cannot get onboard sound to send digital signal

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I recently purchased a computer with the Soyo SY-K7V DRAGON Plus! motherboard, AMDXP200, 1gig DDR RAM, 2 60gig hard drives, DVD, CDRW, G-FORCE 3 Ti500 and I'm running Windows XP OS. I also bought a set of Midiland 8200 speakers which come with a digital sound decoder.

My problem is when I change the speaker settings on the software that sets up the sound, to the 5.1 option, the onboard sound card no longer sends a digital signal to the decoder. My decoder automatically picks up a digital signal from it's source if there is one. The software says that SPD/IF out is only available when 2 speaker option is chosen. My decoder reads a digital signal coming in when I set the sound card to 2 speakers. The SOYO boasts 6 channel audio and dolby digital 5.1 sound, but only emits a digital signal when you change the setting to 2 speakers! That means it is only capable of 2 channel digital audio, which is useless to me.

I have tried tech support at the compay I purchased the computer from (CYBERPOWERINC.COM) and they did not have an answer for me, then I, waited on hold for over 45 minutes (sounds like the standard) to reach someone at SOYO in California, spoke to a tech that could only barely speak english, and he told me that someone would get back to me. That was 3 weeks ago. I have also gone to the SOYO site and downloaded all available drivers and updated mine. I made sure the on board sound was enabled in my BIOS.

I know the sound chip is capable of 6 channel digital audio, but it seems the software that SOYO sends with the board, does not enable it. I know it works when I set the speakers to 2, instead of 5.1, because a red beam shoots out of the optical port when I do so.

If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would appreciate it. Is there a different program I can use to enable the 5.1 speaker option? If not, what sound card is the best to go with for sound quality, compatibility with XP and the SOYO, and that has SPD/IF out and optical in/out ports?
 

arsend

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Apr 10, 2001
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This is one of the many disadvantages of having digital out. Most of the hardware has no problem sending your signal out in 5.1 channels, however, the software in most system only converts it to 2 channels. (IE if your computer signal is Dolby digital or DTS, it will output to all 5.1 channels, but most games and software are only in 2 channels. I have found this problem to be in Creative's cards, in that it sends out the sound in PCM (Which is 2 channel sound).) If you want to get the full effect, you will have to input the signal through the analog outputs, then you can add effects that would not be able to be added in digital out. IF you have any more questions about sound, just ask us here in the forum, we should be able to help you out.

If it works for you then don't fix it.