Dolby Digital on a sound card

[imported_Com80787]

I am somewhat confused about Dolby Digital and what you need in order to have it.

If you have a C-media CMI8788 based sound card that has dolby "decoding" and 5.1 speakers does that mean you can listen to Dolby Digital sound with any 5.1 speakers? And with any 5.1 speakers will it play the sound in a surround sound manner?

Or do you need special 5.1 speakers with a digital decoder attached to them along with a sound card that has the digital decoding?

Thanks for any info.

 

[imported_Baloo]

Originally posted by: Com80787
I am somewhat confused about Dolby Digital and what you need in order to have it.

If you have a C-media CMI8788 based sound card that has dolby "decoding" and 5.1 speakers does that mean you can listen to Dolby Digital sound with any 5.1 speakers? And with any 5.1 speakers will it play the sound in a surround sound manner?

Yes. Though the onboard sound quality may be indistinguishable from your add-on card.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Com80787
I am somewhat confused about Dolby Digital and what you need in order to have it.

If you have a C-media CMI8788 based sound card that has dolby "decoding" and 5.1 speakers does that mean you can listen to Dolby Digital sound with any 5.1 speakers? And with any 5.1 speakers will it play the sound in a surround sound manner?

Or do you need special 5.1 speakers with a digital decoder attached to them along with a sound card that has the digital decoding?

Thanks for any info.

The key feature of C-media CMI8788 based cards is dolby digital encoding not decoding. Most any sound card does dolby digital decoding. Encoding takes a non-encoded signal(most often from games) and encodes it into surround sound. Then outputs this on the digital connection to an external decoder.

If you get pretty much any standard sound card they can output dolby digital to a external decoder via a digital connection.

Or you can decode the dolby digital in your sound card and output it directly to your speakers.

 

[Ghouler]

Normally you want the Dolby decoding only.

You want the encoding if:
-you use external digital receiver
AND
-your source material is NOT in dolby already.

For movies (that normally are in Dolby 5.1 already) you do not need dolby encoding. It does not matter if you have receiver or an analog set. Also encoding introduces latency and compresses audio in a lossy manner.