Dolby Digital AC3 with G400 ?

[Vivinfo]

There's no SPDIF on G400 cards.
Is it possible to have AC3 sound with G400 ?

[Buuri]

It's not a sound card. But it works with SBLive! tho..

B

[SteveC]

Just to elaborate incase you don't get what Buuri's on about - the digital sound has nothing to do with the G400 - when playing a DVD, the sound stream comes down the IDE/SCSI cable and the software you use may or may not product a digital output to your soundcard. Then you need a soundcard (Such as the Live!) which has a digital output for you to use.

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Cheers,
Steve

[TheMorg]

I know that this question is now off-topic because it's not a graphics issue, but it sounds like people on this forum have DVD experience, so I'll ask it anyway:

Can I use the SPDIF connector on my SBLive to connect directly to a DVDROM drive? And if so, will that save on SCSI bandwidth that would otherwise have to carry the digital sound?

I'll be buying a SCSI DVD-ROM drive soon (maybe the 6x Pioneer 303S) so I'm trying to brush up on config advice in advance!

Thanks,

Tim

[SteveC]

Hi,
The only time the digital out is used on the DVD drive (AFAIK) is when you play an audio CD. When playing a DVD, the audio is inside the datastream and so the digital out makes no difference.

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Cheers,
Steve

[Mike_k]

Hi,

for all of you interested in technology and DVD....look here www.tripel-s.de

Mike

[Mike_k]

Hi,

for all of you interested in technology and DVD....look here www.tripel-s.de

Mike

[rylan]

Most of the (good) DVD software decoders will send an AC-3 stream to your sound card, which will then pass it through to digital out if it supports spdif (such as the SBlive etc.)
Also, for those who are interested, you can get a SBLive! Value version, and then get an optical digital I/O card addon. This is better IMHO than the SBLive full since it has optical out and digital coax out and digital DIN out. Check out http://www.listen.to/sblive for more info.
Also, there are a few decoders out there that will decode AC-3 digital into dual channel stereo out for the SBlive or other cards with 4 speaker support. This way you get stereo main and stereo channels, with the low frequency channel sent to the mains, so its almost like real AC-3 digital surround. Version 2.0 of PowerDVD has this support. Anyway, I've blabbed enough :P


[This message has been edited by rylan (edited 08-10-1999).]