Sound cards that supports encoding DTS/Dolby Digital on the fly?

King Mustard · 25 Sep 2016 at 22:19

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
Motherboard: MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon (Realtek ALC1150)
TV: Toshiba 48U7653DB
AV receiver: Pioneer VSX-324-K-P

I want to play games from my PC to my 4K TV.

When connecting my PC directly to my TV via. HDMI, my TV limits the sound output to stereo (even when it's connected to my AV receiver via. ARC).

It's also no good connecting my PC to the AV receiver as the receiver doesn't support 4k/60, only 4k/25 (or 30, not sure).

The solution is to connect the PC to the TV via. HDMI for the 4k/60 image and then connect the PC to the AV receiver via. an optical cable.

However, the onboard sound on my motherboard can not encode DTS/Dolby Digital, so I will need a sound card that supports this.

Any suggestions for sound cards that supports encoding DTS/Dolby Digital on the fly?

I believe Creative's 2012 Sound Blaster Z supports this, but at £70, I feel it's a bit pricey for what I need it for.

Marsman · 25 Sep 2016 at 23:13

Best remove that link. Linking to products from competitor websites that OcUk sell is not allowed.

You're right though, £70 is not cheap just to get access to Dolby Digital Live.

You can use your motherboard. Pretty much all Realtek codecs support DDL and DTSC on a hardware level, it's just often disabled on a software level by the manufacturers on all but the top end boards.

Have a look at this thread. There's a link to a guide on how to get it working.

King Mustard · 25 Sep 2016 at 23:33

Marsman said:
Best remove that link. Linking to products from competitor websites that OcUk sell is not allowed.

You're right though, £70 is not cheap just to get access to Dolby Digital Live.

You can use your motherboard. Pretty much all Realtek codecs support DDL and DTSC on a hardware level, it's just often disabled on a software level by the manufacturers on all but the top end boards.

Have a look at this thread. There's a link to a guide on how to get it working.

Link fixed.

That software hack is a bit of a ball ache, as you have to wait for new "hacked" drivers (which means, they're way delayed behind official driver releases).

Do the linked R275 drivers (May 2014!) even support Windows 10 build 1607 (the anniversary update)?

Marsman · 26 Sep 2016 at 00:23

Found a newer thread that links to page 37, which is for Windows 10. That's dated 2015 though. The last page is dated this September, but it seems people are having issues getting it working.

Audio issues with Windows 10? Who'd have thought it.

Anyway; maybe a sound card is the least hassle option. There is a OEM version of the SB Z, for £60, or there's the Xonar DX for around the same. I don't think there are any cheaper options that have DDL.

shankly1985 · 26 Sep 2016 at 02:04

Asus D2X supports DTS Connect and Dolby HomeTheater
The SoundBlaster Z isn't only aimed at "Only" cinema systems though so the price isn't bad if you use it for its other features. The D2X is aimed at cinema systems and is much cheaper.

hyperseven · 26 Sep 2016 at 03:03

can you not use a HDMI splitter?

Marsman · 26 Sep 2016 at 11:23

shankly1985 said:
Asus D2X supports DTS Connect and Dolby HomeTheater
The SoundBlaster Z isn't only aimed at "Only" cinema systems though so the price isn't bad if you use it for its other features. The D2X is aimed at cinema systems and is much cheaper.

D2X has been discontinued. Unless buying used, not sure where have you seen the D2X for much cheaper? When it was still on sale it was around £80.

Not really sure why the D2X was aimed at home cinema. Sure it has both DDL and DTSC, but then so does the SoundBlaster Z. Other than that, then there's nothing else that makes it a better card for a home cinema system.

hyperseven said:
can you not use a HDMI splitter?

I don't think will work, because HDMI requires video and audio to work. If he sets the output as 4k and 60hz, then splits the HDMI between TV and the receiver, the receiver likely will receive nothing, because it cannot process a 60hz signal. If it can't receive video, then it wont receive the audio.

shankly1985 · 26 Sep 2016 at 12:33

Marsman said:
D2X has been discontinued. Unless buying used, not sure where have you seen the D2X for much cheaper? When it was still on sale it was around £80.

Not really sure why the D2X was aimed at home cinema. Sure it has both DDL and DTSC, but then so does the SoundBlaster Z. Other than that, then there's nothing else that makes it a better card for a home cinema system.

I don't think will work, because HDMI requires video and audio to work. If he sets the output as 4k and 60hz, then splits the HDMI between TV and the receiver, the receiver likely will receive nothing, because it cannot process a 60hz signal. If it can't receive video, then it wont receive the audio.

The D2X doesn't have headphones amp it's main purpose is connecting speakers to it.
Much cheaper because I own both and got my D2X for only 55 quid from here never knew it been discontinued.

Marsman · 26 Sep 2016 at 12:45

I suppose they could have reduced the D2X when it went EOL, to shift remaining stock.

