Soundcards with 5.1 ... why?

[CandyKid]

The soundcards with 5.1 decoders in them like the sound blaster live cards. What benefits does that actually give you. Could i get digital surround sound (minus the center channel) with my analog input promedia system assuming i was using a digital source like a dvd player... or would i still need a speaker system with a decoder..

Would a 5.1 card benefit me at all playing mp3's or playing computer games.

Thanks... also is it possible to get one of those Live!Drive duhickey's for about 30 bucks anywhere..?

 

[CandyKid]

I have read the other posts about 5.1 and 4.1 decoding...

What i'm wondering is... Would a 5.1 card benefit my system running promedia speakers.

What are the main benefits of digital... I have heard that you can input how far away the speakers are etc. and it will compensate for amplification etc...

If the cards have a decoder in them can they be injected into my promedias to give me digital sound?

IS there any real difference between the 4 speaker surround that my sb live card gives me and digital sound... since i have no center speaker.

Thanks for any help

 

[nippyjun]

5.1 gives you a center channel speaker capability

 

[Noriaki]

<< also is it possible to get one of those Live!Drive duhickey's for about 30 bucks anywhere..? >>

Doubt it. AFAIK the only place to get them is straight from creative and they are more expensive than that.


MP3s are a stereo (2 channel source) if you duplicate the front two to the back you get the music coming at you from both sides...but it doesn't really affect it...5.1 is almost uselsss

Games tend to be 4 channel sources, the center channel isn't terribly useful for games.

The Klipsch promedias have 4 channel input, and only 4 main speakers. They have no center channel so the center (5th) channel is useless to you. They also have no separate subwoofer input so the sub (.1) channel is useless to you as well.

The only thing 5.1 is really useful for is movies. For games 4 channel is fine, and for mp3s 2 channel is fine really, 4 is plenty. Unless you watch DVDs on your computer I'd ignore the whole 5.1 thing.

 

[CandyKid]

thanks... but what i still really want to know is... would the decoder on the 5.1 sound card allow me to get digital sound on my promedias.. since the promedias do not have a decoder.

 

[Buddabudda]

As long as your card has digital output then an external decoder should work fine. For most decoders you will need either optical ditigal input (no PC card does this that I know) or a cable standard BNC sized plug for the decoder and a smaller pc sized card, probably a standard converter from Radio Shack with a good set of Monster cables with gold connections if you have a CL Platinum card (I believe those have gold connects)

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Check those hardware review sites, they point out that sb live 5.1 doesn't have built-in 5.1 decoder, &quot;5.1&quot; just means it's 5.1 ready since it has 5.1 analog output. If you use software dvd decoder like PowerDVD with built-in dolby digital decoder, then you can get 5.1 sound thru this 5.1 analog output to those 5.1 speakers set without built-in dolby digital decoder.

 

[CandyKid]

I have a 4.1 sound setup... Klipsch promedias... would the software decoding make it sound any different then the surround sound that i get on my current sb live value