Audio Optical in/out

[maxxgraphix]

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products...cthome.asp

I have an SB Audigy which has never worked as digital out. So I ordered one of these Turtle Beach cards. Back in the day of 486DX's the TB cards were the best and SB was junk. Newer DirecTV IRD's have a Optical out. So I was wondering if the digital audio would record better than the analog or would it even work. I also have a Sony Vision Touch that supports the Optical inputs / outputs and Surround stuff. When I get my HDTV I was hoping to use all Optical audio and DVI. I like quality sound. My music collection is now part of GB, 7000 songs in Ogg Vorbis 300+ bitrates. I encoded all from the CD to get CD quality sound. MP3 plain sucks.

I have a 32mb Raideon with DVI now, but I ordered a GFX 5200 128mb with DVI. This should help play back those fast scene mpegs.

Any thoughts on this kinda setup?

The system is a Athlon XP 2100 with a nice MSI board in a mini atx. I'm using a PVR150. I didn't see any real advantages for the 250/350. The only part that mattered is mpeg encoding.


Note to Sub: I'm very impressed! Normally only things in the Linux world are this cool.

[SuperGnome]

Just a note on digital out...

I'm guessing you read up all over on this, but I have an Audigy2 ZS and the digital out works great. Use a mono 1/8 to rca (single would be good, otherwise good old L/R rca). If you use the regular L/R (red/white) then whichever color you use on the soundcard side, you use on the other side. No hiss at all! Remember, it HAS to be a mono 1/8th, not stereo.

Can't help with the 5200 though, sorry!

[maxxgraphix]

Just a note on the SB Live. You can't use the digital out on it unless it's connected to the Creative's speakers. It doesn't work on anything else. Either that or mine is defective.

Anyway I ordered that TB card. But my real question was can you use the optical IN to record video from a Sat IRD that has optical audio out? Keeping the audio in sync..

[Slider451]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and GBPVR. What a great app! I'm just scratching the surface so far but I have high hopes that this will fulfill all my HTPC needs. I have a Prismiq media gateway that was never really a joy to use, and now that I'm adding TV it just doesn't cut it.

Thought I'd piggy back on this thread rather than start a new one, as I'm trying to do something similar. I have a PVR350 that I'm using for TV out. I have a SB Audigy, currently feeding an analog 5.1 PC speaker system, as well as mobo audio (currently disabled).

What I want to do is run the TV audio, as well as PC sound (audio MP3s), to an A/V receiver which is in the next room by the TV without significantly changing my current PC audio setup. Note: I don't need TV audio on my PC speakers, though it's fine if the solution supports it. I understand that I'll need to run the PVR350 audio into a soundcard line-in, but I'm not sure of the best approach to take.

Questions:
1. Can I enable the onboard audio and use it for PC sound output in addition to the SB Audigy (i.e. the same sound going through both cards)? If I can, then I can just loop the PVR350 audio through the onboard audio and be done.

2. Can I change the SPDIF output on the SB Audigy to digital mode and run that single connector to the coax digital input on my A/V Receiver, while still using the 2 analog jacks on the soundcard for my PC speakers? I'll lose discreet center channel and subwoofer input on my PC speakers, so this is not my first choice.

Thanks!