What settings to get SPDIF output digital??

[aussiemac]

I have finally got my big screen and htpc setup.
Now i have to fine tune it!
hopefully someone can help..with suggestions or settings??

I have an optical connection between my HTPC
and an A/V receiver(with Dolby digital and DTS decoding capability)
The HTPC has an onboard sound chipset...C-Media 9880L
with driver version 5.12.1.8.

I can get 5.1 and DTS output playing a DVD thru the HTPC.

I can only get Dolby digital 2ch playing a DVD on the hard drive
using media player classic 6.4.9.0.
I can only also get Dolby digital 2ch from Xvid movies (which have attached 5.1 DD sound)
using Media player classic 6.4.9.0.

Is there anyway of changing decoding or filter settings to get this C-Media card to output
the raw stream to the AV receiver and not impose its two channel DD setting
on the Xvids and DVDs on hard drive??

I have PowerDVD 6 and WinDVD and AC3 filter installed as well.

Hopefully someone can point me in right direction..TIA

*********
PS...tell me if this subject is not for this group

[psx_pirate]

In Powerdvd right click and select configuation ... select audio tab ... from 'Speaker Environment' select use SPDIF ... if this option isn't available then you only have the 2 channel verion of powerDVD (yes there are 2ch, DD5.1 and DTS versions) in which case you will need to upgrade (you just buy a license key that unlocks the DD and DTS capabilities)

Sorry i dont use Media Player Classic or WinDVD (yuk) so can't help with that

[fLYtRap]

Open AC3 filter configuration panel and see if you have output set to 5.1 or 2 channels.

[aussiemac]

Thanks....yes I have SPDIF output set on powerdvd 6
(it is version with DD5.1 and DTS).

In AC3 filter I have output set to 5.1 channels and SPDIF...

[psx_pirate]

When using PowerDVD If you have 'use spdif' set then it should output DD5.1/DTS (assuming that the the files have 6ch audio) ... it works fine on mine ... (my decoder amp indicates whether the audio is DD5.1 or DTS)

[aussiemac]

I have tried reloading the C-media 9880 drivers ...twice
and also tried different drivers ie the drivers from XPSP2.

As I said I can play a DVD and get 5.1 Dolby Digital output via the SPDIF
link when playing via Powerdvd 6 (with the output via selected).

But when I play a DIVX/Xvid (with attached 5.1 DD soundtrack) or
a DVD (with 5.1 DD) which is sitting on my hard drive ....
via BOTH Powerdvd 6 and Media Player classic 6.4.9
.....the audio card seems to be allowing only 2Channel PCM output
to my AV Receiver!!

I mean this card/chipset should be more than enough to allow a simple
throughput/passthru of digital signal for my AV receiver to do the
5.1DD/DTS encoding

I have seen mention of changing setting in XPs registry to force a program
to get 6 channels??
Or is it more likely the Driver...or associated software is being a spoiler??

or does one just keep reloading the Sound card chipset driver and retesting
...in the hope that it may just come up trumps once!!??

Its frustrating ...any tips??

aussiemac

[The1]

deleted

[3dsnar]

Can PowerDVD upmix the (stereo) DolbyPrologic2 to 5.1 and then encode it to AC3 and send the resulted stream via spdif?

[TBoneit]

It isn't a driver problem if PowerDVD can output 5.1 Dolby.

It is a setting problem in the other players or they do not support 5.1 and only support 2 channel audio. Have you tried Windows Media player for 5.1? I'm guessing that it should support 5.1.

Have you configured the audio settings in MPC, View, Options, Internal filters, AC3?

Seems to default to stereo.

[kschang]

The freebie / OEM version of PowerDVD does NOT do 5.1. You need the full paid version to do 5.1

[aussiemac]

In the end after a bit more testing and checking with various DVDs
and Divxs....I was getting
DD 5.1 in most cases....just a slight change with SPDIF setting and it is all okay!
Now get DD 5.1 with WinDVD 7, Powerdvd 6
and Media Player Clasic 6.4.9.
I can also get the DD5.1 from the Divx and Xvid movies.
...plus DTS 5.1 surround as well from any DVDs and Divxs that have this sound.

