Recon 3d PCIe issues, or maybe something much worse?

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mhermetz

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Apr 16, 2013
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Up until a few days ago my Recon 3D PCIe card was outputting perfect 5.1 audio through the optical port to my receiver. That has suddenly stopped and will only output 2.1. Here are a Few things I noticed just from googling for answers:

-When Dolbly Digital Live is enabled. I would get 5.1 from games and my movies no problem. Now however if I were to enable DDL it will stutter and even the video stops and pauses a lot; all the while still only outputting 2.1. That video part I can't figure out whatsoever.

- If I go to playback devices> spdif(recon3d pcie)>properties> supported formats and do a DTS test it will play 5.1 perfectly. Also has me confused. Using the SPDIF output was my default before all this failed, so to see the test work but nothing else is annoying.

- And now this just happened when trying to run through steps so I can write it down accurately. I went back to Playback devices to re-enable Speakers (Recon3D pcie) because it was the only one that would allow 2.1 audio and proper video playback. Well I went into the soundblaster control panel to check DDL was enabled and it wasn't anymore. I clicked on it and it now says "The creative Audio service is not started. please re-installed the application". I've got this message before when tinkering, so I have actually re-installed several times, still nothing. Anyway video still plays back fine when under the Speakers (Recon3D pcie) output but now absolutely no audio 2.1 or 5.1.

I'm 4 days out of warranty, what are the chances this was just meant to crap out at this stage? or am I looking at a worse problem because for some reason video playback is also screwed up when trying to use DDL and SPDIF?

(EDIT): Forgot to mention when I was trying to rule it as my audio card being toast I disabled all Recon 3D drivers and re-enabled my old Realtek drivers from my motherboard. I know that this wouldn't give me 5.1 in video games but it would send 5.1 from my DVD movies. Unfortunately I have the same problem when using that method as well.

Thanks
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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Jul 2, 2006
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If the test works,then the card is working and you can stop with the "crap out at this stage" just out of warranty conspiracy stuff. Like really, how would they know when it was bought in order to "crap out" 3 days out of warranty. What if it sat in store warehouse for 3 months being sold? Does the card "phone home" once installed and the countdown to "crap out" start.

Sorry, but that statement is so stupid, I don't know what to say.


If the testing works, the hardware is working, it's software, codecs, something. Not a secret plot by the company to "crap out" your card just outside of warranty though.
 
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mhermetz

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...Because it was not in use at that point. I really don't want to get into that debate, but it would be irresponsible for a company to not know how long a product would last while offering a warranty.
 
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bigpinkdragon286

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Oct 3, 2012
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Actually, your initial post leaves things a tad unclear for me. It sounds like your card is working fine when you use Creative's software to do a sound test, but not working when you are trying to watch a movie? Is this correct? What about having the encoding enabled while playing a video game, or just listening to music?

From my experience, when using S/PDIF output from movie playback software, you need to disable DDL or DTS Connect encoding in order for the encoded signal to be properly passed to an external decoder. Encoding on the computer essentially ties up a device, and then when the movie playback software tries to access that sound device, you get stuttering and freezing behavior. Disable the encoding if you are trying to bit-stream your audio for watching movies. It really shouldn't matter at that point how many speakers you have selected, as an external encoder should just detect the encoded stream and decode it to whatever attached speakers it has.

You do not need encoding enabled for watching movies, as the soundtrack is already encoded. If you select something other than S/PDIF pass-through, the computer is actually decoding the encoded movie soundtrack before handing off the audio.
 
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mhermetz

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Sorry if I wasn't clear, I'll try again.

I'm not using Creative's software to do the test. I'm in the Windows Playback devices window when I'm testing DTS signal from the SPDIF output. In the same window if I were to choose the Speakers output there is not even an option to test. When I use Creatives software to test I have the same problem of only 2.1 playback.
 
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bigpinkdragon286

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I'm using older Creative Labs cards, not a Recon 3D, so am not sure if they've modified their methods for handling the DTS encoding, but essentially, as it was, the default playback device when using encoding should be "Speakers," not "SPDIF Out." The soundcards, both Audigy and X-Fi do internal routing with the SPDIF to enable the DTS encoding, and end up using the Speakers for outputting the encoded stream. You still connect to the digital connector on your card, but you don't use the SPDIF device, you use the Speakers device and leave the SPDIF for the encoding to use, which it will do exclusively.
 
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bryonhowley

bryonhowley

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^This. I have Recon 3D in my current build and do not need to enable the Dolby Digital Live setting for it to do S/PDIF pass-though it is done by what ever player I am using and works just fine. It seems to me that you have a codec conflict rather than a hardware problem. Do you have any codec packs installed?
 
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mhermetz

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okay in my Devices window I have only "Speakers (Recon 3dPcie)" and "SPDIF (Recon3D Pcie)".

I have tested both with and without encoding enabled. All those options still provide no results.

Set to "Speakers" while watching a DVD with encoding disabled still had 2.1.
- Enabling encoding and playing a game, still 2.1

Same goes for the SPDIF output.
 
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mhermetz

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Okay I double checked this and my player was only set to "6 speaker setup". I changed it to "Use current system setting" and it fixes the video stuttering however I still have 2.1 playback. This was playing a DVD btw with DDL disabled.
 
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mhermetz

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done...still only 2.1.
 
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mhermetz

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From the soundcard it is outputting via optical cable to digital audio receiver. The receiver can take DTS signal, which my DVD's should be providing.
 
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mhermetz

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I do not, still only showing front left, right and sw lights.
 
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bigpinkdragon286

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Your DTS light should be lit up on your audio receiver if it is receiving a proper DTS signal. This should be independent of any audio being played. Your computer should be outputting an encoded audio stream that is essentially blank, when DTS encoding is enabled, and nothing is playing, triggering the DTS encoder of your audio receiver.
 
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bigpinkdragon286

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So, the easy answer is, your decoder is not decoding properly, or your encoding is not happening as it should. To troubleshoot your audio receiver, I would use a DVD or better player with digital audio output, and see if the DTS decoder activates when it should. To troubleshoot the computer, I would remove all audio software and reinstall the latest drivers from the Creative Labs website, then configure them appropriately and test again.

Did you configure your speakers for 5.1 or greater under the Windows Playback Devices when you enabled the DTS encoding, or leave them at 2.1? Also, does your Creative software also reflect a 5.1 or greater configuration as well, and match what Windows is set to?
 
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mhermetz

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Okay, I know that my receiver can still playback 5.1 from the test I played from the Playback devices window. I do need to correct myself though. That test was running Dolby Digital not DTS from the "SPDIF" device. Not sure why I thought it was DTS it has always run on Dobly Digital.

I have re-installed the drivers several times already but I'll do it again just incase something was missed.
 
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