How to Enable Digital Audio (S/PDIF) on my mobo

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imported_Kudos

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Dec 10, 2004
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allrighty, so I finally get a motherboard with an S/PDIF output, hook it up to my stereo receiver....and nothing....

I know the computer won't decode the 5.1, but my stereo will.

However, I'm looking to find out if there's something specific I need to do, to enable the digital output of the audio, everything analog works fine so far, but I only have 2.1 speakers or headphones to test it.

I downloaded the newest beta drivers from Asus's website and I'm running Windows Xp 64. I've heard stories that the digital audio drivers may not be compatable with xp64...which would piss me off to no end, but xp64 is buggy as far as I'm concerned so I wouldn't mind terribly switching back to xp pro.

Anyway, if anyone has information it would be greatly appriciated.
thanks!
 
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sohcrates

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Sep 19, 2000
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are you sure your receiver is setup correctly to take the digital input versus the analog input for the source you've selected?
 
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imported_Truenofan

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May 6, 2005
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what kind of reciver do you have, can it do dolby digital encoding? i know whatever i throw at my reciver, it can decode 99% of all the stuff out there.
 
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imported_Kudos

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Dec 10, 2004
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oh, and the reason I think it's not enabled through the motherboard, or through some software or something, is because the S/PDIF option is grey'd out on the Volume Control
 
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sohcrates

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Sep 19, 2000
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is there an option to enable it in the bios?

what cable are you using? coaxial digital?
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: Kudos
hm, actually....not sure. It may only do decoding

it's this one:
http://www.buy.com/retail/techspecs/pro....asp?sku=90138221&loc=111&PageFormat=8

the DS-TP6000
Click to expand...

Yeah, just giving you a hard time ;)

Having it do DD encoding from a computer source doesn't make any sense as far as I know.

When you say you know your receiver will decode 5.1, you know that you can only get 5.1 from digital if you're playing something that was already encoded in 5.1 (like DVDs) or have a sound solution like soundstorm or a new DDL card, right?
 
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imported_Kudos

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Dec 10, 2004
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well, if I hook up the digital and only the digital, it will play through the speakers regardless if I set up the DVD to output digital. Dunno if that makes a difference or not.

It has multiple options for Digital DVD, Digital Music and Digital Auto settings like most receivers do.

I should try an old DVD that doesn't have digital audio support to see if it still plays through the speakers I guess.
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
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Originally posted by: Kudos
well, if I hook up the digital and only the digital, it will play through the speakers regardless if I set up the DVD to output digital. Dunno if that makes a difference or not.

It has multiple options for Digital DVD, Digital Music and Digital Auto settings like most receivers do.

I should try an old DVD that doesn't have digital audio support to see if it still plays through the speakers I guess.
Click to expand...

I mean to say that the only instance digital out signals from computers will be in 5.1 is when the source is already encoded to DD or DTS format (like a DVD for the source in your computer, I didn't mean DVD as the setting on your receiver).

If it isn't DD or DTS encoded (like games, music, etc.), then it will only output in stereo digitally. You can get "5.1" out of it from Prologic II (and the like) on your receiver though.

Old DVDs have non-digital audio? (I don't really own any old DVDs, I had no idea)

 
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imported_Kudos

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Dec 10, 2004
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when I hook it through the computer, it isn't outputting at all. not a question of outputting in digital or analog. when the computer is hooked up to the receiver, no sound goes through and it seems like S/PDIF isn't enabled.

I completly forgot to check the bios though. argh!
 
E

esit

Member
Oct 14, 1999
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Did you use the Nvidia Nforce drivers for the soundcard? I found that if i installed those, i couldn't get sound out of the SP/DIF.

However, if i use the sound drivers from the asus site, A8N-E, it worked.
 
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imported_Kudos

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Dec 10, 2004
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I downloaded the drivers from the ASUS site, but they're the newest BETA drivers. Did you use the non beta drivers?
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: Kudos
when I hook it through the computer, it isn't outputting at all. not a question of outputting in digital or analog. when the computer is hooked up to the receiver, no sound goes through and it seems like S/PDIF isn't enabled.

I completly forgot to check the bios though. argh!
Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to fix your problem, just stating that you're not going to get 5.1 from it even if it does work. (except in cases like I mentioned above)
 
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imported_Kudos

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Dec 10, 2004
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no option to enable in the BIOS.

NV Mixer enables it through the software, but it still won't play audio through it

The color coded analog connections in the back work just fine, so I've just resorted to using that.

I can't see why any audio will not play through the S/PDIF connection. It's possible the software is just incompatable with win64 and S/PDIF audio. Once the realtek drivers come out of BETA, I'll give it another go I guess
 
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