Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Does anyone have their a8n-sli spidf sound output working
on 64 bit XP? After much fighting with driver installation
I get sound, but nothing via spdif via coax into my receiver.

Any thoughts?

jp

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

"JP Fournier" <jp@nowhere.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:1sOdnXn6V5caTNjfRVn-sQ@rogers.com...
>
>
> Does anyone have their a8n-sli spidf sound output working
> on 64 bit XP? After much fighting with driver installation
> I get sound, but nothing via spdif via coax into my receiver.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> jp

Wait for the final release and for the final Win64 drivers. They are all
beta by now.

You tell yourself: >> After much fighting with driver installation<< Thats
beta

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

"JP Fournier" <jp@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:1sOdnXn6V5caTNjfRVn-sQ@rogers.com...
>
>
> Does anyone have their a8n-sli spidf sound output working
> on 64 bit XP? After much fighting with driver installation
> I get sound, but nothing via spdif via coax into my receiver.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> jp
>

usually, on less than fully featured sound chipsets, you will only get spdif
output while the card is set for stereo speakers.

dr ratt

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

I installed regular XP, and of course it now works.
I'm a bit disappointed that this 8-channel audio chip
spdif out is only stereo. I was hoping to avoid a second
set of speakers by plugging the spdif into my receiver,
but if I do this I only get stereo sound. Very annoying.

regards

jp





JP Fournier wrote:
>
>
> Does anyone have their a8n-sli spidf sound output working
> on 64 bit XP? After much fighting with driver installation
> I get sound, but nothing via spdif via coax into my receiver.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> jp
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

JP Fournier wrote:
>
> I installed regular XP, and of course it now works.
> I'm a bit disappointed that this 8-channel audio chip
> spdif out is only stereo. I was hoping to avoid a second
> set of speakers by plugging the spdif into my receiver,
> but if I do this I only get stereo sound. Very annoying.

The only way you can get multichannel output through S/PDIF is if it
gets encoded into Dolby Digital. The only way you can do that (other
than playing DVDs, etc. which are in Dolby Digital already) is if the
sound chipset can re-encode the audio into Dolby Digital itself. The old
SoundStorm audio on the nForce2 is the only major sound chipset that has
had that capability.

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from hancockr@nospamshaw.ca
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Robert Hancock wrote:
> JP Fournier wrote:
>
>>
>> I installed regular XP, and of course it now works.
>> I'm a bit disappointed that this 8-channel audio chip
>> spdif out is only stereo. I was hoping to avoid a second
>> set of speakers by plugging the spdif into my receiver,
>> but if I do this I only get stereo sound. Very annoying.
>
>
> The only way you can get multichannel output through S/PDIF is if it
> gets encoded into Dolby Digital. The only way you can do that (other
> than playing DVDs, etc. which are in Dolby Digital already) is if the
> sound chipset can re-encode the audio into Dolby Digital itself. The old
> SoundStorm audio on the nForce2 is the only major sound chipset that has
> had that capability.
>

Interesting. It's such an obvious feature, I wonder
why it's not more prevalent. Actually I did notice
that I was getting some surround sounds with doom3 +
the spdif, but it's not 5.1 as I would have liked.

later

jp

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Robert Hancock wrote:
> JP Fournier wrote:
>
>>
>> I installed regular XP, and of course it now works.
>> I'm a bit disappointed that this 8-channel audio chip
>> spdif out is only stereo. I was hoping to avoid a second
>> set of speakers by plugging the spdif into my receiver,
>> but if I do this I only get stereo sound. Very annoying.
>
>
> The only way you can get multichannel output through S/PDIF is if it
> gets encoded into Dolby Digital. The only way you can do that (other
> than playing DVDs, etc. which are in Dolby Digital already) is if the
> sound chipset can re-encode the audio into Dolby Digital itself. The old
> SoundStorm audio on the nForce2 is the only major sound chipset that has
> had that capability.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/news [...] hp?UID=387
"The Audio also fully supports Dolby Digital encoding"...

It has some kind of 24Bit SBLive! on there... I'll find out tomorrow.

Oh, well... I won't find out until I build a -5V circuit for my ATX 2.0
compliant PSU. Damn MSI!

