HTPC DTS Output

[jellybeard999]

I have DVDs ripped in 5.1 AC3 at the moment, and am going from stereo to a 6.1 setup, so want to re rip these into 5.1 DTS (where possible) via DVDclone.

Obviously, my receiver is DTS capable etc, and i just wondered.

Does the soundcard need DTS capability or is that taken care of at the receiver end ?
Will my realtek onboard via 3.5mm to RCA phono outputs be ok for playing DTS ?
Does s/pdif run as a pass through, and the receiver do the decoding ?
Do i need to install a DTS codec of any sort ?
Another worry is: do 5.1 movies get upmixed via the receiver ?

Im running MCE 2005, My Movies plugin with TheaterTek DVD player and FFDShow.

Any settings need changing on the PC apart from setting TheaterTek to S/Pdif ?

Is Coax better than optical ?

Im thinking of changing but will there be much difference between

C-Media CMI8768 £10 ish at auction via optical
Creative Audigy of some sort via optical
X-Mystique via optical
X-Mystique via coaxial

Thanks, and sorry for the barrage of questions

 

[FrankJH]

from a stand alone player point of view I would say that coaxial is better than spdif / optical (this may depend reciever to reciever but in my experience I would say this is generally true) however the benefit - from my point of view - for using spdif from an htpc is that as you rightly pointed out its just a pass through stream with no (audio) processing done by the pc.

Now Im sure there are some decent sound cards that may make it worthwhile to invest for onboard dts decoding but to spend that much you have to be sure its worth it - as spdif is effectively free (unless you dont have a cable to test it) I would try this method and see if you like it.

Running a spdif you obviously wouldnt need any codec installed, but if you went the soundcard route (and this was DTS compatable) Im sure the driver install would include DTS codec or some kind of hardware to get the full qualities of the new card.

I havent actualy tried either card you mentioned but hope the above is a little help