AAARGGHH! Why is it so difficult!

slothmeister · 13 Sep 2007 at 13:44

Hi guys, just finished restoring my computer as it was running a wee bit slowly, however having a small issue getting the sound working as it was.

I used to be able to play most file types in wmp and to get surround sound via spdif, however i can play the files now but only get stereo sound. Just downloaded the latest version of ffdshow to see if that sorted it, but nothing! Why can't files just automatically play in the correct way they are supposed to!

Also never tested this so i don't know but can i get surround sound in games using spdif?

I'm using XP SP2

something daft already!! · 13 Sep 2007 at 14:06

Might sound silly, but have you enabled S/Pdif in AC3? Can you put up a screen shot of your AC3 settings? Is S/Pdif enabled in your audio settings in windows?

slothmeister · 13 Sep 2007 at 14:31

all right then excuse my thickness, i cannot see a s/pdif option within windows, neither can i find anywhere that shows all my ac3 settings?

something daft already!! · 13 Sep 2007 at 15:46

You may have to enable S/Pdif from the sound cards software. With my old ac97 codec, it was done through the Realtek software, in windows its in control panel, sounds and device (IIRC) and speaker settings (I think, I use VIista now!)

In AC3, it depends on which codec pack you have installed, I use Vista codecs, which work with XP. You should see "AC3" in you codec pack's program list, simply click on it and the first screen is where you can enable it IIRC. You need to select the type of output which I think is 3+2+sw or very similar. I will check when I am home from work, but once this is ticked and you have set the sound card correctly, you should get your DTS sound.

something daft already!! · 13 Sep 2007 at 18:45

I have further checked my settings at home. first off, make sure you have installed AC3 filter, it is part of many codec packs, but you may have to install it seperately. Once installed, go into config and set under "main" tab and "Output format" to 3/2+sw 5.1 channels and below that setting, select PCM 32bit.

Under "SPDIF" tab, ensure "use spdif" is ticked, spdiff pass through should have DTS and AC3 ticked and spdif/DTS mode should be set to Padded DTS.

You will NOT get 5.1 sound via SPDIF in games, only stereo. If you want 5.1 in games, you will have to connect via Analog.

You will only get 5.1 sound from a video file which is encoded with said sound, such as a DVD which you have ripped yourself and encoded into AVI format using AC3 filter.

Half the fun of using a PC is getting stuff to work the way you want it to. Dont expect these things to work "out of the box" as some tweaking is generally needed as there are so many different bits of hardware which have to work together.

slothmeister · 13 Sep 2007 at 19:01

great got it working now, thanks very much. I would use analogue but my home cinema only allows s/pdif input as it's fairly old.

Thanks for your help.