Have problems with my sb live 5.1 and 5.1 speakers

[rocadelpunk]

ok I have a sb live 5.1

and creative dtt2500 5.1 speakers
The way I have it setup is...there's a digital out jack on my sb live...it has 2 plugs attached to the cable which is attached to the jack thingy, one connects to a digital din cable that goes to my creative deck/speaker controller, and another goes to the spdif one...supposedly this is how i get 5.1 sound
<img src="http://www.thetechzone.com/reviews/speakers/dtt2500/P7040052.JPG">

in the mixer settings for the soundcard I have it so "only one digital source allowed" and digital output only, and in the settings i have it set to decode ac-3
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first problem: which is due to my chipset viakt133 "i'm assuming", but I've tried everything and still have horrible stuttering/crackling...and i was wondering if anybody knows of a "sure fix" I've had updated drivers, bios, I've tried 4 in 1's even with xp, dl'd that latency patch...nothing works. when i play cd's though it's "cd digital" or whatever...the 2 prong thing, and the sound is fine. so basically it's just mp3's and what not and normal sounds
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second problem: when i try the test speakers using creative's diagnostic program and in the mixer properties it will say the front left and front right but that's it...not the center channel or rear left and rear right...even though when i play mp3 or cd sound still comes out of them.

However, on the speakers deck there's an option for music (5.1) movie (5.1) , fourpoint and stereo...when i have it set to fourpoint and in the creative test thingy have it set to 4 speakers instead of 5.1 it does the left, right, rear left, rear right.

How the heck do i get it to work for 5.1? The same problem occurs if i have it on music or movie...there's also an option on the speaker deck for pro logic...i don't know if that matters.

help :0.

WHen i want 5.1 i have everything set to 5.1...the mixer settings, the speaker deck, windows sound properties...but still the creative speaker test gives me problems...I can live with 4 speakers though, but I really would like to get rid of the craclking problem...do i just need a new mobo for this?

I also have a hunch as to why the creative diagnostic software doesn't work, and that's because it's not a digital source...I think. When I play dvd's through a software 5.1 program, the dolby digital light comes on and I'm assuming then the 5.1 does work correctly...is the software just not good enough? But how can the center channel and rear channels not work in the diagnostic?


Thanks. Brian.


edit: sorry wrong section!

 

[bassoprofundo]

First of all, you're right on the crackling. It sounds like the VIA/SBLive! issues that tons of people have had. If you've tried all the patches, you might also try swapping the PCI slot that the card is in. If I remember right, the sweet spot is the 3rd PCI slot on most boards.

On the 5.1 issue, I'll try to explain as best as possible... Where to begin? The DTT2500's really only support 4-point surround for gaming. The 5.1 capability only works for DVDs or other AC3 signals. The CMSS modes (Movie, Music) on your DTT2500's are meant to take a stereo source and "up-mix" it, so to speak, to simulate 5.1 sound. They will not, for instance, take sound from the DIN connector from a game with 5.1 support and pass it through to all 5 speakers. Obviously, the Fourpoint and stereo modes do exactly what they say. The SPDIF connector on the speakers' decoder box will take an AC3 signal from a soundcard that supports AC3 passthrough, decode it, and send it to all 5 speakers and the sub. Other than that, the SPDIF connector supports ONLY stereo output. To sum it up, you're basically wasting the 5.1 output capabilities of the card by pairing them with these speakers since the 5.1 capability of the sound card is meant to take away the necessity for an external decoder. You should leave your software and speaker settings on Four speakers for maximum gaming performance. Hope this helps explain...

 

[rocadelpunk]

thanks for the info on speaks..

i'm a little confused though, what about games like nhl 99 which says it has dolby digital? Is it possible to get that to work? Or am i just completly missing something, what would I need?

I've tried just about every pci slot : P, it is in slot 3 atm and is on its own irq...

I guess it's time to upgrade : ).
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what would "technically" sound better, listening to mp3's in fourpoint or the simul. 5.1?
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another ques: i have a toshiba s-701 and it supposedly has spdi-f out or dolby digital out, i'm guessing same thing or that's how it gets the dolby digital out...how would i take advantage of this, and is it only going to work on dvd's?

thanks for help : )