Home Theater System

seekermeister · 13 May 2010

Until now, I always thought that my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum and analog 5.1 speakers were equivalent to a home theater system, but after reading the requirements for DDL and DTS Connect, I think that I have been wrong:

Dolby Digital Live Pack – SB Audigy Series (Windows 7 Fix) No More Goat Soup

I thought that I saw a mention of using this with analog cabled speakers elsewhere, but this article seems to eliminate that possibility.

I really don't understand this issue, because my 5.1 speakers will output 5.1 sound, in a limited fashion, however, not when playing DVDs and even when all 5 speakers are active, I think that they are paired in a fashion that is not a true 5.1 configuration.

I'm posting this primarily to see if I have my facts straight, because I do not want to buy a home theater system, being happy for the most part with what I have.

zzz2496 · 13 May 2010

seekermeister, DDL/DTS connect is only usable in situations where you connect your soundcard to an AV receiver through digital interconnect (optical/coax cable). In situations like yours, where your speakers are a multimedia computer speakers, 5.1 at that - you don't need a DTS connect/DDL. What DDL/DTS connect do is encode whatever your app is outputting to a DD/DTS signal so that an AV receiver understand and can decode the audio stream, all this just by using an optical/coax cable.

zzz2496

pparks1 · 13 May 2010

zzz2496 said:

seekermeister, DDL/DTS connect is only usable in situations where you connect your soundcard to an AV receiver through digital interconnect (optical/coax cable).

That is how I have my setup configured. I'm really into movies, so a real home theater system is absolutely a must for me. In fact, I've got 2 systems (1 upstairs in my living room on my plasma and another downstairs where my computer system is at.
No set of computer speakers have ever come close to the sound quality that I get with my home speaker setup (even though it's nothing fabulous....Polk audio).

zzz2496 · 13 May 2010

pparks1 said:

zzz2496 said:

seekermeister, DDL/DTS connect is only usable in situations where you connect your soundcard to an AV receiver through digital interconnect (optical/coax cable).

That is how I have my setup configured. I'm really into movies, so a real home theater system is absolutely a must for me. In fact, I've got 2 systems (1 upstairs in my living room on my plasma and another downstairs where my computer system is at.
No set of computer speakers have ever come close to the sound quality that I get with my home speaker setup (even though it's nothing fabulous....Polk audio).

Care to share your sound system setup?

zzz2496

seekermeister · 13 May 2010

zzz2496 said:

seekermeister, DDL/DTS connect is only usable in situations where you connect your soundcard to an AV receiver through digital interconnect (optical/coax cable). In situations like yours, where your speakers are a multimedia computer speakers, 5.1 at that - you don't need a DTS connect/DDL. What DDL/DTS connect do is encode whatever your app is outputting to a DD/DTS signal so that an AV receiver understand and can decode the audio stream, all this just by using an optical/coax cable.

zzz2496

Thanks for comfirming what I thought that I understood.

zzz2496 · 13 May 2010

seekermeister said:

zzz2496 said:

seekermeister, DDL/DTS connect is only usable in situations where you connect your soundcard to an AV receiver through digital interconnect (optical/coax cable). In situations like yours, where your speakers are a multimedia computer speakers, 5.1 at that - you don't need a DTS connect/DDL. What DDL/DTS connect do is encode whatever your app is outputting to a DD/DTS signal so that an AV receiver understand and can decode the audio stream, all this just by using an optical/coax cable.

zzz2496

Thanks for comfirming what I thought that I understood.

You're welcome :)

zzz2496

seekermeister · 13 May 2010

Just to come at it from another angle, this is the other reference that I mentioned:

Those who may be wondering, Creative's X-Fi does not have this technology. Yes, in a certain mode (CMSS-3D) it can up-mix the source, however it has to be sent via the separate multiple analog audio cables, it can't do it via SPDIF. The advantage of DDL & DTS Connect is that it can up-mix the source and encode it into a bitstream that can be sent over a single cable to a surround sound decoder. My disappointment with the X-Fi resulted in it being boxed back up and returned to the store after several days of frustration.

EXTREME Overclocking - Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect Sound Card Review - Page: 1 - Tweaking PC Hardware To The Max

I realize that my card is not an X-Fi, but close enough that I thought that it might work via regular analog cables anyway.

zzz2496 · 13 May 2010

Personally, I'd stay away from Creative's sound cards these days... It got too many baggage (stress, frustration, curses, etc) with it -and it doesn't sound *that* good either-, I prefer a lean/mean sound quality focused sound card. Asus made several incredibly good sounding sound cards with minimal fuss on the driver (somewhat too minimal), Auzentech too, but they use X-Fi chipset, I heard that the driver is a bit better than Creative's, but don't take my word on it.

zzz2496

pparks1 · 13 May 2010

zzz2496 said:

Care to share your sound system setup?

Basement setup is 50" Sony Grand Wega III LCD, Sony STR-845 Dolby Digital Receiver, Polk RTi800 mains, Polk PSW350 sub, Polk CS400 Center channel and a set of R10 rear surrounds.

Upstairs setup is 50" Panasonic Plasma, Harmon Kardon 7.1 receiver (I think it's an AVR 645), Polk Monitor 50 mains in Cherry, Polk CS1 center channel in cherry, Polk PSW 202 sub and Polk R15 rear surrounds in cherry.

zzz2496 · 13 May 2010

Nice setup :)
Do you use PC as the media player? Or an array of devices (BD/DVD player + Network media player + some other things)?

zzz2496