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

In article <1112134246.e2ad5fc13bf0fabacf1bc52b392bdde9@teranews>, Ben
Pope <benpope81@_REMOVE_gmail.com> wrote:

> Robert Hancock wrote:
> > JP Fournier wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> I installed regular XP, and of course it now works.
> >> I'm a bit disappointed that this 8-channel audio chip
> >> spdif out is only stereo. I was hoping to avoid a second
> >> set of speakers by plugging the spdif into my receiver,
> >> but if I do this I only get stereo sound. Very annoying.
> >
> >
> > The only way you can get multichannel output through S/PDIF is if it
> > gets encoded into Dolby Digital. The only way you can do that (other
> > than playing DVDs, etc. which are in Dolby Digital already) is if the
> > sound chipset can re-encode the audio into Dolby Digital itself. The old
> > SoundStorm audio on the nForce2 is the only major sound chipset that has
> > had that capability.
>
> http://www.msi.com.tw/program/news [...] hp?UID=387
> "The Audio also fully supports Dolby Digital encoding"...
>
> It has some kind of 24Bit SBLive! on there... I'll find out tomorrow.
>
> Oh, well... I won't find out until I build a -5V circuit for my ATX 2.0
> compliant PSU. Damn MSI!
>
> Ben

The only hardware Dolby Digital AC3 encoding I know of, is the
DICE in the Nforce2 Soundstorm. There is software encoding
available on a couple of Azalia equipped Intel boards, but that
is a high latency solution for encoding non-DVD 5.1 source
for use across SPDIF.

Regarding the MSI board, this page says the audio is a
CA0106 144 pin PCI bus based sound chip. It uses a separate DAC
and ADC chip (CS4382 DAC and WM8775 ADC).
http://techreport.com/ja.zz?comments=7713

Picture of MSI board here:
http://www.tbreak.com/forums/attac [...] entid=9570

K8N SLI Platinum (Dolby Digital EX analog - at top of advert)
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/prod [...] hp?UID=641

If you download the manual, it talks about 7.1 sound and "Dolby
Digital" encoder. But it could be Dolby Digital EX, which
is not an SPDIF technology, AFAIK.

http://dolbylabs.com/consumer/technology/dolby_ex.html

This review says there is no DICE to encode 5.1 channel audio
so it can be transported in AC3 format over SPDIF.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview [...] 734&page=2

The capabilities are kinda stated in post #68 here:
http://www.anandtech.com/talkartic [...] ART=61&p=4

I don't like the fact that the feature set for this product
is so hard to discover. The Creative solution looks more like
a CMI8738 than an Audigy.

Paul

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Paul wrote:
> In article <1112134246.e2ad5fc13bf0fabacf1bc52b392bdde9@teranews>, Ben
> Pope <benpope81@_REMOVE_gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>http://www.msi.com.tw/program/newsrelease/news_page.php?UID=387
>>"The Audio also fully supports Dolby Digital encoding"...
>>
>>It has some kind of 24Bit SBLive! on there... I'll find out tomorrow.
>>
>>Oh, well... I won't find out until I build a -5V circuit for my ATX 2.0
>>compliant PSU. Damn MSI!
>>
>>Ben
>
>
> The only hardware Dolby Digital AC3 encoding I know of, is the
> DICE in the Nforce2 Soundstorm. There is software encoding
> available on a couple of Azalia equipped Intel boards, but that
> is a high latency solution for encoding non-DVD 5.1 source
> for use across SPDIF.
>
> Regarding the MSI board, this page says the audio is a
> CA0106 144 pin PCI bus based sound chip. It uses a separate DAC
> and ADC chip (CS4382 DAC and WM8775 ADC).
> http://techreport.com/ja.zz?comments=7713
>
> Picture of MSI board here:
> http://www.tbreak.com/forums/attac [...] entid=9570
>
> K8N SLI Platinum (Dolby Digital EX analog - at top of advert)
> http://www.msi.com.tw/program/prod [...] hp?UID=641

Well, I have the Diamond, which might be the platinum depending on where
the world you are. (I'm in the UK).

> If you download the manual, it talks about 7.1 sound and "Dolby
> Digital" encoder. But it could be Dolby Digital EX, which
> is not an SPDIF technology, AFAIK.

Yes, the manual explicitly states:
"7.1 Channel output supported, Dolby Digital encoder"

And the board does have an SPDIF out.

> http://dolbylabs.com/consumer/technology/dolby_ex.html

Maybe.

> This review says there is no DICE to encode 5.1 channel audio
> so it can be transported in AC3 format over SPDIF.
>
> http://www.pcstats.com/articleview [...] 734&page=2

Which means what? That your games won't be encoded?

> The capabilities are kinda stated in post #68 here:
> http://www.anandtech.com/talkartic [...] ART=61&p=4
>
> I don't like the fact that the feature set for this product
> is so hard to discover. The Creative solution looks more like
> a CMI8738 than an Audigy.

Yeah, the specs for the board various by location, which is really bad.

If it doesn't encode my games as DD I'll be upset. The question is what
exactly does it encode? Not that I have a DD amp & speakers yet.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...