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can my audigy 2 render DTS ES?

F

faye

Platinum Member
I have a question,

when i play a dvd with my pc: SB Audigy 2 w/ Logitech Z5300e

when i select the DTS-ES mode, it has no sound, but when i select DTS surround, it has sound but the sound is not loud enough even when i turn everything to the max(pc setup, speaker volume). the volume is still not loud enough. I usually play music at "2 led" level at logitech control pod.
but now i max the volume still not loud enough. what is the problem?

it is very annoying after the movie, (when i forgot the turn down the volume immediately)
whenever a icq message popup(the oog ou...) will blow everything away and scared me to die. so u know how loud it usually be when everything is turned max
 
i am not sure, seems it is DB surround, not DTS surround.
i am at office, so i need to confirm later tonite
 
What DVD player are you using? You have to have an audio codec for it that will allow your card to decode the DTS track. So if you're just using Windows Media Player, you'd have to get an audio codec pack, otherwise your card will probably just be outputting everything as stereo.
 
The Audigy 2 cards can decode only Dolby Digital EX, I think. The Audigy 2 ZS and above can also decode DTS.
 
I thought audigy 2 can render everything,
but if it can't render the codec, it should have no sound?! is it?

i am just too new to the sound field.
 
Originally posted by: faye
I thought audigy 2 can render everything,
but if it can't render the codec, it should have no sound?! is it?

i am just too new to the sound field.
Click to expand...

I was talking about what software player do you use, like PowerDVD, WinDVD, etc.

The thing with playing DVDs on your computer is that unless you have the nice codec packs for your DVD software, then the software will only play stereo sound.

An Audigy 2 ZS or even regular Audigy 2 should be able to decode DTS and a bunch of other formats, however, if you don't have a codec for your DVD software that will let it actually decode it, then you'll be getting the bare essential in sound. In some cases, your software will say it supports multichannel surround sound, but its not actually doing the DTS like it should, and so what is happening is the software itself is decoding the audio and then remixing (its common for it to actually decode the DD5.1 signal and then downmix it into 2 channel sound). This doesn't sound as good as getting hardware decode of DTS obviously, and it doesn't even make use of your sound card for decoding.

An easy way to get past this (although its rather annoying since your card has the hardware to do it) is to just pipe out the audio via optical or coaxial and let an external reciever handle it.

I know its incredibly annoying, and part of the reason why I moved to a more traditional home theater setup versus having my computer be the total set top box in my room. I forget the exact reason why you don't get any good decoding options with most DVD players, but it has to do with licensing issues and whatnot. They're really getting you twice though, as you're paying for that stuff when you buy your Creative sound card anyways.
 
i use Windows Media Player, updated version.

my speaker doesn't have optical nor coaxial input though...

 
Action DVDs tend to be mixed "hot" so the volume levels approach the sound boost you get on CDs. Computer wave files on top of that get a +12db boost by the sound card (that's why playing mp3s or other formats are always a ton louder than playback of a CD that's not mixed hot).

DVDs in general are mixed for wide dynamic range, and not overall volume levels. You need alot more power than the 5300s to listen to DVDs at a greater than nearfield distance. Even on very efficient Axioms (93db) I find myself turning it up to about -5 to 0db (roughly 80%+ volume on my receiver, with the computer at 80% master default).

 
Originally posted by: faye
i use Windows Media Player, updated version.

my speaker doesn't have optical nor coaxial input though...
Click to expand...

I think Logitech's Z-680 and Z-5500 speakers are the only ones that do.

Creative has an external box, the DDTS-100, which is basically an Audigy 2 ZS in an external enclosure. Might have better DACs. You don't need drivers for it either, and it has a bunch of inputs. I actually have one I'm selling, and it does work very well (had it paired with my Gigaworks 7.1 in my living room for a while, and it was pretty nice).
 
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