Thanks, Pez. That's what I thought...or, more precisely, hoped. I bought 3
A7N8X mobos in part because I like everything I've heard about...and
from..Soundstorm. But these are my last 3 homebuilt 'putas. They are
finicky to build, take forever to tweak, and wind up costing more than a
storebought by the time I'm thru swapping parts in and out to find the right
combo. I bought a Falcon NW Fragbox Pro (my first storebought in ten years)
and it worked great right outta the box. SFF is the way to go. And anyway,
Soundstorm is gone, just another Betamax on the trash heap of history....
> Sorry for not addressing the TOSLINK.
> on a soundstorm based PC (if its configured correctly) - YES! you will get
> multichannel digital out (AC3 - Dolby Digital) via TOSLINK :)
> pez
> > Soundstorm can do real time Dolby Digital Encoding (as far as im aware -
> my
> > mates Soundstorm based PC can), and will take multichannel sound from
> games
> > and convert it into an AC3 stream that a seperate Dolby Digital amp can
> then
> > decode. Nice and easy, and only 1 cable :)
> > best test for it is probably Doom3, set it up using 5.1 sound and see if
> you
> > get accurate spacial movement from the characters in the game via the
> SPDIF.
> > I used to think that any sound card/mobo that had an SPDIF could give me
> > digital multichannel sound from 1 cable. It took a lot of digging and a
> few
> > emails to various companies to find out that nobody apart from nVidia
> > (through SoundStorm) and Intel (new Hi Definition Audio - HDA on the 915
> and
> > 925 mobos) actually have the hardware to do it!
> > pez
> > > > Q for Pez:
> > > > If the sound card (or, in my case, the onboard A7N8X Soundstorm) can
> > > handle
> > > > it, do you get Dolby/surround out of the TosLINK optical cable?
> > > If I got the gist of his posts correctly, you only get surround
> sound
> > > via s/pdif with a card that can take a surround source from a game,
say,
> > and
> > > then convert it to a DD Surround signal ie no card owned by the
typical
> > > person. The s/pdif port simply passes a DD signal onto a receiver
from,
> > say,
> > > a DVD movie.
> > > So to answer your question, with DVDs you will, with games you
wont.
> > > > > Unless you have a soundcard/onboard sound that can do realtime
Dolby
> > > > Digital
> > > > > Encoding you wont get surround sound from games out of the SPDIF
> port,
> > > all
> > > > > you will get is Stereo PCM. nForce2 chipsets used to contain
> > SoundStorm
> > > > > onboard sound that would carry out Real Time Dolby Digital
> Encoding -
> > it
> > > > > would take the mutlichanel sound that the game was generating
> (either
> > on
> > > > the
> > > > > processor - see Doom 3) or on the sound card, and encode it into
the
> > AC3
> > > > > stream that a seperate dolby digital decoder (such as a home
theatre
> > > > > amplifier) could then read just from that 1 single cable.
> > > > > If you do not have a card capable of Real Time Dolby Digital
> Encoding
> > > (and
> > > > > at present there arent any creative cards that do it aimed at
> > > consumers -
> > > > > the Intel 915 and 925 chipsets contain HDA which will do it, as
will
> > the
> > > > > nForce2 Sound Storm) then you will only get 2 chanel stereo PCM
out
> of
> > > the
> > > > > SPDIF.
> > > > > For multichanel to work correctly from non DDE cards you have to
> > connect
> > > > up
> > > > > all 6 or 8 analogue RCA ports from your sound card to your amp.
> > > > > pez
> > > > > > I think it's running whether you use it or not, so I don't know
> that
> > > you
> > > > > > would see a difference.
> > > > > > It's just a blinking light :)
> > > > > > I use the SPDIF output (optical) on my Home-Built HTPC (aka
> > > > FrankenMedia).
> > > > > > I have an OEM copy of MediaPC 2005 and it's better than I
thought
> it
> > > > would
> > > > > > be. I just bought a Silverstone HTPC case from NewEgg and
tossed
> my
> > > old
> > > > > P4
> > > > > > 2.53Ghz MB, etc... into it and walla! HTPC.
> > > > > > I bought the MediaPC Remote OEM from NewEgg for $37.
> > > > > > I have about $400 invested in the whole thing :)
> > > > > > When I built this new AMD-64/3500 system the old P4 was going to
> go
> > to
> > > > > > Server duty, but this came up instead.
> > > > > > -Larry
