DTS, Dolby Digital 7.1?

[OrbitzXT]

I bought a new Onkyo 7.1 Home Theater system yesterday and set it up with my computer. I used an optical cable from the sound card, HT Omega Strike 7.1, to the Onkyo receiver. In Windows 7, when I open the Xear 3D options, the only way I get sound out of the back two speakers is if I have S/PDIF Output set to 'PCM'. If I change it to Dolby Digital Live or DTS I only get sound out of 5 of the 7 speakers. I'm far from a sound expert, so I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if it's just not possible to do what I want.

 

[NinkobEi]

The home theatre system has its own built in Dolby decoder. With SPDIF connection you are sending the sound info digitally and the Receiver will convert it to analog. Does your sound card support 7.1 or just 5.1? Sending it via PCM should be fine.

 

[OrbitzXT]

It says it supports 7.1, also, when I choose DTS in Windows it lights up on the receiver. When I choose PCM it doesn't do that. It also sounds better with Dolby or DTS compared to PCM, but as I said the rear two speakers don't output any sound when I choose Dolby or DTS.

 

[Mussels]

I bought a new Onkyo 7.1 Home Theater system yesterday and set it up with my computer. I used an optical cable from the sound card, HT Omega Strike 7.1, to the Onkyo receiver. In Windows 7, when I open the Xear 3D options, the only way I get sound out of the back two speakers is if I have S/PDIF Output set to 'PCM'. If I change it to Dolby Digital Live or DTS I only get sound out of 5 of the 7 speakers. I'm far from a sound expert, so I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if it's just not possible to do what I want.

DD live and DTS encoding are only 5.1

i dont think there is any encoding options for 7.1, unless you're watching a blu ray source with 7.1 audio and use SPDIF passthrough, it just aint happening.

the 7.1 features of that card are more related to its analogue capabilities, than its encoding ones (and passthrough is passthrough - card doesnt matter there)

 

[OrbitzXT]

I see, that's interesting to know. Does a sound card exist that does DTS or Dolby in 7.1 or is what I have now as good as its going to get?

 

[cadaveca]

Yeah, actually, there are very many that output 7.1, but most will do this as LPCM only.

Of course, you could get soemthing like the Xonar HDAV, that output 7.1 analogue, with swapable opamps(probably the best PC/gaming card I have ever used), as well as HDMI...

SO like, that's kinda the kicker, you see. HDCP requires that higher-end audio is broadcast over HDMI. You can get DTS 6.1, but very few things are actually recorded in 7.1(and hence a huge lack of 7.1 speakers for pcs, even though almost every card will do 7.1 over analogue).


Most often, 7.1 is enabled on 5.1 souces by the amp itself. And you are really not missing much without 7.1.

But man, get some bluray audio going....the orginal IronMan movie is a good example of how different HDaudio is.

 

[jasper1605]

But man, get some bluray audio going....the orginal IronMan movie is a good example of how different HDaudio is.

+1 to that. Transformers 1 is another prime (haha get it, PRIME lolerz) example of awesome blu-ray audio.

 

[cadaveca]

I didn't find such a big difference in transformers as I did with IronMan, going from standard DTS/DD to HDAudio.

 

[Dent1]

In Windows 7, when I open the Xear 3D options, the only way I get sound out of the back two speakers is if I have S/PDIF Output set to 'PCM'. If I change it to Dolby Digital Live or DTS I only get sound out of 5 of the 7 speakers. I'm far from a sound expert, so I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if it's just not possible to do what I want.

DTS and Dolby Digital only support upto 5.1, because for a long time 5.1 its been the standard for surround sound and hence why 2 of the speakers do not work.

The new HD standards such as DTS Masters and Dolby Digital True HD are 7.1 but in some cases 5.1 is still the prevalent standard for HD via Dolby Digital Plus.

The bottom line is nothing is broken everything is as it should be

It says it supports 7.1, also, when I choose DTS in Windows it lights up on the receiver. When I choose PCM it doesn't do that. It also sounds better with Dolby or DTS compared to PCM, but as I said the rear two speakers don't output any sound when I choose Dolby or DTS.

