Media center spdif to home stereo

[thearm]

Hello all. I hope this post is in the correct place. I didn't know if I should put it in audio or here. I hope this is correct.

I'm running a Windows 7 Media Center PC. My autio is SPDIF via a SB Audigy II Platinum out to an 8500 Denon receiver (I think it's 8500). I want to make sure I'm doing things correctly. How would you guys configure the software and the receiver for MKV and DVD playback? That's about all I do. Somtimes play MP3's. I ask, because, when I play video's, the music is very loud and the dialog is very soft. I'm thinking I have the PC in 5.1 when it shouldn't be. So I'm wondering what the best way to set my system up would be.

Should I put the PC on stereo sound and let the receiver decide if it should be in 5.1 or 2.1?
Should my PC be on 5.1 and my receiver be on stereo?
Should I select 'digital only' in the Sound Blaster software?

I know there probably isn't a 'best' way to do it but I'd still like the know what most people perfer so I at least have a benchmark.

Thank you,

thearm

[rallynavvie]

You should always set SPDIF up as passthrough and let the receiver manage the DTS/Dolby streams. Are you connecting via optical or coaxial digital?

MP3s are going to be louder as they run in stereo whereas a movie may be running 5.1 and spreading the audio out among channels more.

My previous workstation had optical out that I used and it was able to do passthrough on that output while still outputting to the minijack for my PC speakers. Then I managed output by which speakers were turned on at the time: receiver for movies or PC speakers for gaming. My new audio chipset requires me to manually toggle between coaxial digital output and the minijack to my PC speakers which is ultra-annoying.

[thearm]

It's an optical connection from my PC to my amp. Does that change your suggestion? I'll look for a passthrough option or something that indicates passthrough on my PC when I get home.

This is a dedicated MCE PC in my living room so I don't have to deal w/ toggling between my PC speakers and my amp. That would frustrate me to.

Updated:

Ahhhh, I see the passthrough selection. Thank you.

What about the digital out PCM sampling rate? Or does that not matter with SPDIF?

And in Windows > control panel > Sounds: Will Windows now not manage my audio since I select passthrough in the Sound Blaster manager tool? Should I select 'digital output only' in Windows > control panel > sounds?

[thearm]

Double post.

[rallynavvie]

I would guess that PCM sample rate shouldn't apply unless the movie you're playing has raw PCM output, but your receiver would need to be able to support uncompressed audio like that. I'm also wondering if raw PCM is even supported with SPDIF; part of me is thinking there isn't enough bandwidth there and PCM requires HDMI connection. Not sure on that though.

Unsure what you're talking about with Windows managing the sound. You mean the volumes?

[thearm]

Not really the volume. When you go to control pannel > Sound: I have two icons. Speakers and SPDIF Out. When I highlight speaker and click on properties, I have a custom tab (Among other tabs) where I can select 'digital output only.' Maybe this setting is if you want both digital and analog outputs to be active or only digital (Like your frustration you where talking about above). I don't want my sound card doing more work that it has to.

Thinking about it and talking to you, it makes sense to select 'digital output only' because that is the only output I'm using. Plus, 'speakers' was set to default (Analog) and not SPDIF. Which is probably ok and wouldn't hurt anything. So I selected SPDIF as default.

I'm remoting into my PC at home so I can't hear anything. I'll do some testing when I get home.