Thanks for the tips

aussiemac

[flemmern]

Hey, I got a similar problem.
I bought a Shuttle M1000 media center early this year. Now I have put it in a home theatre and struggle with digital sound.
Its a Soundblaster Live 24 onboard card, so I bought a X-FI extrememusic card for better performance.
Problem is that I only get 96 or 48khz sound on the receiver. I use SPDIF passthrough in both media center and "audio console" / "device console" (depends if I use X-FI or sound blaster).
In media center - settings - DVD - sound - I cant chose anything else than SPDIF anymore, but I can change from stereo to virtual surround (its stereo ofcourse).
I have also tried with a registred PowerDVD deluxe and sat it to SPDIF. Even tried Nvidia Purevideo and done the same.
No matter what I do, I dont get DD5.1 or dts sound. Doesnt matter if I play through media center or a media player directly.
I have also tried from the DVD player on the Shuttle M1000 with the same result.
When I play from my external DVD player, the receiver shows DD5.1 or dts, with the same movies as I use on the media center.
Can anyone help here please? Really starting to annoy me this problem.
I havent deactivated the onboard soundcard in bios, but cant see thats the problem.
My sound-ABC have always told me, as long as the sound goes out from the computer, the receiver will split and deliver the sound according to the media, but that doesnt happen here.

Edit : Its connected with Coaxxial from onboard or minijack 3,5" from X-FI (sound gets through to the receiver from both)

[c2h5ooh]

Wanted to ask similar question for a similar problem...
I have SoundBlaser Life 5.1 16 bit sound card.
I'd like when playing DVD to output the Dolby Digital signal thru the digital output on the card to Dolby Digital receiver/amp.
I set the SB card to output the sound thru the digital out. Connected the 3.5 mono jack to the digital out on the sound card and the other end - RCA connector - to the digital coax input in the amp.
When I'm playing anything else other than DVD - i get perfect sound to the amp. But when playing DVD i would expect the amp to recognize the DolbyDigital signal and to show the DolbyDigital mode on it. Instead the amp does misses some of the channels of the surround sound and does not recognize the input as dolby dig. I set the output in the PowerDVD player to SPDIF - no to decode the Dolby Digital.

Any suggestions? Is that a settings problem or maybe I need at least 24bit sound card which has optical/coax digital out and has the ability to pass thru the dolby digital/ dts signals to external amp?

thanks for any feedback.

[kschang]

Is that a PAID fersion of PowerDVD or the freebie that came with the drive? The freebie version don't forward AC3 signals from what I heard...

[c2h5ooh]

Is that a PAID fersion of PowerDVD or the freebie that came with the drive? The freebie version don't forward AC3 signals from what I heard...

Yea i have the PowerDVD licensed.

[Profundido]

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1622256#1622256

[zarch]

Hey, I got a similar problem.
I bought a Shuttle M1000 media center early this year. Now I have put it in a home theatre and struggle with digital sound.
Its a Soundblaster Live 24 onboard card, so I bought a X-FI extrememusic card for better performance.
Edit : Its connected with Coaxxial from onboard or minijack 3,5" from X-FI (sound gets through to the receiver from both)

Hej flemmern! I also have the M1000 from Shuttle and are currently struggling too. I am using the onboard SB24 card though as I think the quality of that one is decent enough for a start I have connected it to my Denon 3802 amplifier via Toslink SPDIF cable and I do get Dolby Digital/DTS sound using PowerDVD 6.0 Full version (the one which come with the M1000) and I also get AC3 Dolby Digital on Xvid/DivX movies which are encoded with AC3 when playing in Windows Media Player Classic.

BUT... - I do not get this within the MCE desktop ( All sound when playing back DVD and Divx/Xvid within the MCE desktop is downsampled to 2 channel stereo no matter what I do. The MCE desktop takes control over the sound.

For your question, I do think I have some solution for you as it seems like you get no signal at all. There is a "Creative Device Manager" in your Start => Creative menu - and you need to enable the SPDIF within this aswell, doing it only in the Creative Surround Mixer wont work