If you really want 7.1, select PCM in the soundcard's drivers and then select Dolby Prologic or DTS NEO on the amp itself. It will upmix the signals from 2.0/5.1 to a fake matrix'd 7.1.

I see, that's interesting to know. Does a sound card exist that does DTS or Dolby in 7.1 or is what I have now as good as its going to get?

No because DTS and Dolby Digital are not 7.1 by definition.

Edit:

As somebody else said, if you have a soundcard with HDMI outputs such as the Xonar HDAV, Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater or any modern ATI video card (and I think Nvidia 4xx series) you can output 7.1 as DD True HD or DTS Masters on supported Blu Ray movies i.e. Transformers. However in normal situation in windows and in games you'll be forced to use Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1, PCM, or PCM with Prologic or DTS NEO.

 

[Dent1]

No thank you? Wow.

 

[Mussels]

I see, that's interesting to know. Does a sound card exist that does DTS or Dolby in 7.1 or is what I have now as good as its going to get?

no, because those are 5.1 audio. you need like DTS-HD and the other blu ray standards for 7.1

 

[cadaveca]

no, because those are 5.1 audio. you need like DTS-HD and the other blu ray standards for 7.1

No cards that do Dolby Digital EX?

Not like any games use more than 5.1 anyway. DVD's with more than 5.1 aren't that common either.

 

[Mussels]

No cards that do Dolby Digital EX?

Not like any games use more than 5.1 anyway. DVD's with more than 5.1 aren't that common either.

i dont know of any cards that do encoding past 5.1/dolby digital, but i havent looked either.


i THINK it may 'just work' on hte more modern cards - EG, a 5870's HDMI audio has a PCM option that can provide 7.1 audio, IF connected to a HDMI receiver that supports 7.1 PCM. what i dont know there is if it can send all 8 channels, or if its stuck with stereo without encoding like the other digital audio signals.

 

[NinkobEi]

I dont get the whole 7.1/5.1 system setups. I'm not sure how they got to replace the quality stereo speakers. We go from 12 inch tweeters to 2 inch and somehow people think thats an upgrade.

 

[Mussels]

I dont get the whole 7.1/5.1 system setups. I'm not sure how they got to replace the quality stereo speakers. We go from 12 inch tweeters to 2 inch and somehow people think thats an upgrade.

positional audio.

 

[Dent1]

No cards that do Dolby Digital EX?

Not like any games use more than 5.1 anyway. DVD's with more than 5.1 aren't that common either.

Dolby EX is 6.1 - Its only supported on a few DVD titles but never took off. I believe it was still 5.1 at the heart but the extra channel was matrix'd i.e. fake.

I dont get the whole 7.1/5.1 system setups. I'm not sure how they got to replace the quality stereo speakers. We go from 12 inch tweeters to 2 inch and somehow people think thats an upgrade.

Do not blame all 7.1/5.1 systems, blame HTIAB (home theatre in a box). If you buy seperate bookshelf speakers or floorstanding speakers you can still get 12" tweaters on a 5.1 or 7.1 setup without issue.

i THINK it may 'just work' on hte more modern cards - EG, a 5870's HDMI audio has a PCM option that can provide 7.1 audio, IF connected to a HDMI receiver that supports 7.1 PCM. what i dont know there is if it can send all 8 channels, or if its stuck with stereo without encoding like the other digital audio signals.

Unfortunately, no sound card on the market, not even the 5870s can provide encoding of Dolby True HD 7.1 or DTS Masters 7.1 yet. It can only pass-through straight to the receiver upto multi channel PCM via HDMI. However it can decode Dolby True HD 7.1 or DTS Masters 7.1 from Blu Ray media.

