Ideal PCI/e card for S/PDIF-in DD or DTS decode?

[jalyst]

Apologies if this is not the correct sub-forum....
It was not 100% clear to me, perhaps it's better suited for PC Hard & Software?

Looking for models that are readily purchasable, & with good support in Windows 7.
Solid Linux support would be ideal to, at least for S/PDIF-in.

Ideally it'd be relatively cheap, as this is all I want the card for!
I will re-route it's decoded stream to another card for DAC (where possible).

I already have a dedicated device for DD/DTS decode, it's mainly for experimentation.
Thank-you.

[Ghitulescu]

Better no one than a mod that would say: Hey this is the third topic you started with more-or-less the same subject-matter (rule 8). :p

[jalyst]

No this is more narrowly focused, the other was more generic...
I am going to get back you RE your last post too, just been very busy!

I may have found 1 or 2 solutions....
But I want to collect other peoples thoughts a bit more 1st.

[Ghitulescu]

I think Hercules had a card that allowed you DTS/DD in, in the consumer segment. But nevertheless, an used M-audio, EMU or the like would cost some 100-150$/€ and give you this opportunity.

[jalyst]

yeah this user made a good find for me
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=2221595#post2221595
In particular this
http://forums.techarena.in/hardware-peripherals/1137903.htm#post4291495

[Ghitulescu]

Thank you for confirmation :p

So buy the M-Audio and live happy. It's only 150$.

[jalyst]

Assuming my on-board (ALC889) or these cards (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1387732#post1387732) aren't usable for actual decode (YTBD), & are only useful for capturing standard stereo PCM for the purpose of using with a digital mixer etc.

Then if I understand this (http://ac3filter.net/forum/index.php?topic=130.0) correctly, users have gone some way towards redirecting a captured DD/DTS stream to another device (AC3filter) for actual decoding.
Perhaps then the same process could be used to redirect the decoded DD/DTS to a HRTF filter in AC3Filter, assuming it has one?

Or perhaps another approach would be to redirect the decoded stream to my Essence ST to do; DH encode, and the DAC?
I suspect this may be trickier though....

[jalyst]

Actually I don't think my motherboard (http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=CadI5xNLwMYopFyJ&templete=2) has a S/PDIF-in header, so even if it's possible I wouldn't be able to use my ALC889.
Unless Asus sells after-market add-ons for their mobo's which allows one to add a S/PDIF-in header? (doubt it)

So I'll prolly have to use a discrete card, still....
If you think those cards I linked to might be usable for DD/DTS capture + decode, or just capture.
Or you think re-direction to 3rd party apps or cards sound feasible, let me know.

Thank-you.

[RunningSkittle]

C-media chipsets can do DTS/DD in via optical or coax. They can also do on the fly encoding of DTS/DD out.
I have the http://www.htomega.com/striker.html but there are many other models as well.

Also the Asus cards do as well, and are excellent cards!

[Blue_MiSfit]

Do any of these offer live S/PDIF monitoring?

I'd love to play audio from an external standalone device, output over S/PDIF, decode with AC3Filter (so I can see the VU meters for each channel), downmix to 2ch, and listen over headphones.

I have people reviewing movies for my company, and they often need to examine a 5.1ch audio stream to see if it's "true" 5.1ch, or a fake upmix (all channels nearly identical)

~MiSfit

[RunningSkittle]

although i dual boot windows 7, i dont have any easy way to test the DD/DTS input (although i think the striker only does 2ch input). striker is the low-end consumer version, the claro line is much nicer and may support more channels.

Blue_misfit:
http://www.htomega.com/faq8.html

NOTE: these are consumer devices! If you really want professional features, consider a professional card :p

Edit: looking through the FAQ it looks like they dont support DD/DTS input, just 2ch PCM :|

Edit2: I sent an email to confirm, but the manual http://www.htomega.com/filedown/halo0818.pdf (page 30) suggests that they cant include dts decode for license reasons.

Note: Claro halo doesn’t provide AC3 signal decoding such as Dolby Digital or dts.
For licensing and copyright protection purposes, soundcard manufacturers
are effectively prevented from adding DD/DTS decoders to their products.
The reasoning is that the only legal use of DD/DTS decoders is for playback
of licensed soundtracks from DVD movies. So please set to PCM 2ch on
your external digital devices such as PS3 or XBOX360.

