5.1 sound card for media center?

[Supertastic Fool]

What 5.1 card should I get to hook it to my media center for surround sound? Also what do I need to hook the 6ch up?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Analog or digital? Games, divx or just DVDs & music?

For DVDs and music, an optical or coax digital connection is simplest, and many motherboards now have this. For digital there is no difference between motherboard and soundcard audio.

For games and non-DVD movies, you need analog outputs for surround sound unless you get a soundcard with Dolby Digital Live encoding.

 

[Zolty]

If your reciever supports an optical connection then use it.

 

[shabby]

You have 3 choices for 5.1 cards, they all encode to dts/dolby.
The top two use the same chip, but the bluegears is much cheaper. And the x-plosion uses a lesser chip but still better then anything out there.

Auzentech hda x-meridian
BlueGears B-Enspirer
Auzentech hda x-plosion