Audigy 2 Digital Output Hosed

[mrosack]

I just upgraded from an SB Live to an Audigy 2 last night and I've been trying in vain to get the digital output working correctly.

I have a Yamaha receiver based 5.1 setup across the room with a spare coaxial input, so I connected the digital out on the Audigy 2 to the receiver. However, only 2 channels seem to get passed to the reciever, even though my speaker setting is 5.1 and "Digital Output Only" is checked - when I do a speaker test, I only hear the Front Left and Front Right speakers.

When I try playing a DVD with WinDVD4 (With SPDIF passthrough selected in both the Audio HQ and WinDVD4), I still only get 2 channels. And the weird thing is, this is no matter what audio I select (Dolby 5.1, DTS, Dolby Surround). It seems that something in my computer is always downmixing the 5.1 stream to 2 channels.

Something that's sorta weird that I noticed - In the Windows audio properties / volume / speaker settings / speaker volume I only have Left and Right sliders... no other channels. Could Windows be screwing up my digital output?

I'm about to reinstall Windows, but if anyone's got any suggestions I'd be glad to entertain them.

System:
Windows XP
Audigy 2 Regular
Yamaha RX-V430 Receiver


Thanks in Advance,

Mike Rosack

 

[mrosack]

To hopefully shed some more light on this - I DID get passthrough surround sound in WinDVD to work this afternoon (Dolby 5.1 and DTS)... I was pushing random audio buttons and it all of the sudden it popped over. I can't find a definitive button that turns it on, but pushing random buttons eventually clicks the signal over.

However, when I exited WinDVD the audio stream returned back down to just PCM, and the speaker test still only let me hear Front Left and Front Right.

So, I know the following:
- My receiver is hooked up correctly, as evidenced by 5.1 and DTS working
- The digital output on the Audigy 2 while controlled by the card itself is stuck on PCM mode

Does anyone out there have a similar setup (non-Creative home theater receiver) and can confirm for me that their speaker test works fine and that mine is somehow hosed?


Thanks,

Mike Rosack

 

[tkok2]

Make sure AC3 decoding is off in surround mixer. Also, when I messed with the two settings on the video tab in Win DVD (color correction and another setting I can't remember) the audio/video seemed to reset after accepting changes and 5.1 sound kicked in. Things seemed to work better using their platinum version though.
Are you using the drive bay for the SPDIF out? I noticed you said you are using Audigy 2 regular.
It does work...I had it up and working on my Yamaha receiver, I was using the optical output though.

 

[felix_nukem]

I have audigy 1 and philips fr 975 receiver with 5.0 system,I have the same problem.I think it is not a real problem.I wrote tons of mails to creative software/driver section but no replies.Only reply was "install latest drivers please" as always they say =D.I connected my digital output to coaxial in on my philips receiver. But only 2 channel seems to work.This is because PCM audio signal only carries stereo data.So I suggest you to select your config to "2 speakers" otherwise you may not hear some sounds in musics and others that have to be there!.Sound card cares this config, but receiver doesn't really...
You have to disable ac-3 decode on surround mixer for receiver to work properly when you want to watch DD or DTS dvd.Receiver automatically sees the correct signal and switches itself to correct format if it supports (DD or DTS).
My receiver dealer said to me "that is because you haven't connected it through optical cable!". I didn't convinced really to his words.But if anyone experienced and solved the same situation I'm open for your ideas.The real question is how can digital output control all speakers while testing speakers in surround mixer (not in dvd movies )

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by felix_nukem on 01/13/03 09:22 AM.</EM></FONT></P>