S/PDIF passthrough - help!

[RichardH]

What fun these HCPCs are. I cannot for the life of me get S/PDIF passthrough to work with my MAudio Delta 410. It HAS worked, but (for various reasons) I had to make some changes, and now can't get it running.
I have done a clean WinXP Home install, and just installed the MAudio drivers. Left them untouched, then in Control Panel|Sounds | Audio tab, have set the playback to be S/PDIF. I get Windows sounds sout to my amp, so that part of the path seems to be working.
Now, with WinDVD, when IU set the Audio output to S/PDIF, I get silence - set it to Analogue Sound card and I get sounds - but of course I'm only gettting Prologic, as the undecoded signal isn't getting through. I've also tried PowerDVD, with the same result.

Any ideas anyone? Please don't condemn me to eternal Prologic.....

 

[Tim Cooper]

Hi Richard,
You say you can hear windows sounds can you play an audio cd?
Tim

 

[RichardH]

Excellent thought, oh nappy-contents-scratching one.
Yes, an Audio CD plays. So it's not the DVDrom that's at fault. Think the only other thing to try is installing the sound card into another system - just about to rebuilt my wife's computer with WinXP home, so that looks like a good guinea pig.

...Although I wonder if the CDAudio is being passed as an analogue or digital stream (remembering that I am getting analogue (decoded) sound from WinDVD et al).

Frustrating thing is that I have had it running, and I can't for the life of me see what is different in the setup.

 

[Tim Cooper]

Hi Richard,
If you can play a cd via sp/dif i suspect there's nothing wrong with windows passing the sp/dif stream i would also rule out maudio's drivers (unless they have issues with your dvd players) that leaves power & windvd.....hmmm have you patched these to the lastest spec? if you have remove & reinstall back to the basic spec, if you haven't update to the latest spec on both players.
Have you upgraded to maudio's new "consumer" drivers? could be worth a go, it fixes lip synch issues in xp, some people have reported "miraculous" fixes using them.
Richard is your machine just used as a HCPC? if it is you would be doing yourself a favour by upgrading to win 98 & Theatertek the whole platform is much more "mature" for AV use. i've used all 3 xp 2000 & 98 i have always returned to 98, it's good for me
Cheers.
Tim.

 

[RichardH]

"upgrade to Win98" - LOL - in fact I'm dual booting win98 and XP, but had stuck with XP because of the later MAudio drivers. Just had a look on the Midiman site, found the latest drivers quote "Fixes bug with stopping and staring SPDIF" nosy SPDIF - that's all you need - will try that... though have a feeling that they are the Cliff Watson ones I already have from digitalconnection.
Wierd thing is that I'm using the same versions of the software as before, it's just that they have stopped playing ball.

I'd avoided Theatertek previously, as I had intended to use the MAudio as preamp, and therefore needed a software decoder. I think I have a duff MAudio card (one channel a lot mlouder than the others - still waiting for a replacement to be sorted) so in the meantime I've been using the SPDIF. I'm now coming round to the WAF of an AV amp, so may well stick with the SPDIF out, so Theatertek is becoming a possibility - pain that a Theatertek trial is tricky though, as I'd like to see if this worked before purchase - if it does work, then it's a no brainer purchase.

 

[Tim Cooper]

Hi Richard,
Personally i'd give the pre-amp idea the boot, there just ain't the knowhow/support yet, no one i know has got it to run reliably
Xp as good as it is for everything else, is only just beginning to run reliably ,any software player or driver update, xp throws a wobbly & your back to square 1. Win 2000 was my choice for a month or so, but i got a much better picture off of TT with the 7093 drivers in win 98.
Look....If you must stick with xp; TT is getting an update soon so you will be able to run the latest ATI catalyst drivers + TT's support for maudio cards the picture is meant to be superb with xp, might tempt me to go to xp then.
Cheers.
Tim.
P.S what are your maudio patchbay settings??

 

[RichardH]

Hi Tim, just got things running with DD on Win98, you'll be pleased to hear. However, half way through Monsters Inc, I realised the picture was a lot darker than WinXp - I'm assuming a Radeon driver thing - just about to download the 7093 drivers if I can still get hold of them.

 

[Tim Cooper]

Hi Richard,
7093 drivers from here
Cheers
Tim

 

[RichardH]

...thanks for that - I actually found I had them on a CD of drivers I have built up - such a handy thing to do - DirectX, Powerstrip, WinDVD, Winzip, Girder etc etc all on one disc. That sorted the visual side very nicely thankyou.

So WinXP will be needed for TT 1.5, then? I may wait until TT1.5 is out and then get a copy, rather than buying now then having to buy the upgrade. Think I need a copy of Avia more urgently, and perhaps a fiddle with an FLD filter