5.1 from a Macbook sans optical

[glynhughes]

I know you can use the optical connection into a suitably equipped AV amplifier, but I don't have one available - just an old AV amp with separate 5.1 phono inputs.

I do have a firewire multi channel audio interface though and I can get 5.1 from a DVD out of VLC.

Trouble is I only get stereo from the Mac OSX DVD Player (which is a bit more stable than VLC). Plus the audio out of VLC seems to have some strange EQ - there's not much low-mid going on.

Anyone know of any alternative DVD software that might work or maybe a software Dolby decoder that could sit between the system sound and the DVD player?

Any other ideas?

[ahin4114]

I've seen it mentioned elsewhere that people that wanted 5.1 out of Quicktime, but couldn't because of the way it's crippled currently using the built in optical out have been using external sound card devices.

A quick google turns up this page (http://centerstageproject.com/audio.php), so there are plenty to choose from. I'd hope somebody on here has experience of using one of these specifically.

HTH

Tony