MadGrip

Hi all, hoping someone can share some light on a small problem.

I've recently built a PC which is attatched to the TV via hdmi & to my amp through a digital coax. Everything on the sound card is set to passthrough spdif , but the amp is still showing PCM 48

I've gone through the amp settings aswell just to make sure it will decode a digital signal & all seems ok there.

The only filter I'm using is AC3 which is set to passthrough aswell

so, everything seems set correctly for digital spdif passthrough, but amp is only showing PCM no matter wether its purely music or a film

Any ideas how I can get his to show as 5.1 ??

TIA

Phil

hux309

Odd, usually when i get that problem it's usually because of a codec buggering things up, you use wmp i take it?

Try the km player and see how you get on then, has a ton of features you can enable/disable as well as audio, most of the time mine says pl2 or if running dvd's dolby digital.

The KMPlayer - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com

Sounds like a second codec is taking over from ac3 when it's noticing no decompressing going on.

MadGrip

Thanks hux, I'll take a look at that, is it compatable with xp media centre 2005?

I've tried lots of players, decoders in the past, but non worked successfully

cheers

Phil

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I too suspect a codec issue. The KM Player uses its own codecs so circumvents some of these issues. Many moons ago I had some nasty issues with codecs. I did find a tool that you could download and it would show you what codec was in use, and also could change the priority of installed codecs. Therefore you could choose which codec you actually used when you had several that did the job.

I cannot seem to find that file now, but even if I did it would be hopelessly out of date.

For me, I still prefer BS Player over The KM Player, it just has a better feel. BS Player relies on codecs being installed. So I have taken to use CCCP codec pack. CCCP also do an insurgent program that removes all the codecs you have before you install their pack. I have never had a codec issue since I did this. CCCP's philosphy is to install the minimum of codecs that have the maximum amount of compatibility. Works well for me

hux309

Doubtful, only one i know that works with mce is wmp.

But it will play any media you can pretty much throw at it, even blu-ray or hd-dvd files, hakes a whole lot of processing power mind.

So find out where mce stores it's recordings and your laughing, just take your time with km player, it has quite a few features so it's easy to hit the wrong command, btw it recognises keystrokes so be wary there.

mannyo

Unless you are playing a DVD, or a source file encoded in DD 5.1, or DTS then the amp will show PCM. Windows sounds, mp3s etc. are PCM only. Some DIVX movies or most DVDs should enable surround sound.

If it doesnt work with DVDs, then the problem maybe your sound card. I had major issues with the realtek AC97 onboard sound (not HD version) and gave up, whacked in a creative audigy2 and the problem I had with that went away.

hux309

Just had a nose at my denon, yup it's all pcm until i throw a dvd in where she switches to dd/dts, however using pcm she defaults to pl2 which turns it into 5.1 anyway.

Im using optical spdif so no chance of anything interfering as mannyo says pcm must be default.

Still sound stonking though.

MadGrip

Thanks guys. I've a feeling its the sound card. Physical DVD's do play as 5.1 but I downloaded a series of Prison break, which when burned to disc played as 5.1 but when used in an image drive they played as PCM, which does convert to PL II. Unfortunately I dont have any spare optical inputs on my amp (sky in one, xbox 360 in the other) so have to go with digi coax. Time to start looking for a new card I think.
Any reccomendations ?

Phil

hux309

Don't buy creative, their driver support is shocking especially in vista.

I would say azuntech cards atm are top dog, this one can take any 2 channel or above source and convert it into dts bitstream.

Auzentech X-Plosion DTS Connect 7.1 Sound Card - Retail

EXTREME Overclocking - Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect Sound Card Review - Page: 1 - Tweaking PC Hardware To The Max

I can see where i got muddled, it seems new intel boards have a hd audio chip onboard which can handle dd and dts when it picks it up.

MadGrip

strange you should link to that one. Its the one I've just been reading up on.

gone & ordered it, should be here tuesday, I'll post up the results

Thanks again

Phil

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Those cards are good for music (I have the older one), but they can be shockingly bad in games. For several years they suffered a driver bug that caused the most god awful buzz in games. The buzz would be be the only noise played, and at a volume about 5 times louder than you planned.

That has been happening less and less with new drivers, but I'm not happy about having to live with that for so long. Basically I had to have two sound cards in the computer. This one for music and another for games.

MadGrip

hopefully that shouldnt be a problem as the PC its going in is only used for music & films, but I'll let you know how it copes in the PC

MadGrip

arrived today, all plugged up and works flawlessly.