 

[heky]

Unfortunately, no sound card on the market, not even the 5870s can provide encoding of Dolby True HD 7.1 or DTS Masters 7.1 yet. It can only pass-through straight to the receiver upto multi channel PCM via HDMI. However it can decode Dolby True HD 7.1 or DTS Masters 7.1 from Blu Ray media.[/QUOTE]

Why would you need encoding of Dolby True HD 7.1 or DTS Masters 7.1? As long as it is decoded you are good. Thats what comes out of your speakers.

 

[Mussels]

Why would you need encoding of Dolby True HD 7.1 or DTS Masters 7.1? As long as it is decoded you are good. Thats what comes out of your speakers.

gaming.

 

[cadaveca]

gaming.

No games need, nor have the quality of audio, for such things though.


I've had a full-out 7.1 surround setup since 2001, just after my first son was born. In the end, the extra two speakers take up took much space in the living room, and offer very little actual audio data, so that pair of speakers went down in the basement.

A few times a year I hook them back up, and conenct my pc as well, to do some gaming on the bigscreen(more often than not I'm only using 2.1 for the pc, now)...

7.1 is pretty useless in the gaming world. I think a big part of that though, if because of console ports...I don't think any consoles offer 7.1...maybe in the next gen we might get HD-Audio in games...I cannot wait for such, as I think even stereo HD audio sounds better than 5.1 non-HD, if you've got good full-range speakers.


OrbitzXT, you are most likely better off taking that extra pair of speakers, and connecting them to the front left/right on the "B" channel....this will widen the stereo field, and leads to greater immersion, in my own testing.


And a FYI for everyone....you only need software to encode DolbyHD/DTSHD audio. Like all other audio, this is basically a codec...I have a paid-for encoder for Sony Vegas(mid you this is audio mixing software, not something you use while playing a game, etc.).

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/

 

[Mussels]

No games need, nor have the quality of audio, for such things though.


I've had a full-out 7.1 surround setup since 2001, just after my first son was born. In the end, the extra two speakers take up took much space in the living room, and offer very little actual audio data, so that pair of speakers went down in the basement.

A few times a year I hook them back up, and conenct my pc as well, to do some gaming on the bigscreen(more often than not I'm only using 2.1 for the pc, now)...

7.1 is pretty useless in the gaming world. I think a big part of that though, if because of console ports...I don't think any consoles offer 7.1...maybe in the next gen we might get HD-Audio in games...I cannot wait for such, as I think even stereo HD audio sounds better than 5.1 non-HD, if you've got good full-range speakers.


OrbitzXT, you are most likely better off taking that extra pair of speakers, and connecting them to the front left/right on the "B" channel....this will widen the stereo field, and leads to greater immersion, in my own testing.


And a FYI for everyone....you only need software to encode DolbyHD/DTSHD audio. Like all other audio, this is basically a codec...I have a paid-for encoder for Sony Vegas(mid you this is audio mixing software, not something you use while playing a game, etc.).

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/

if you set a game to 7.1, it works over analogue just fine. you get full positional audio from all 8 channels.

and yeah we all know we need software for it... that no one makes.

 

[cadaveca]

if you set a game to 7.1, it works over analogue just fine. you get full positional audio from all 8 channels.

and yeah we all know we need software for it... that no one makes.

I can't even think of any games that work in 7.1...I'm sure there's some though.

Would be nice if we could get some software support...alot of hardware is capable, I suppose. HDAudio still seems like a niche, though.

 

[Mussels]

I can't even think of any games that work in 7.1...I'm sure there's some though.

Would be nice if we could get some software support...alot of hardware is capable, I suppose. HDAudio still seems like a niche, though.

almost any game that works in 5.1 would also work in 7.1... the audio engines scale depending how many speakers you have.

 

[cadaveca]

So basically I just need to enable the other speakers in Windows Audio CP?


Hmmm...I wonder if I can hack a 5.1 and a 2.0 setup together, with the 2.0 as stereo l/r, and the 5.1 as the other speakers...hmmm....

 

[Easy Rhino]

is the title/game you are watching/playing 7.1 ?

 

[cadaveca]

is the title/game you are watching/playing 7.1 ?

Rhetorics.