Audigy Ex Platinum, 5.2 and AC3

[nicholasbaxter]

Having recently bought a home entertainment system with surround sound speakers (sony dav-550s) i decided it was time to upgrade my dated soundcard to one with surround sound capabilities with the intention of hooking up my pc to the sony system.

after reading reviews and noting that my sony needed a optical input to produce surround sound, i decided on the SB audigy platinum ex and a suitable optical cable.

after hooking up the breakout box to the sony, i failed to get more than normal stereo sound. an email to creative informed me that i needed sound to be output in ac3 format for my sony to decode into 6 channels. i have tried using the creative speaker test from its own software, and only get front left and front right, which the creative tech told me was due to the test not being in ac3 format. also after trying games such as half life and midnight club 2 with surround sound capabilities and fiddling with options, i have still failed to get anything more than stereo output (front left and front right). i feel the problem is that these games do not produce sound in ac3 format, and am looking idealy for a software solution that would make all sounds from my pc into ac3 format and so i can enjoy surround sound from all my games, with stereo sounds simply duplicated on the rear speakers.

as for settings, i have checked everything is for 5.1 speaker setup in creative and windows settings, and have also set the output to digital only.

am i expecting too much? have i wasted money on an audigy? i fear the only solution is to by a seperate speaker system that can be connected to the correct ports on the rear of the soundcard, but then i will end up with 12 speakers scattered around my room, when i already have the 6 that i need which are of better quality than any medium priced pc speaker set.

 

[nicholasbaxter]

and i realise the topic should be 5.1 not 5.2!

 

[MusicMakesDaMan]

I've never heard of the ac3 format, but if the output from the soundcard is set for 5.1, then it should work just fine......whether it goes out to speakers or an amp or whatever....see, that crap that Creative told you about the test needing to be in ac3 has to be BS because that would mean that their soundcard isn't really 5.1, wouldn't it? I mean, what is the point of spending $200 on a sound card if it's not gonna do what you want it to. I would try this though: First get a set of decent 5.1 computer speakers and a splitter for the audio cable, test the 5.1 system through the computer speakers, if it works, then split the audio one side going to your comp speakers and the other to your stereo system, set the system to recieve 5.1 and check it with a number of games, videos or anything you can get true 5.1 sound out of.....Whichever step gives you a snag, then you know it's the problem........You're sure that your stereo system is 5.1 capable? Make sure that the settings for the stereo, the computer, and the game or DVD are set for 5.1 (You can play them usually in other sound modes, through the audio options section).......basicly, if the sound-card says it is 5.1 capable, then it should send info in the right format when you choose it in your options......It might also be worth noting that older stereo systems that say they do surround sound are really 5 systems (as opposed to 5.1) the difference being the inclusion of a separate bass subwoofer.......check these and let me know!

 

[Deadguy]

Took me forever to get my 5.1 workign right also.Just keep messing with it.

Might not help but couldnt hurt.Turn on Creative sound mixer. Click on the red plus thing near Master control. Make sure digital output only isnt checked.

Click on EAX console. Go to CMSS 3d. Make sure Focus is at zero so all your music isnt going to front and none to back.

Thought id throw my system out the window before i got it working right.Know it works great.

 

[nicholasbaxter]

cheers for the responses, heres the update:

i think what the creative techie meant was that because the file was not in ac3, but some other 5.1 format, it wasn't being sent along the optical out correctly or something. he seemed to suggest that had the file been in ac3, then i would be able to hear all the speaker outputs.

digital output is off, the balance is definitely not set to fronts only. don't have access to any 5.1 pc speakers, and don't really want to buy any if i can get my system working.

the sony system has its audio output set to auto decode, so if it picks up 5.1 audio then it will play 5.1, and likewise if it only gets a stereo signal then it plays it in stereo, i.e. front left and right only. watching the display as i start playing a dvd on pc, it changes its audio output from "PCM" to "dolby digital", and i definitely get the 5.1 sound. so the issue now seems to be getting the correct settings in games. i checked battlefield 1942 today, which i have witnessed a mate to have in surround sound, copied his settings exactly and ended up with only stereo. also checked midnight club 2, another one i have witnessed in surround sound. tried all 10 sound formats, including dolby surround which i hoped might work, and my sony system remained firmly on "PCM" and i only ever had front left and right speakers with sound... this could start to annoy me!!

any further suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

[nicholasbaxter]

final update, after trawling through creatives own forums, i have found the problem so now only need the solution.

games output surround sound not in any sort of dolby format, but as 3 audio streams of stereo (PCM). This being done by one "cable" with a jack split into more sections than a standard stero jack, or by using three standard stereo audio cables. an optical cable can only carry one stereo stream, thus cannot support surround sound in any other format than ac3 or dolby digital, where the 5.1 is encoded into a stereo stream.

from what i can gather, the audigy does not encode into either of these formats. which leaves me stuck. either with a nice soundcard which i didnt really need to buy, or needing to spend more money on some different amp/speaker system that supports different forms of input. this is highly undesirable, since my sony system imho is very good, and cost me almost 300 quid!! i dont want to have to spend *more* money...

so for one last time, if anyone has any bright ideas then i'd love to hear them! even the not so bright ones, just throw em at me and hopefully a solution will come from it!

cheers in advance

 

[watz]

clarifications...

Hi, don't know if you still wonder what you should do to get it to work, but here's the solution:

There is only a single known audiochipset for consumers that have the ability to encode a surround signal(ie a game in surround) into a dolby digital 5.1 stream. That chipset is the craft of nVidia. Thier nforce2(maybe newer too) chipset with its audio capabilities builtin have the recources to do a real-time encode of it. So for the time beeing, either you buy a new motherboard or you stick with the useless dolby pro logic...

P.S I know that the topic is a bit old. But for people googleing on this. It's good with a clear answer.