SBLive 5.1 hookup to DTS reciever?

[AndrewDV]

Hi,

I recently purchased a DTS receiver (Sony 840T). It sounds great. Now, I want to hook up a PC to the digital input of the reciever. There are to digital inputs: optical and coaxial.

The sound card in that machine is a SBLive. There is a yellow jack on the card that is the digital output. This looks to be a mini-jack. I'm assuming that this somehow connects to the coaxial input of the receiver.

Has anyone hooked this card to a surround sound setup? If so, what was your connection? Can I just use a standard mini-jack to RCA converter or is there something more specialized?

Thank you

[az]

Do you want to use surround sound for watching DVDs only, or do you plan to use it for games, too?

IF you want to have game surround sound, AFAIK you HAVE to use the analog multi-channel input, provided your receiver has one. Doesn't prevent you from using the digital out for movies

AZ

[AndrewDV]

Hi,

Yes, the receiver does have a multichannel hookup. I wouldn't mind playing games as well as DVD, MP3, etc.

Do you think it would work better with a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz? I was reading that it can handle AC-3 and gaming audio through the VersaJack.

Even then, how do I hookup the digital out?

Thank you

[az]

The versaJack is just one jack that can be switched to mic in, line in, or digital out. Its only advantage is saving space on the backplate, so you don't need a daughter board. For you, it would just be a digital output.

You can always output AC3 audio via any soundcard that has analog 5.1 outputs, if your DVD player software supports it. Digital out will have better sound quality, but will only work for DVDs. You can use both, and switch to digital AC3 in for movies, and to the analog 5.1 for games.

[Maggi]

I use an SBLive! 1024 Player and hooked it up to my Denon AVR-1802 by using the yellow mini jack on the backplate of my SBLive.

The DVD Player must offer an option to pass-thru the audio stream over SPDIF to your AVR and should get identified by your amp accordingly (DD or DTS for example)

All other sounds should get identified by your amp as well, but rather in 2 channel PCM mode and hence all surround info must be coded into those two channels, except you choose the path that AZ suggested and hook up an analog multichannel connection.

[K6-III]

Otherwise, to go optical and coax you could use the Hoontech DB-III...

[Wombat]

Most software DVD players will support AC-3 out, even if it doesn't seem that they do. Use <A HREF="http://www.inmatrix.com/files/dvdgenie_download.html">DVD Genie</A> to set the sound to AC-3.

[Zao]

Re: SBLive 5.1 hookup to DTS reciever?

Originally posted by AndrewDV
Has anyone hooked this card to a surround sound setup? If so, what was your connection? Can I just use a standard mini-jack to RCA converter or is there something more specialized?

I've connected my SBLive 5.1 to my Sony STR-DE475 with 5 speakers.

I used the red connector on a 3.5mm headphone-plug <-> 2xRCA to connect the live to the receiver.

Works like a champ.

[dZeus]

isn't that a normal analogue hook-up?

[Zao]

Nope, I connected it to the coaxial digital connector on the receiver.