a confused hcpc noobie

paul1672

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hi there.
i'm currently at the end of putting together my hcpc parts and the last thing i'm having trouble with is the sound.
i am wanting to send a spdif signal to my pioneer vsx-d2001 7.1 thx a/v amp via coaxial connection.
some people tell me i need to use some thing like the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro Sound Card,others say alll i need is a sound card that will send the spdif signal to the amp?
can someone please clarify this before i waist a massive chunk of money on a sound card.
i will add that although my motherboard :

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=60559

has an spdif out there is no bracket with the connections on it(i hope that makes sense),and i cant locate a bracket in the uk.
any help would be very grateful.
paul
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of hcpc.......

others say alll i need is a sound card that will send the spdif signal to the amp?

I'd be one of those.... I don't think you need the be-all and end-all of soundcards, a Soundblaster 5.1 Live is used by many, I prefer a Turtlr Beach Santa Cruz, aka Videologic Sonic Fury click here for details which cured some horrible stuttering problems I haad with a Creative card. Really there's any number of cards out there which will pass spdif - I've seen a Trust one recently fairly cheap which has an add-on plate with coax and optical digital connections.

Do a search here on "SPDIF" - loads of stuff to read.

Sean G.
 
question to theritz
many thanks for the reply mate.
would either of these cards do the trick?

http://www.mjmcom.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Soundcards_36.html

i really want to use a digital coaxial lead.
whats confusing me is it doesn't say it has spdif?
if this card will do the job can you confirm that once it is hooked up to my 7.1 thx amp the amp will play the digital ex/es surround formats?
many thanks in advance.
paul
 
I just built my HTPC last weekend, based around an ASUS P4P800-VM motherboard, and couldn't get the S/PDIF bracket anywhere. I phoned ASUS on Monday, and was told to email [email protected] with details of my motherboard and the part I was after and they would send me details of how to order. Which they did, I've sent my cheque off and I'm just waiting for the part now. Might be worth doing the same!

Keir
 
Paul,

Either of those will do the trick................

You said it doesn't say spdif out...... it says:

Dolby (R) Digital 5.1 PCI sound card with digital coaxial output

.... digital coaxial out put means spdif.........


as far as 7.1 is concerned, the soundcard will pass whatever digital stream comes off the dvd........... if the dvd has dd ex or dts es sound encoded on it, then your receiver will decode it.


Sean.
 
man your an absolute star.
that's exactly what i thought,but a friend of mine kept telling me i was wrong.i even had a local pc shop tell me over the phone i was talking rubbish (in a round about way,i could hear them laughing in the background when the guy asked his colleagues my question).sounds to me like they all need training!!!
funny thing is,the company is registered to sell trust products (lol).
anyway,i guess i'll just have to try it and see.
but it makes total sense to me,as i dont have a dolby digital 7.1 dvd player yet the amp still recognises 7.1
many many thanks for putting my mind at rest and stopping me from blowing a loada money on something i really didn't need.
hope you have a great easter.
come on you yellows!!!!(norwich city-premiership here we come!!!)
paul
 
I bought a Leadtech Winfast Mobo for my HTPC, this has SPDIF built in (output on a PCI bracket)
 
I used to have one of the Trust Sound Expert cards in my pc, as I wanted to use the optical output to hook up to my amp.

With all the correct options ticked, i can confirm that I was outputting a raw dolby digital stream through the optical output into my sony amp - very good for the money.

The only reason I stopped using the card was a lack of support for Linux drivers, so I went back to using my old Creative Live card.

If all you want is a card that gives you the ability to pass a raw AC3 stream to your amp, I can recommend one of these cards - you might want to go for the £30 one like I bought as this has both coaxial and optical outputs, and coaxial and optical inputs.

You may not use them, but they're useful to have for only £10 more.

Cheers,
Tony
 
cheers mate.
nice to have back -up confirmation.
am toying with the idea of asking how come the pc shop don't know anything about the products they sell!!!!
all the best
paul
 
Paul,

how come the pc shop don't know anything about the products they sell


....... often discussed....... that's why forums like this exist. I was looking at graphics cards in a shop recently and some muppet who didn't look old enough to be out without his mammy stood there trying to tell me that DVI was "too powerful for what I needed".............. sheesh....