Used D2X, or any other card that has DDL, would be a good choice if the OP wants to keep cost down; otherwise £60 for a Xonar DX or OEM Soundblaster Z.

shankly1985 · 26 Sep 2016 at 13:05

Marsman said:
I suppose they could have reduced the D2X when it went EOL, to shift remaining stock.

Used D2X, or any other card that has DDL, would be a good choice if the OP wants to keep cost down; otherwise £60 for a Xonar DX or OEM Soundblaster Z.

Just looked back at my order and you correct I paid £80 in 2013. Its the Asus DS that am getting mixed up with that I bought much cheaper. That also has Dolby and DTS on the Rainforest now for £30

King Mustard · 26 Sep 2016 at 17:32

I believe the following two cards support DTS Interactive/Dolby Digital Live:

Asus Xonar DSX, £39
Creative Sound Blaster Z, £50 (OEM)/£70 (retail)

Both cards are from 2012.

I assume I'll have no issues with the Asus Xonar DSX?

It's much cheaper.

james.miller · 26 Sep 2016 at 17:41

cant you use the amp as a second display? hook up a second hdmi from the gpu to the amp, extend the display in windows then you'll have lossless 7.1 pcm?

Id rather than than a laggy dolby live or DTS interactive. People talk about laggy displays a lot but laggy audio is just as annoying.

pete910 · 26 Sep 2016 at 19:28

james.miller said:
cant you use the amp as a second display? hook up a second hdmi from the gpu to the amp, extend the display in windows then you'll have lossless 7.1 pcm?

Id rather than than a laggy dolby live or DTS interactive. People talk about laggy displays a lot but laggy audio is just as annoying.

Was going to post something similar, The receiver is there to do this all for you.

It's essentially what I do, I have the amp/tv as a secondary display. then just point to the 2nd output when using it, be it gaming or music/vids.

Uriel · 26 Sep 2016 at 23:08

james.miller said:
cant you use the amp as a second display? hook up a second hdmi from the gpu to the amp, extend the display in windows then you'll have lossless 7.1 pcm?

Id rather than than a laggy dolby live or DTS interactive. People talk about laggy displays a lot but laggy audio is just as annoying.

The audio lag on my X-Fi and subsequently SBZ when using DDL or DTSC seems to have improved recently. I'm not entirely sure why. It's still there but not nearly as annoying as I remember it being. I added a new GPU during that time but I can't think of any reason why that should make a difference.

shankly1985 · 27 Sep 2016 at 00:05

james.miller said:
cant you use the amp as a second display? hook up a second hdmi from the gpu to the amp, extend the display in windows then you'll have lossless 7.1 pcm?

Id rather than than a laggy dolby live or DTS interactive. People talk about laggy displays a lot but laggy audio is just as annoying.

Laggy audio? Can't say I ever noticed that with the sound cards I have used. Asus ds, d2x and SBz have all worked excellent when using optical to my pioneer 329.
Watched meny movies and even games.

james.miller · 27 Sep 2016 at 01:14

it's laggy by design. dd/dts encoding will lead to audio that's about half a second behind the analogue outputs on all of those cards you mention.

also, you use encoding when watching movies? are you sure?

shankly1985 · 27 Sep 2016 at 02:28

james.miller said:
it's laggy by design. dd/dts encoding will lead to audio that's about half a second behind the analogue outputs on all of those cards you mention.

also, you use encoding when watching movies? are you sure?

Yeah I have some movies that are in stereo still LOL and it does good job. Cant say I ever noticed any delay. Maybe its my system that does good enough job decoding it?

james.miller · 27 Sep 2016 at 05:32

so when you're playing a movie with a stereo soundtrack, which will be DD/DTS 2 channel or unless it's a dodgy movie, you'll decode it with the player, then run it though ddlive/dts interactive to re-encode it (as two channel, presumably) and send that to the amp for decoding again? why do you do that?

Maybe its my system that does good enough job decoding it?

There's nothing that can negate the extra cycles required to process one audio stream and encode it in to something else. you're adding an encoding step to the audio chain which your system has nothing to do with, and adding a decoding step as well. none of which would be needed if you were running HDMI from the GPU to your amp, hence mentioning to the OP that 7.1 LPCM solves the issue; when watching a film the decoding is done by the software player, keeping the audio and video in sync. when gaming, there's nothing to encode or decode at the other end, ensuring the shortest/quickest audio path. why bother with with encoders when you can send 192khz 32bit PCM straight to the amp (or 96khz, since most amps still can't turn all their trickery on with a 192khz input)

Uriel · 28 Sep 2016 at 16:35

Definitely less than 1/2 a second on my SBZ now. Perhaps slightly better with DTS-C than DDL.

I'd guess 0.1-0.2 seconds but definitely noticeable if playing both analogue and digital outputs at the same time.