[murdok5]

Okay, some of you might have seen my setup in the "can u beat my system post" that stuff is in the living room. When i take my computer out and hook it up optically to receiver, i can never get games to play in 5.1 (recently farcry).

i have it setup in the game, and in the system audio settings, but when i play the game, the reciever shows it is only recieving 2 channels (in the bottom righ tof the screen shows what speaker channels i am getting, with LOTR i get 6, with most movies 5, farcry set at 5.1 = 2 )

any ideas? does anyone else out there connect their games to receivers adn use 5.1 similar to me?

Mike

[Prisoner1138]

If you want digital 5.1 output in games, you need a soundstorm apu, which means an nforce 2 mcp-t motherboard, which means amd. that's the only thing capable of encoding games into dolby digital in real time at the moment, which is what you're looking for.

[Buhammot]

Now, you may have to use a component output on the soundcard. As Prisoner said, the MCP-T on the Nforce2 platform is the ONLY sound "card" that is capable of encoding to Dolby Digital. The Sound Blaster cards can decode Dolby, but that doesnt do much good in this case. The SB's can also pass through AC3 format (Dolby), then that means the program would have to have digitally encoded content, which games dont. ( I dont think) Now, the cards digital output should be able to output surround sound, whether coaxial or digital, but dont expect Dolby Digital from a Intel board. (one of the super sweet things about running AMD and Nforce)

I remember my Aureal Vortex 2 was able to output digital (coaxial) and worked as I desired. What kinda sound card do you have anyways?

[murdok5]

sorry....shoulda mentioned that. im using the onboard on my abit IS7-G cause it has optical out.

Why does it have to ENCODE it? i was under the impression if i use optical my computer doesnt decode any audio, jsut shoots it out to reciever to decode there. So shouldnt i just need to set the gaem right?

Mike

[Prisoner1138]

it has to encode it because it needs some way tio make a signal for your receiver to decode. games cant be pre-recorded in surround sound like a movie can. in a movie, the sound is always the same. in a game, gunshots can come from one side, thext time explosions can come from another, etc.

even if you set the game for it, you cant actually do it unless you have the hardware, and the only hardware that can do it right now is an nforce soundstorm chip which only comes on amd boards.

[murdok5]

i understand now....that sucks.....im sticking with intel

[bobmanfoo]

i get 5.1 in all my games including farcry

[Droban]

You will get 5.1 if youre using the normal jacks...but if youre using the optical out, you wont get 5.1 unless its the nForce2 deal.

Correct me if Im mistaken.

[murdok5]

i was really happy with the sound quality of the optical....didnt want to loose it.

[bobmanfoo]

Originally posted by Droban
You will get 5.1 if youre using the normal jacks...but if youre using the optical out, you wont get 5.1 unless its the nForce2 deal.

Correct me if Im mistaken.

um i get 5.1 with my digital coax out from my audigy 2, my z680 set at DD Pl2 movie, far cry,BF vietnam, and NFS underground have 5.1 from digital out. i have to use analog to get 4.1 in CS-CZ though. these are the only 4 games i have installed

[murdok5]

well i have no coax.

is it safe to say that with my setup i cant get 5.1 in games through optical short of goin amd right now?

Mike

[bobmanfoo]

u should be able to, if i am not mistaken coax and optical should do the same thing.... both digital signals

Droban i believe you are taliking about Dolby Digital?

[murdok5]

i will have to mess with this some more....waiting to get TOCA race driver 2...then ill set it back up with stereo....and try some more settings

[Prisoner1138]

even if you have a card that's just outputting a signal through the optical or coax, that does not make it dolby digital 5.1

[JCLW]

This is a bit like the other thread, in which some of us are already posting in.

coax and optical are the same (data wise).

Bobmanfoo - How exactly are you connecting your speakers to your A2 ZS?

[kct2]

On a non-soundstorm soundcard the digitial output is 2 channel PCM. If you want 5.1 from that signal use Dolby Pro Logic 2. Dolby Pro Logic (1) is another, lower quality, option. Those are the only options.

The only way to make that an AC-3 signal is if the source material is pre-encoded.

As Prisoner1138 said, a digital connection does not equal AC-3 (Dolby Digital).

[bobmanfoo]

is dolby digital and 5.1 the same thing? i never said i was getting dolby digital, but all of my speakers work by using the digital out, when i play far cry i can hear behind me and infront of me, and voices come through the center channel

i have a digital coax cable going from the digital out on my aud2zs to the coax jack on the back of the z680s

[kct2]

Originally posted by bobmanfoo
is dolby digital and 5.1 the same thing?

Dolby Pro Logic 2 can produce a very good 5.1 effect. It can work on digial PCM or analog inputs. So it is very likely the speakers were in PL2 mode. If so it would have been indicated on the receiver in someway.

But Dolby Digital is the only way to get true 5.1 surround sound from a digital connection. You can also connect 6 analog cables to your receiver from the sound card to get true surround sound.

If you want to know the difference and details on Dolby Digital, Pro Logic 2, etc. Go to www.dolby.com and read some of the whitepapers. This is a good paper about PL2 in games: http://www.dolby.com/tech/trgames.pdf

(I didn't mention DTS because it isn't used in games)

[murdok5]

i ahve tried PL1 and PL2 setting on recioever adn still 2 channel......but poptical cant be 2 channel cause i use it for 6 channel from ddv player

[bobmanfoo]

yes it set my speakers to PL2, i also have 6channel analog