Why only 2 channels

[Crusty]

Okay, here's the deal. I have an Sb Live! value. I have the digital audio out plugged into my ht system. But it is only giving me 2 channels, even in games that claim that support for multi-channel audio...Jedi Knight 2. Is there something wrong, or am I just missing something?

I have the sound card software set to digital output only and i've tried 4 speakers, and Live! Surround...both only show up with 2 channels on my receiver. I can make the receiver duplicate those 2 channels to get a "fake" 5.1...Is that all i'm going to be able to do with this card? Should I upgrade?

Someone help me....plz....thx!
I've been messing with it all morning!

 

[Crusty]

bump....anyone....please??

 

[Kingofcomputer]

SPDIF only transfers 2ch PCM sound or AC-3 signal.

 

[Crusty]

Is there anyway I can get my sound card to transfer the ac-3? Isn't that Dolby Digital? My receiever can decode that, so if I can transfer that, it would be tight!

 

[pcman2002b]

I'm no expert and I don't own a SB Live. However, I could swear that the card outputs a front channel, a rear channel, a center, and subwoofer. And depending on your receiver you could plug those directly in. i don't know, just a thought.

 

[Crusty]

I'm no expert and I don't own a SB Live. However, I could swear that the card outputs a front channel, a rear channel, a center, and subwoofer. And depending on your receiver you could plug those directly in. i don't know, just a thought.

My card is not a 5.1 card. I am thinking about upgrading though. But I know my card can do 4.1....just how to get it using the spdif connector?

 

[cmdrdredd]

you can't...not what you wanted to hear but you can only do it for DVD. Games cnanot be played through SP/DIF with any surround. just 2 channel. Use analog outputs to do surround to your home theater.

If your receiver/processor has analog or 6 channel inputs run a mini din to RCA style cable from the front and rear outputs of the soundcard into the front left and right and rear left and right inputs of the receiver and you will get multichannel surround gor Games and DVD.

If you really wanna go big get a breakoutbox for the Live and run optical. you can find the Live! Drive around the net

 

[Crusty]

Okay, I think i'm gonna upgrade to a Santa Cruz...what kind of options do I have for optical/coaxial with that, if any at all?

 

[cmdrdredd]

the santa cruz only has analog outputs. it's really a basic soundcard without any frills. Your best bet to go digital is to get a hercules gametheater XP or a phillips Acoustic edge or something more high end like Audigy Platinum.

 

[Crusty]

hercules gametheater XP or a phillips Acoustic edge

What kind of prices am I looking at here? I don't really wanna spend more then 60 or so. I am gonna stay away from the audigy....heard it had problems with smp systems.

EDIT: Looks like the Gametheater is out of my budget. But I can go for the Phillips card...looks pretty nice. Anyone know how it compares to the Audigy for sound quality?

 

[cmdrdredd]

it's comparable...at least for games. Mp3 and such may be better or worse not really 100% sure but audigy is better

 

[Derango]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
the santa cruz only has analog outputs. it's really a basic soundcard without any frills. Your best bet to go digital is to get a hercules gametheater XP or a phillips Acoustic edge or something more high end like Audigy Platinum.

I would hardly call the Santa Cruz a basic soundcard without frills. It has digital out in the form of S/PDIF, which can be achieved through the VersaJack. Maybe you should actually look at the specs of a card before you decide to spew off misinformation. And I wouldn't consider the Audigy a high end card...mostly due to the mis-advertising of the way it does 24bit, and the company behind it in general.

 

[Goi]

Derango is correct. The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz does have an S/PDIF compatible coaxial digital output in the form of the VersaJack. It can be accessed via a normal minijack. You just have to configure the VersaJack to be the digital output in its control panel. Also, the Santa Cruz uses the same Crystal DSP as the Hercules GTXP, but AFAIK it has better components on board, and so has a higher audio quality, not that the GTXP is anything to scoff at. The Philips AcousticEdge is also another fine performer. Any of these will outperform the SB Live! sound quality wise.

As for enabling 3D/multichannel sound support for games via the S/PDIF output, its a no-go unless the game supports DD 5.1 or DTS. Normal EAX/A3D/SenSurround/Q3D or other 3D sound formats cannot be transmitted encoded via the S/PDIF AFAIK. Even if they could, your receiver wouldn't know what to do with the encoded stream.

 

[MasterHoss]

No matter what sound card you use that has the SPDIF out jack, you will get only PCM (2 channel stereo sound). The only way to output 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 sound sending a signal out from your sound card to a receiver is by getting a receiver that features Dolby ProLogicII decoding capabilities or getting a sound card that'll do Dolby Digital ENCODING (which can only be found on select nVidia nForce motherboards).

As stated here, you will still be able to get 5.1 surround sound when sending out an AC-3 bitstream using the SPDIF out on the sound card without having to worry about the receiver having ProLogicII decoding capabilities.

 

[Crusty]

As stated here, you will still be able to get 5.1 surround sound when sending out an AC-3 bitstream using the SPDIF out on the sound card without having to worry about the receiver having ProLogicII decoding capabilities

Okay, do you know out of these cards, which one can do that? Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, Philips Seismic Edge, Philips Acoustic Edge, and Hercules Gametheatre XP...

 

[Pariah]

All of them except the Seismic Edge I believe. The Seismic Edge might as well, but Philip's website is a piece of junk so I can't tell. There is practically no information on their sounds cards, the "specs" pages don't even list what connectors are on the cards.