Need help with connecting a MiniDisc deck to a soundcard via optical

[davidmoss1595]

Hi everyone,

BTW Really appreciate how much help and reading material you guys have supplied me with over the past two years!

Im a new film-maker who bought some Minidisc equipment to record ambient audio for films I shall be making soon.

I have a MiniDisc deck with optical in and out (the old MDS-PC2 i think), which I have connected to an OEM Creative X-Fi XtremeAudio soundcard, which has optical in and out.

Here is my problem - aside from creative's laughable lack of drivers that work properly, I finally managed to hear the playing minidisc over my PC speakers through the SPDIF input in audacity and Creatives own player/recorder - but after a few seconds, the audio stops. In audacity, the recording waveform goes flat showing no input. The speakers go silent. This varies from 4-7 seconds of playing the disc, which can still be heard if headphones are connected.

I just want a pure passthrough, no messing about, just the purest digital sound so that the passage from recording to output is as accurate as possible. It is the only reason I bought the damn soundcard as an experimental OEM product in the first place. My future plans is to get an AV reciever with opt in and out and connect that to my PC so that I can drive two nice digital monitoring speakers (currently have Inspire 5.1 set - bit crap im sure) as well as capture the digital sound from Minidisc deck and have it stored as a high-quality WAV for use in post-production with an editing program.

Can anyone suggest why the sound cuts out after a few seconds? Surely DRM/copy-protection cannot be the answer? My TOSlink cable is only a metre long, though it is bent around the back of my PC from the deck, could this be the problem?

And as for bad/faulty drivers, well this is probably the cause, but if it plays and records perfectly for a few seconds it should be a small problem surely...

Anyway I am out of my depth and would really appreciate any help you guys can offer! In return, Im sure i can help with some simple camera equipment issues any of you have!

Thanks, Dave