[RunningSkittle]

response from ht-omega:
Thanks for interest in Striker7.1 and Claro series.



Striker and Claro series supports Dolby or dts encoding feature, but it doesn’t provide AC3 signal such as Dolby Digital or dts decoding from S/PDIF input.



For licensing and copyright protection purposes, soundcard manufacturers are effectively prevented from adding DD/DTS decoders to their products. The reasoning is that the only legal use of DD/DTS decoders is for playback of licensed soundtracks from DVD movies. In your PC, a DVD player software must decode your DD/DTS soundtrack, NOT the soundcard. So as far as I know, there is no PCI type sound card which can AC3 signal from S/PDIF input. Because of the above-mentioned licensing and copyright protections, this is not possible.



Therefore, they can decode 2ch PCM signal only.



If you need further information, please let me know.



Thanks.

Sincerely,

HT OMEGA – Tech Support

[jalyst]

Do any of these offer live S/PDIF monitoring?

I'd love to play audio from an external standalone device, output over S/PDIF, decode with AC3Filter (so I can see the VU meters for each channel), downmix to 2ch, and listen over headphones.

That's almost what I want to do;
Except I'm hoping to redirect the decoded DD/DTS to my Essence to down-mix to 2-ch DH and do the analogue-out.
Sigh...

[jalyst]

response from ht-omega:

Yeah i suspected it's something that's been killed-off by big content.
Frackin cock suckers!!!

This is something that was readily available in cards just a few years ago.
Destroying our fair use, frackin bastards, grrr... sorry just venting...

I think the same is true for D2 and D2x, unless you know otherwise?

[RunningSkittle]

I dont know for sure but this: soundcard manufacturers are effectively prevented make me think there are no cards that do this.

[jalyst]

Yeah but that doesn't sit quite right with me...
As there's no reason why dvrs can't be engineered such that DD/DTS coming-in via s/pdif is redirected to a licensed sw player.
Hence licensing satisfied....

And TBH this is the 1st time I've heard this, the other main reason I've heard is to do with chipset/dvr OEM's not wanting to pay licensing etc.
If this Omega rep's claims are true...
It's almost like they're trying to place the same kind of restrictions imposed by the PAP/PVP protocols assoc. w/HDMI :(

[Ghitulescu]

Do any of these offer live S/PDIF monitoring?

I'd love to play audio from an external standalone device, output over S/PDIF, decode with AC3Filter (so I can see the VU meters for each channel), downmix to 2ch, and listen over headphones.

I have people reviewing movies for my company, and they often need to examine a 5.1ch audio stream to see if it's "true" 5.1ch, or a fake upmix (all channels nearly identical)

~MiSfit

Just arrived in town and I hope it was not yet answered ;)

of course you can ... since you just listen for controlling purposes you can simply use kmixer. It would resample but you don't need HQ here ...

[easy2Bcheesy]

I'm very interested in this topic. Which M-Audio soundcard would take a Toslink input and give me 5.1 LPCM output for packing into a surround sound WAV?

Right now I'm having to take 5.1 input from a Creative X-Fi Titanium and then use Besweet and EaAC3to to give me a decoded 5.1 WAV... :s It works but it's flakey.

[jalyst]

So am I... I plan to investigate some of the *potentially* viable options more closely soon...
Wouldn't it be better to be able to receive a bit-perfect DD or DTS 5.1 stream, that can in-turn be run through ac3filter for decoding?

[jalyst]

Just arrived in town and I hope it was not yet answered ;)
of course you can ... since you just listen for controlling purposes you can simply use kmixer. It would resample but you don't need HQ here ...

So you don't agree with HT-Omega support's claim (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1389426#post1389426) that no card can do dd/dts 5.1 capture and decode?


Thank you for confirmation :p
So buy the M-Audio and live happy. It's only 150$.

Why do you pick it over the other cards?
It's definitely on the finalist list, thanks mate! ;)
Focussing on SSD's & a few other things right now.