DD/DTS pass-through sound card recommendations for htpc

[jtvang125]

I had a Chaintech AV-710 7.1 sound card that I was hoping to get DD and DTS passthrough on the optical output but couldn't for the life of me get it to work under vista. Support from chaintech is useless and drivers have been in beta since the beginning of this year and shows no sign of being updated/worked on.

I then went with a Omega HT Striker 7.1 that does DD Live and DTS Interactive. What these do is encode any input to DD or DTS on the fly. The sound is excellent but the surround sound effect isn't. I'm hearing sound (dialogue), although not as loud as the center, come from all the other speakers as well. If I'm not mistaken most dialogue should be from the center and shift back and forth to the F/L and F/R speakers depending on where the person is on the screen. The rear surrounds should be silent until there's actual surround sound coming from the rear. I can't seem to get unaltered digital pass through working either and their support hasn't been of much help.

Anyone know of a sound card that can do digital passthrough via optical that would work in vista?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Auzentech's cards are popular and seem to have pretty good support. Actually it and the Omega HT Striker should be fairly similar. I think Auzentech has a wider installed base and probably better customer support though, and I know they've been working on Vista drivers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Are you sure you can't turn off the encoding with your current card?

 

[montypythizzle]

The AV710 has Vista drivers, and if it is setup for S/PDIF out then it should pass the encoded signals to the receiver and it should decode it there.
Albeit I am using XP, so may be different in your case. Make sure in the AV710 CP that AC3 and PCM auto select is checked under S/PDIF. Also, make sure your media player is set to S/PDIF out/passthrough.

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: montypythizzle
The AV710 has Vista drivers, and if it is setup for S/PDIF out then it should pass the encoded signals to the receiver and it should decode it there.
Albeit I am using XP, so may be different in your case. Make sure in the AV710 CP that AC3 and PCM auto select is checked under S/PDIF. Also, make sure your media player is set to S/PDIF out/passthrough.

Yes, they do have vista drivers but as I have mentioned they're beta. I've tried just about everything I can with the sound card software and within vista. If I select s/pdif output I get no sound from my receiver but if I select pcm I'll get sound but just stereo.

 

[Slammy1]

If it works PCM but not DD, I'd venture it's your playback software. What are you using to playback the DD/DTS tracks? Are you certain you do not have it decoding in that software? Granted, it could easily be a Vista driver issue but Chaintech's usually good at that sort of transfer.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Just out of curiosity, do you have any grudge against Creative cards? I am still amazed by how good my X-Fi sounds over digital output through my Yamaha receiver...

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
Just out of curiosity, do you have any grudge against Creative cards? I am still amazed by how good my X-Fi sounds over digital output through my Yamaha receiver...

You do realize that if its just passing through a DD or DTS stream, then the card itself isn't affecting the quality whatsoever?

 

[Quasmo]

I have the X-Mystique from Azuentech and I love it.

 

[Steve]

Have you tried getting drivers from Via since it's their chip?

 

[montypythizzle]

Originally posted by: Steve
Have you tried getting drivers from Via since it's their chip?

I think those are the only Vista drivers available.

 

[Excelsior]

Are you using these drivers?

http://www.viaarena.com/defaul...atID=2910&SubCatID=107