Optical out stereo only?

[BoogerBomb]

Is optical out from a computer stereo only? I just got an optical cable for my comp to hook up to my TV cause I dont like the 8 wires otherwise necessary to do surround sound and I thought optical could do all that. Did I just waste my money?

 

[mustang_steve]

for DVDs it is 5.1, for games and video files, it's 2-channel, unless you have a dolby digital live soundcard, or soundstorm.

 

[Mister X]

Doesn't the FAQ answer this question?

If not it will.

 

[BoogerBomb]

Yeah just read that optical out is stereo. What a waste. I cant tell if my card does Dolby Digital or the other one to get surround sound or not ut seeing as how its like 4 years old I doubt it.

 

[mustang_steve]

theres some ddl card made by hi-tec, called the x-mystique, that has DDL support....it's about $70 supposedly.

 

[BoogerBomb]

Doesn't the FAQ answer this question?

If not it will.

I did a search and just managed to miss the other info about the DOLBY stuff. Sorry. A stereo reciever is what is referred to as a decoder correct?

 

[GodsMadClown]

I tried to address this in the FAQ. As an intended reader, do you have any advice on how to make this more clear?

 

[binister]

A decoder can be a receiver, certain surround sound speaker sets (like Logitechs Z-5500's) or even a sound card.

Keep in mind an optical connection only carries an undecoded audio stream. It can't carry an already decoded "surround sound" audio stream (well there are a couple of exceptions but they are proprietary). If the equipment you are plugging the optical cable into can't decode the digital surround signal then it default to stereo sound.

So basically, unless your TV can decode Dolby Digital all you will get through your optical connection is stereo sound.

 

[BoogerBomb]

Now that I went back and did the search again. I search for optical out and just scrolled down til I saw optical in red. That made me scroll by your section on digital audio. Maybe throw the words optical and coaxial in that section somewhere (perhaps as types of digital out connectors? as most users will do a search on them terms I believe. You gotta think like some of us audio noobs that dont know that most people call it digital instead of optical or coaxial. I just thought it was plain old optical.

 

[BoogerBomb]

I now plan on getting an NForce 2 to replace my KT600 just so that I can get Soundstorm and avoid all the 100s of cables necessary. My next major upgrade wont be till late summer.fall so I dont need to upgrade much and by then the X-Mystique should be out. I plan on using Soundstorm to encode it and send out throught the optical cable to my Sony receiver in my sig to decode it. Should be nice and clean.

 

[SilverMK3]

You can probably find a used Abit NF7-S for next to nothing. Be careful not to get the NF7-S2 or S2G, though, they don't have the nForce2 MCP-T southebridge, and therefore no Dolby Digital encoding.

 

[Mister X]

I tried to address this in the FAQ. As an intended reader, do you have any advice on how to make this more clear?

That is what I was getting to.... if he (?) had read it and it was not clear then we need to work to resolve that.

You gotta think like some of us audio noobs that dont know that most people call it digital instead of optical or coaxial. I just thought it was plain old optical.

Good point.

 

[GodsMadClown]

I'll try and remember to add it. Right now I have to go to bed...