Digital audio output from a generic 5.1 sound card

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Quattro Pete

Quattro Pete

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Looking at this Vostro 220s as a media server:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/deskt...s=bsd&cs=04

How do I find out if the integrated 5.1 audio card is capable of outputting digital audio (to an optical or coax input on a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver)? Another words, I don't want the sound card to do the digital-to-analog conversion. I just want the sound card to pass the bit stream to the receiver for processing.

Trying to confirm this with Dell, but maybe this is a no-brainer?
 
It has neither the fiber optic jack nor the RCA socket for outputting digital audio, based on the pictures of the rear panel, so the answer is most likely that it is not capable of doing what you want.
 
Wait for dell to answer or lookup the exact sound chipset. Some output in digital but only in stereo. It can be frustrating.

Best option s to get any cheap soundblaster as sound quality, processing, and number of voices will be leagues ahead.
 
Originally Posted By: brandini
Some output in digital but only in stereo.

OK, so even if it does output digital bit stream, it will only contain 2 channels? But that would mean that the card is in fact modifying the bit stream (since the original bit stream may have 5.1 channels)...
 
The Vostro 220 does not have 5.1 digital sound. We have a number of those units here. You'll need to add a 5.1 capable card to it in order to meet your objectives.
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
The Vostro 220 does not have 5.1 digital sound.

Thanks. Dell just confirmed it, too. Looks like I would need to get the Slim Studio, or just get the 220 and buy an appropriate card for it from somewhere else.
 
I'd just punt the included card (or turn it off if it's integrated into the motherboard) and get a known decent sound card that will feed you the 5.1 bitstream without fondling it. Newegg has the Turtle Beach Riviera for only $25. That's got an optical SPDIF connector and reasonably good sound quality if you ever want to use it to spit out analog audio.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829118103
 
How much are you looking to spend? Have you looked at building your own? AMD-based units are really inexpensive and perform very well, especially with their newer dual-core CPU's.
 
just get a usb to spdif converter if digital out is the only thing you want. Most likely you will find a "usb soundcard" and you can use only the digital output from it.

you might want to find something that will "passthru" the digital signal without processing it. Bad DSP can cause as much degradation to the signal as a mediocre digital to analog conversion.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: youdontwannaknow
just get a usb to spdif converter if digital out is the only thing you want. Most likely you will find a "usb soundcard" and you can use only the digital output from it.

Ooops. I just sold my old Behringer USB sound card to 97tbird. Doh! :)
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
How much are you looking to spend? Have you looked at building your own?

Around $450 is what I'm looking to spend. I did look into building my own, but when it all added up, and factoring in the time/effort involved, plus making sure that everything is compatible with each other, some of those Dells are priced rather competitively.

The problem I've heard with AMD is that they tend to run hot and thus require more aggressive cooling. Since this PC will be sitting right under the TV, I want to keep the fan noise down to minimum. But maybe this is no longer the case with the newer AMD chips.
 
I've been toying with the idea of getting one of those tiny form factor computers (similar in size to a Mac Mini) to act as a media server and excrete 1080p H.264 video to my flat screen TV. There are a number of solutions available that are pre-integrated for $300-500 once you get RAM/CPU up to snuff. The key is to get something with a decent video card on board and a decent CPU (Atoms need not apply). Then you can just stash the biggest hard drive you can afford inside and call it a day.

I kinda like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856107037

Add 2gigs RAM, Athlon X2 5000+, 500gig laptop drive and it prices out just south of $400. I *think* this can send SPDIF output to one of the mini-jacks. I wouldn't bother putting an optical drive in since I'd be stuffing the hard drive full of pre-encoded goodies, but that could be done if someone wanted.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Plus the price of an operating system, unless you're going to run linux.


I would absolutely use Linux and likely Mythbuntu. It just plain works. If you were to get a legit copy of Windows 7, that would be approximately half of the cost of the entire system. That's just cwazeee.
 
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