x-ray

hi,


until last month, i used my realtek ALC1200 Chipset and it has got a very good sound quality compared to other onboard chips or Soundblaster Cards i had before. Soundblaster Card often had a very "round" and "clear" signal, but it wasn't as precise and native like it could have been.

My old Stereo Amp died, and i used analog out for 4 Channels until then, using the stereo amp for the front speakers and an active satelite/subwoofer system for the side(rear) channels.

now i got an Onkyo TX-SR 508 Amp and am using the digital coax output from my Realtek ALC 1200 Soundchip on my ASUS M4N82 Deluxe Mainboard (nForce 980a Chipset).

Movies and Music is working fine for me, the dts and DD AC-3 Signals are nicely transferred to my amp, else the PCM Signal up to 192 KHz is sent to the amp when listening to stereo music.


I read much about gaming in 5.1 and know now, that i can't use this feature without a Soundchip that is capable of DD Live or DTS Connect, and the Realtek ALC 1200 hasn't got these features.

i tried using the AC 3 Filter together with two other Apps and got it nearly working, but got a 2 second lag (bad for gaming) and only got an AC-3 Stream in Stereo instead of 5.1 in the end (it should work though with multichannel, but when i realized there is an extreme lag (no wonder using 3 apps and my cpu to encode an AC-3 Stream in realtime), i didn't bother anymore about this solution.


Now i read there is a way i can use my old SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro to encode Multichannel Sound in Games to a DD AC-3 Stream and sent it to the Soundblaster Card's Digital Coax Out or Optical SP/Dif out, called redocneXk -> redocneXk released - Realtime 5.1 ac3 Encoder

1) would this work for me with vista 64 and can i use dts with 1.5 Mbit instead of dd ac-3 encoding with 448/640 kbit, too ?

and

2) would the sound quality of movies and music be the same like right now (as i am using digital coax out anyway) or can there be a difference in audio quality compared to my Realtek ALC 1200 Chip (very good mainboard chip that i bought with the most expensive nforce board from asus about a year ago, wouldn't use a normal onboard soundchip instead and my SB audigy 2 zs is SOME years old now ) ?

3) will i have any problems using normal movie dts and dd sound with digital coax out while using the multichannel ac-3 encoding feature ? how can i change this encoding feature when i just want to watch a dts or dd movie that already got a dts or dd stream ? right now i can see that the alc 1200 does support dts and DD in the soundcard settings and i can check or uncheck the feature. does the audigy 2 zs support dts and dd, too or is it easily just passed through the spdif as it is digital data ? like with an app like spdiffer or ac3filter ? or does the redocneXk ac-3 encoder work on the "multichannel" sound, so i will aways get a cpu encoded ac-3 stream instead of an original dts stream from the movie ?

4) i now read that i can use the original creative dts interactive and dd live download link not only for x-fi soundcards, but also for audigy 2 zs soundcards. why is there a need for redocneXk drivers then ? what is the difference ?
you can find the DanielK Support Pack 3.8 for Audigy here:
http://nomoregoatsoup.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/daniel_k-audigy-series-support-pack-3-8/

http://hotfile.com/dl/38957911/565abb1/Audigy_SupportPack_3_8.exe.html
it includes a new tab in the sb settings for dts connect and uses the original dts interactive codec that you can buy for 5 $ at creative's website.

5) another idea i got... i have a hdmi out on my asus m4n82 deluxe mainboard with nforce 980a chipset. would there maybe an option to use PCM multichannel hdmi out to my receiver as i am using the onboard soundchip alc1200 ? - OR would the hdmi out of my geforce gtx 260-216 provide multichannel PCM audio out somehow ?


thanks for your help!

ray

x-ray

i tried 4) and installed my old audigy 2 zs platinum.

dolby digital live is working perfectly and i have full 5.1 surround sound in games now.

but i have a problem using dts connect. when i tick this option, my receiver doesn't get the dts signal and i don't get any sound. in the volume bar i can see audio levels, so i guess it's just a dts connect problem. i realized that the master volume fader jumps up and down between about 60 and 65 all the time. something doesn't work correctly on my pc with this dts connect feature from creative.

i can listen to dts sound in movies while using SPDIF OUT without problems though.



i found this here in daniel k's readme:

DTS Encoder Switcher

On Windows 7/Vista, when using DTS Interactive encoder, you MUST use ANOTHER SPDIF Out device, otherwise the CTAudSvc (Creative Audio Service) won’t work properly (high CPU usage).


my idle cpu load is in fact at about 25 % with an AMD Phenom X4 9950 when i turn dts connect on with the Creative SPDIF OUT.

question is: which OTHER spdif out should i select ? i have only got this one.

should i enable my mainboards soundchip (realtek ALC1200) again so i can use it's SPDIF OUT ?

i tried that now and i can use both soundchips and all audio out playback devices, but i can't select the realtek SPDIF out in the dts connect settings, so i can't use it.

what did daniel k mean ? how can i get dts connect to work in vista at all and without cpu load ? what "other spdif out" should i use ?? i am confused.

who can help me with this ?

x-ray

i finally got it working (with short sound pauses ingame, but working)

i would have to go to the EncoderSwitcher Directoy of the support pack 3.8 and start the x64 application that would make the audio panel show other spdif devices in the dts connect encoder options.

i selected the spdif out from my mainboard instead of the creative audigy 2 zs spdif out and now it works.


does anyone know why i get some very short audio dropouts (volume to 0) from time to time with dts connect enabled ?

x-ray

why does no one in here give any answer to any of my posts in here ?

Tyrsonswood

Partially, because it's a slow portion of HH.... (not many in here reading and responding), and possibly nobody has been down this particular path and has an answer.


I wish I had more for you but I'm still running analog outputs and only one system is in surround, everything else is stereo..... So, I'm no help with this. But, Welcome to HH

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x-ray

thanks =)

i have another idea, maybe i get more replies with this one:

i read that the geforce 200 series can give out multichannel pcm 7.1 audio through the dvi->hdmi out.

i tried it, but i don't get any sound at all. i have the right dvi cable with the pins for audio and i have enabled hdmi hdtv audio in the nvidia drivers.

is this at all possible ?

i could easily connect the geforce gtx 260 dvi out with dvi->hdmi to my onkyo tx-sr 508 receiver and use 7.1 PCM sound instead if i could get it to work ?

Judas

Heres what i know..

some amps don't work exceptionally well with connect/Live!..

also i've ran into a few games that doesn't use 3D/surround positioning in digital format well at all and you have to end up using the amps own simulated surround...

MANY modern games are now making use of encoding it's own Dolby digital/DTS encoded surround sound format ready for transmitting to a digital decoder..


Actually Counter Strike Source is probably one of the first games that has support for it.. but requires a few commands to enable.. and it's damn nice when it is working.

It's still new.. and it's still irritating as hell that many games just won't work without using analog outputs...

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