Can I hook up a SPDIF to a SoundBlaster

[Mythos2002]

I currently have a Soyo Dragon Ultra (Black) VIA KT-333 motherboard. This board has a built-in C-Media soundchip and it cam with a SPDIF adapter. The C-Media is okay, but it doesn't allow me to capture audio at 48,000Hz properly. If I try, I get audio that is sped up a lot faster than the source audio. If I capture at 44,100Hz and convert to 48,000Hz with Virtual Dub, it is okay.

My question is: Can I buy something like a Sound Blaster Live or Audigy and hook my SPDIF adapter to it? I ask because I don't want to pay Creative Labs $60.00 US plus shipping for a SPDIF adapter if the card I buy doesn't come with one. My next question is, do any of Creative's soundcards come with a SPDIF adapter, or do they only sell them separately? Thanks.

Mythos

[Faustus]

Look at the features. The SPDIF should be on the Audigy 2 and I think the audigy 1 also.

[pixel]

Well, the audigy 2 doesn't have a SPDIF in, only the normal line in.

It is the audigy 2 platinum (the front panel that fits into a 5.25 inch slot in your case) that has all the SPDIF connection etc. But that is more expensive.

[flaninacupboard]

if the front panel is just a header, won't the cards have jumper-style connectors for the inputs anyway?

[pixel]

if the front panel is just a header, won't the cards have jumper-style connectors for the inputs anyway?

Sorry, I never even thought of that. Yes they do have a SPDIF header (and a firewire header also). But they do not come with the SPDIF adapter though.

[Mythos2002]

That's what I was wondering. I already have a SPDIF card that I can hook up to my motherboard since it has a built-in soundchip. The motherboard has something like 10 or 12 pins that I hook the SPDIF card to. I was wondering if any of the Sound Blasters have the same pins on them where I can use my existing SPDIF card.

Flanina. I'm glad you are here. I know you have a Canopus ADVC card. I was wondering what soundcard you had and which method that you use to capture audio. Do you use the regular soundcard inputs, or do you use some kind of SPDIF card?

Mythos

[flaninacupboard]

When i used my old bt878 capture card, i just used my onboard sound card at 44k and resample to 48k later.

With my ADVC i capture sound with the ADVC. it doesn't have digital inputs, just analogue ones, but it -does- capture at 48k. I'm guessing this is for your star wars LD's, right?
I didn't bother capping mine digitally in the end, as the original is 44k, and it seemed much easier to just cap at 48k with the ADVC than cap digitally at 44k some other way and resample to 48k.

[Mythos2002]

That's a good question I can ask. Well a couple actually.

1. Your built-in soundchip only allowed you to capture at 44,100? That's the most mine let's me capture in. I have to capture at 44,100 and resample to 48,000 in Virtual Dub.

2. Do you have a new soundcard, or are you still using the built-in soundchip?

3. If you bought a new soundcard, which one?

Yes, this is for the Star Wars LD's. I'm having great difficulty with sound sync. when I go to author in DVD-Lab. I have to purchase DVD-Lab to get the latest version since my trial version 1.1 is almost expired. I'm thinking about getting the ADVC card due to the locked audio.

I may just get one of the high end Audigy or Live cards and see if I can hook my SPDIF card to it if it has the right number of pins.

Thanks.

Mythos

[freestyler]

Audigy Platinum and the Platinum EX have SPDIF-IN/OUT. I have the Platinum EX myself - very nice card. Also has optical in / out and a few other nifty connectors.

-Free

[flaninacupboard]

Well, my onboard sound would let me cap at 48k, or at least so it said. the quality was awful, it seemed it was still capping at 44k and doing the conversion (badly!) to 48k. I used the resample feature of Bsweet, as that was what i was using for sound encoding anyway.

I still use my onboard sound card, i have proper equipment for listening to music, and the ADVC does my capturing, so there was no reason for me to upgrade.

Creative have a good image in my mind, if a little pricy. TBH, if you can afford it, just plumb for the ADVC. The 50 is not -too- expensive, the video quality is great, and the audio is artifact free (no noise or hums or anyhting intoward) and even uses proper RCA connectors instead of a crappy mini-jack

[ofbarea]

For the Soundblaster Live!, Live 5.1 (not the Dell version) and Audigy 1 you could but the Livedrive II or Livedrive IR (look for it on e-bay). The “Livedirve I” will also work but you will only get COAX digital interface, but it will lack optical interface (TOS link).

It looks like the Livedrive I, II & IR are not compatible with the Audigy 2.

I have a creative Audigy 1, with a Livedrive I and a bi-directional COAX to optical converter (M-Audio CO2).

The setup works great. It’s important to note that Creative cards do a better job capturing sound at 48k. 44k captures tend to generate some artifact that seems to bother some people. But as I said I’m happy with my current configuration.