BTW, you wouldn't need a dvd player which could " do 7.1" ..... any dvd player would pass the digital stream to you reciever - it's the receiver which has to have the decoding ability to do 7.1 - indicated by it saying DD EX or DTS ES...


Hope it works out for you.

Sean.
 
Originally posted by theritz
....... often discussed....... that's why forums like this exist. I was looking at graphics cards in a shop recently and some muppet who didn't look old enough to be out without his mammy stood there trying to tell me that DVI was "too powerful for what I needed".............. sheesh....

LOL....you gotta laugh sometimes......
 
i know,i can't believe people get away with it.
luckily for me i didn't purchase the more expensive sound card they tried to sell me and i persisted in finding out the truth
thanks to you guys i went in the shop today,purchased the one i needed and took great delight in telling them they were wrong.
to say they looked embarressed is an understatement.
 
right guys,i'm now in a bit of a picklie it seems.
i've built my htpc but i can't get the use of the s/pdif output on the trust soundcard as i dont have a 2 pin connector coming from the dvd drive (mine is only 4 pin).
does anyone know where i can get such a lead?
i've been in to the pc shop that supplied me with the sound card but they say they don't exist anymore and as i'm running windows xp i shouldn't need it anyway?????
so,any ideas guys?
really worried as i'm so close yet so far to getting there.
paul
 
Canhelp too much as my mobo decodes the stream straight off the disc rather than via the cable.

You might try a computer fair for that sort of thing.
 
Paul,

The shop was right this time - you don't need a lead with XP. Go into Device Manager and double-click your DVD drive, then under the Properties tab select "Enable digital audio for this device".

Your digital audio signal will now use the IDE cable.

Gary.
 
i'm lost now
just been into device manager and its already enabled.
still no sound.
managed to get the lead thats required but i still cant get it to work (not sure where and which way round on my dvd drive its meant to go as the pioneer 104 has three prongs and the lead only has 2 (black and white wires).
really depressed now.
i hate pc's
lol
 
Don't bother with the wire at all for your DVD-ROM. Not only is it not used in Windows XP (or anything since 98 i believe) but the DVD-ROM drive will not pass Dolby Digital/DTS data via this output anyway, as it needs to be stripped from the DVD data stream by your DVD player software.

The first thing you need to check is the digital connection between your soundcard and your amp. Try playing a CD or an MP3 via this connection, if it does not work at this stage then we'll have to troubleshoot this first. The main thing people forget to do is enable the "enable digital output" box in the advanced options of windows mixer.

If it does work with a CD or other audio from the PC, the next thing you should do is make sure that your DVD player software (PowerDVD, WinDVD, NDVD, Theatertek etc..) is set to pass DD/DTS via s/pdif, which will be in the audio options in these programs.

Let us know how you get on :)
 
i've checked the digital connection by playing a cd and no joy.
i've definately enabled digital output on the drive also.
checked theatertek program also,there's four fifferent programs in there but none seem to change it.
your help is sooo appreciated.
right now it all seems a waste of money
 
Originally posted by paul1672
i've checked the digital connection by playing a cd and no joy.
i've definately enabled digital output on the drive also.


You need to also enable the digital output in the windows mixer, it should be in the advanced options tab when you open the mixer up.

checked theatertek program also,there's four fifferent programs in there but none seem to change it.
your help is sooo appreciated.
right now it all seems a waste of money

Don't worry about the DVD stuff yet, just try and get some sound from your PC to your Amp first :D
 
Originally posted by paul1672
windows mixer?
is that device manager?

No, it's the windows sound mixer.

In XP i believe it's:

Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> (Volume Tab) Advanced options

THis should bring up the mixer

Once the mixer is up:

Click on the "Options" in the menu bar of the mixer, and make sure advanced controls has a tick next to it. Then a button with advanced should appear under the main volume, and then click that, and then options for Tone and Digital output only should come up.

Make sure "digital output only" is ticked. :D
 
it appears i have two audio devices,how do i get rid of one of them?
 
You can disable the device you don't need in Device manager, or if it's onboard sound, you can usually turn that off in the BIOS
 

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