Originally posted by: aeroguy
Okay, I tried your suggestion and set up WinMCE for 2 speakers via 3.5mm jack. I went to an HDTV source broadcasting DD5.1 (My Name is Earl). The reciever downsampled to pro-logic. I went to nVidia Decoder Properties and clicked the Audio tab. nVidia settings show the audio format is DD5.1 and the listening mode is stereo. At this point, I went into the speaker setup, and when "Connected to computer speakers" there is no option for SPDIF passthough. When I clicked the "Connected to a receiver" radio button, I get an option for "via an SPDIF cable". Only when I check that box do I get DD5.1 on my receiver, but then the sound will not play straight to the TV. I'm beginning to think it's not possible to get DD5.1 to my receiver and 2 channel stereo to my TV at the same time.
Thanks for taking interest in my problem. If I can't get this solved I may go analog 5.1 to my receiver.
Hi Earl,
My name is Daniel.
I spent some time tonight testing / checking the configuration. Here are what i found:
1. To get to the "spdif passthrough", it is under the dvd/audio setup. I did not spend much time to figure out how to quickly get to that but this is what you can do: go to the MCE setting, general and select speaker setup. At the end of the setup where you can select "yes or no - I can hear everything correctly...", select no then it will take you to another menu. That is where you see the spdif passthrough.
With that said, i don't think this will have an effect on what we trying to accomplish.
2. Now back to the MCE speaker setup again, if you select your speaker type is 2 or 5.1, the next step is where you define the output. If you select digital out (single RCA digital) ... Now if you play an AC-3 source, your receiver will "correctly" detect the signal and your nvidia speaker setup setting will automatically be at receiver & spdif out. This is good BUT the analog output from the 3.5 mm to your TV speaker will be very low (you have to crank up the volume considerably to hear it).
3. Now if you setup like what you and I have tried before. E.G: MCE speaker setup, 2 speakers, dual RCA analog... Now if you play the movie, it will output to the TV speakers BUT if you decide to turn on your receiver, it will receive the digital signal from your SPDIF connection. However, the receiver will down-sampled it to prologic. Now if you go to nvidia purevideo speaker setting to change it to "receiver/spdif", the receiver will then switch to AC-3. But ..., if you maximize your video screen again, the receiver will bounce back to prologic. This is what troubling me because the change does not stick.
My guess is the nvidia purevideo setting for audio is automatically set to what you have set under the MCE/setup/General/Speaker settings. You can change the nvidia setting while the video is playing but it will not stick. I am going to try to find a setting in the registry where you can indepenently set this.
My take is that you should be able to use both analog (the green jack) and SPDIF at the same time because the analog and digital settings are separate. For example, if you take a standard DVD player, you can have both analog and digital active at the same time.
I understand you can go analog 5.1 to the receiver but that will take more CPU processing cycles because now it has to decode the digital audio stream and convert it to analog. I prefer the mobo to send the stream to the receiver and let it do the work.
Sorry for the long email but I hope you understand what I'm trying say.
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