Chaintech AV710

i just bougt this sound card cuz my p4p800e didnt put out 5.1 through optical. I was told this one does, but its doing the same thing, my receiver says it is putting out 2 channel sound, and i have it set for 5.1 in the control pannel. Am i doin something wrong or did i just get screwed?

These cards all do 5.1 out of the SPDIF, optical in your case, but only for compressed sound, like the Dolby or DTS track on DVDs. The only way to get 5.1 out for other sound that is not compressed, like games, is to have a card that encodes everything in real time to Dolby 5.1. The nForce2 Soundstorm did this, and I believe there is a new card that has this ability, but there is quality loss. Why do you want to output through optical?

i use optical out becuase my computer is plugged into my receiver

half-life 2 and doom3 both say they can put out 5.1, why doesnt it work?

The games as most now days do, DO output 5.1 sound, or simply surround. The soundcard is incapable of encoding the discreet sound channels into a single wire, like Soundstorm was able to do. There is an Intel Chipset capable of doing this all over again, as well as another sound card solution that is not readily available to the US market.

The optical output is capable of only 2 channel due to it needing a special encoder to compress it down. Same with any other type of digital output. However, it is perfectly capable of a Digital Signal Passthrough via SPDIF, if the signal is already encoded into DTS or Dolby Digital for example. Even the Creative solutions are not exactly the digital signal as we know it, 5.1 through only 1 cable. Look for the Intel Chipset mobo that has that available if you really want it, otherwise use 3 Headphone to RCA cables.

wow that really sucks. What is the point of digital sound if it only has 2 channels? My xbox has optical out and it puts out 5.1 for xbox games, im suprised its this complicated to make it work with a pc. I guess im going back to using my subwoofer as a receiver. I have the cambridge soundworks gigaworks 5.1, and the way i have it set up now, my receiver is powering the 5 surround speakers that came with the 5.1 setup, and the sub is plugged into the sub output from the receiver, i like it this way becuase my receiver has twice as many inputs as my creative audio decoder, and it works on my universial remote control, so i dont have to use that crappy little remote that came with the audio decoder.