Vista 64 Digital 5.1 output (Media PC)

ssmacc · 21 Sep 2007 at 09:20

Just built a Media PC and am after a sound card that will output 5.1 (optical or preferably Coaxal spdif(?)) with Vista 64, mainly used to watch 5.1 HD movies, with the occasional gaming.

The cheaper the better as the TV cost a hell of a lot!

ssmacc · 21 Sep 2007 at 18:29

james.miller said:
good luck with that. a lot of cards dont output spdif at all for hd movies in vista. it can be a right pig getting it working thanks to vista's protection methods lol

thought this might be a problem so my build is a duel boot (XP 32 and Vista 64), will any old card output a digital 5.1 (for a seperate AV AMP to decode), for example would te below be OK?

OcUK Value 5.1 Digital Sound Card - Retail
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-001-OK&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=)

ssmacc · 21 Sep 2007 at 23:49

sid said:
it will do dd5.1 and dts and stereo lcpm

not hd sound from blu rays and not eax from games

it will do dd5.1 and dts and stereo lcpm sounds good

out of interest what would do the rest? as i need cheap(ish) grahics as well, i'm thinking of the below...any thoughts?

HIS ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT ICEQ Turbo 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-078-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938)

ssmacc · 24 Sep 2007 at 20:23

james.miller said:
nothing will do Hd audio formats over spdif, its not possible. for that, you need hdmi (not graphics card with a hdmi port currently supports this) or analogue outputs.

I'd be happy with DTS or DD 5.1 over SPIDF, wats best for that will the grapic card with HDMI do that (some IS cards say yes on the box)

thanks for the help so far