Turtle Beach Santa Cruz: Can it decode Dolby Digital DTS?

[WayneTeK]

I have a quesiton regarding this card...

CAn it decode Dolby Digital DTS? You know, for DVD's that support DTS? Or must i use a receiver in conjunction with this card to get the Dolby Digital DTS decoding capabilities?


Can this card do anythign? I have a Yamaha Tss-1 and i can't use it to the fullest extent with this sound card. This sound card won't let me use this freaking Yamaha TSS-1 receiver i bought for $150.00.. :-( So please help me out, can i use this card to decode dolby digital DTS? I'm thinking about buying the Creative Labs 5.1 5300 (6 speaker) set for $80.00 if my card can decode Dolby Digital DTS... If not, i'll buy the Creative Labs 5700 6 speaker set that has a Receiver built into it which can decode dolby digital DTS...

I don't know anymore quite frankly... I'm confused... I have a receiver, the Yamaha TSS-1 which can do all that, but it won't work with my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card...

Please help a confused guy out. Thanks.

 

[Goi]

Sounds like you really are quite confused...but its ok 🙂

Dolby Digital and DTS are 2 different, competing standards. DTS stands for Digital Theater Systems, and while both are multi channel compressed audio formats, they use different compression ratios and algorithms to do the same job.

As for the Santa Cruz, not it will not decode either standard, but what it will do it passthrough the encoded signal via its S/PDIF output to your receiver, and then let the receiver do the job. Alternatively, you can let a software DVD player such as PowerDVD 4 or WinDVD 4 do the decoding and then output the decoded 5.1 channel signal via the analog output to your amplified speakers directly, or to a 5.1 analog input of your receiver, assuming your receiver has 5.1 channel analog inputs.