Is it possible to process Dolby Pro Logic II through Line-In?

[ShyGuy91284]

I have seen an increase in things that use Dolby Pro Logic II, but don't feel like upgrading my receiver quite yet. Is it possible to hook a game console up through line-in and have your PC process the sound for you? I use a vid capture card on my server anyways for TV (Seperate from the comp I'd probably use for sound processing), and would like to use the other PC to process and output the sound.

 

[drag]

Dolby Pro Logic isn't what you think it is.

It takes 2 channel input and then splits the 2 channels up between different speakers.(sort of guess "logically" at what speaker you want to ouput depending on hints in the regular stereo sound) Say you have a single sound comming out of both L/R lines at the same time. So then the receiver would have it go to the center channel. Sounds comming in only thru the right channel go out the right speakers front and back, and then sounds coming out of the left channel go to the left. Sounds below a certain frequency go to the subwoofer...

Stuff like that. It's not real surround sound were you have 7.1 descreet channels or anything like that. Like you can't say "send this to the left back channel" sort of thing. What games due and such is to use tricks to get the sound comming out of what speaker you want, and when you would turn on "dobly pro-logic" it would use those tricks, sort of over empesize certian sounds to get the dobly logic to stick it in the speaker you want.

Stuff like that would survive just fine thru 2 channel line in.

Now if you are watching a ripped DVD movie with ac3 7.1 digital audio the only way to get that to a receiver is to:
1. have the sound card proccess it and send the output to multiple output ports, and then send that to a receiver that handles more then 2 speaker's input and output.
2. have digital output and put that into a digital input on a receiver and have the receiver decode it into multiple channels.
Like if your card has a Digital SPDIF output port you can do that. Also some sound cards have digital SPDIF inputs.

But for what your describing: Dolby Pro Logic, you can have it go thru regular stereo inputs just fine.

Now with video games and movies and such DPL II is just fine and can sound great. But for regular music, nothing out their beats regular 2 speaker stereo sound with proper speaker placement and listening arrangement.

 

[ShyGuy91284]

Yeah, I plan on using it with a PS2. As far as I know, Pro Logic II's upmixing is targeted towards sounds the programmers of the software encoded to go to certain speakers. I have CyberDVD I think it's called, and have the DPL II plugin. It can read from DVD's and files. I'd like to be able to use that if possible to take the audio from the line in, and output it as it should to my speakers (5.1). And recording and replaying through the player isn't an option of course due to games being real-time. And I've heard that PLII is a very likely replacement for Dolby Digital due to it's ease of transfer (normal stereo sound), and because it does manage to create discrete channels. I could be wrong (Anyone with experience with Dolby Pro Logic II can shoot me down if I am), but I'm pretty sure it works discretely. EDIT: I just read up a bit, and I guess technically it isn't discrete, but the progress in the technology allows it to do a very good job in acting discrete when using audio specifically encoded for it.