Dolby Digital or DTS, all hope isn't necessary lost. Many movies have a 2.0 Dolby Surround track, which will work over stereo PCM and can be decoded using Dolby Pro-Logic II to extract the multi-channel information from the stereo source. It’s actually not that bad. Even if the movie only has a 5.1 channel track, there are usually options in the DVD player software to downmix that into a Dolby-Surround compatible stereo track, which you can then decode using Pro-Logic II.
 
Gotnotrice I am using VLC as my player. and it decodes everything as far as I know.
 
I'm not familiar with VLC, but it should offer you the option of S/PDIF passthrough via the DTS decoding filter.
 
I've got a similar problem, didn't realize I could only get 2.1 or Dolby Digital over SPDIF.

This may be an option from Creative, but I don't know if I trust them. Lots of complaints, but that's Creative for you:

Dolby Digital Live

Experience high-quality surround sound from your PC through your home theater with Dolby Digital Live. It encodes your PC's multi-channel audio into a Dolby Digital bitstream and outputs it from your soundcard's digital out (S/PDIF), via a single digital cable into your Dolby Digital-equipped home theater system.
Click to expand...

It's only 5 bucks so I may try it out some day.
 
I'm not familiar with VLC, but it should offer you the option of S/PDIF passthrough via the DTS decoding filter.
Click to expand...

Not likely in VLC. I might be wrong. The closest option I see is "use S/PDIF when available".

Lots of onboard audio supports DDL - but it depends on your motherboard manufacturer.
 
You hate creative because you didn't research your purchase, god i love people like you, you make me smile.
 
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