6ch->AC3 stereo

[MonsterMaxx]

Not sure where to post this as it's a hardware question, but I thought some of you might know the answer, so here goes

I have a variety of 6ch sound cards. Some on board, some off. Audigy w/ spidf daughtercard and even a pos Soyo MB w/ optical in/out.

The Audigy even has a utility that talks on each speaker individually so you know which is working. I get zilch on everything but L&R, no center, rears or woof. I've tried every possible setting, no workie.

The Soyo doesn't work at all (no big surprise as it's a complete piece of crap anyway.)

My stereo is a HK AVR85 & AT350 series THX cert speakers (L,R,C,2R&2sub) It plays 3/2.1 no problem when fed from the normal DVD player (non-computer) on either coax (spidf) or optical.

So here the ? is: is there a sound card which does work?

Looking at Gainward (I have one of their vid cards and it works great), appears to have a optical out, shot them a similar ?, no ans so far (a week now.)

I'm accumulating quite a collection of rips, but dare not delete them until I can confirm my encodes are working. They do play, I do get aud, but not 3/2.1

For those of you using encodes in this way, what are you all using to get your AC3/6ch/5.1 to your stereo?

Thanks in advance, MM.

[manono]

Hi-

Not sure where to post this as it's a hardware question...

So you post in a forum that's sure to be the wrong choice? :) You might have better luck in either the Audio Forum, or the PC Hardware Forum.

Anyway, I don't have any trouble getting DD 5.1 using S/PDIF Out from my Philips Acoustic Edge sound card to my receiver. It's been awhile since I used it, as I have a DVD/MPEG4 player now (something you might consider). But if I remember correctly, to get it to work I have to enable S/PDIF Out in both the AC3 Filter as well as the Philips card.

You might find some tips in Questions 17 and 18 of the AC3 Playback (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68300#post424068) portion of the Audio FAQ.

[MonsterMaxx]

oops, sorry. I followed the link from Gordian's site and didn't see that there were more forums under this one...my bad.

Dumb question #2: what's a DVD/Mpeg player? Like a regular DVD player that can look to a network location?

[manono]

Hi-

A DVD/MPEG4 player can play both DVDs as well as .avi's, like your DivX or XviD movies. No AC3 problems then. And the video looks better also (if displaying to your TV set), unless you already have a true HTPC with Component or DVI connections.

And there are a couple that can be networked, to get the movie straight from your computer.

[MonsterMaxx]

that sounds like the ticket to me,

what should I keyword to come up with a list of these items?

is there a term that refers to this type of player?

[manono]

Hi-

You might start following the Hardware Player Forum (http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=73) which discusses these things.