NotebookForums.com › Forums › Off Topic › Desktop and Hardware Discussion › Looking for a 5.1/7.1 sound card.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Looking for a 5.1/7.1 sound card.

post #1 of 9
7/23/09 at 1:39pm
Thread Starter 
I am looking for a new sound card for my HTPC. I have been using on board sound for the time being because my mother board. (ASUS M3A78-EM) which has optical output. Nice but the onboard sound (Realtek ALC1200) BLOWS! This card has no option to upmix a 2/2.1 stream to 5.1 with the optical connection. All I get is 2 CH PCM. My receiver (HK AVR247) have been fighting each other from day one. I have just put up with it, but I am tired of having a great surround sound system and having that stupid card down mix my dvd's to 2 CH PCM instead of just passing threw the 5.1 that is on the disc. I have been looking but everything I have seen on Newegg that has optical output down mixes to 2ch PCM. If anyone knows of a card that will upmix 2/2.1 to 5.1 AND pass 5.1 or 7.1 threw the optical without borking it up please help me out. Or if there are custom drivers for that Realtek ALC1200 POS let me know as well.

Thanks for the help

Darq
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 9
7/23/09 at 2:00pm
I'd love to help you Darq but this area is Greek to me. I'm still runnin Audigy2 cards. I have no idea why sound cards are so expensive to this day. Everything sounds the same. I have surround sound setup on my PC and it's great. I'm wearing headphones a lot of the time anyway when I'm playing games.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 9
7/23/09 at 2:27pm
Thread Starter 
No worries Steve, this is all new to me. XP used to do all the upmixing just fine Vista and Win 7 has disabled alot of the features you used to get for free. Creative has been at the heart of this problem and its has come up a few times out there in interweb land.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 9
7/23/09 at 6:56pm
A lot of googling I'm doing suggests that this is only possible if what you're watching is encoded for Dolby DTS and DD. You'll need a sound card capable of supporting dolby codecs as well. Then your DVD player program needs to specifically support DTS 5.1 or 7.1 over the SPDIF out. This sound card should be a decent start if you want to buy one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829271001

I think you should start out by searching your movie player for a 5.1 over SPDIF option.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 9
7/23/09 at 7:01pm
Thread Starter 
K-Lite player does do 5.1 over SPDIF but my built in card and that card down mix to 2CH PCM. Or at least that is what I have found out in google land. I am really begining to think that Creative and Microshaft are in on this.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 9
7/23/09 at 7:04pm
Try the card I linked, or any card with the proper port and a C-media chipset. It probably wouldnt hurt to investigate Asus cards too.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 9
7/25/09 at 8:32pm
m-audio revolution 5.1 / 7.1?

just a shot in the dark, not sure if it does what you want - but...damn fine sound quality, has optical output, works great for me under 32 bit XP and 64 bit xubuntu (at least with ALSA, i gave up on friggin pulse audio). it's m-audio, so i'd imagine it would do what you want - but it's at least worth taking a look at (assuming you can decipher the technobabble that i can't).

i scored mine off of ebay for ~ $45.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 9
7/27/09 at 8:26am
M-audio makes great products.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 9
7/27/09 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 
well take a look at that. Thanks ZFB.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Desktop and Hardware Discussion
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Off Topic › Desktop and Hardware Discussion › Looking for a 5.1/7.1 sound card.