External Soundcard needed for 5.1?

[TankTop]

Hi,

I've got a Vortex IV on order and will be using it (sometimes) for living room gaming through my TV and 5.1 AV system.

At the moment I've added the Creative SB Omni soundcard to my order which I plan to hook up to my av receiver with an optical cable. My question is, do I need the Omni to get 5.1 or can I just use an optical cable directly between the laptop and the receiver?

I'm assuming I need the Omni to get true 5.1 because it supports Dolby Digital Live while the default onboard sound in the Vortex is just 2 channels, but would like to check before shelling out. I don't use headphones much while gaming and wouldn't use the Omni's microphones at all, so I'm only ordering to ensure I get support for full surround sound through my receiver.

Cheers for any advice!

 

[grimsbymatt]

The Vortex certainly has an optical out. It also has HDMI out. Maybe one of these can deliver 5.1 - I know I get 5.1 sound over HDMI from XBMC on my HTPC. I guess it's down to the included soundcard, which I assume is integrated into the motherboard - is it possible to find out the make/model and Google that?

 

[TankTop]

Thanks for the info and suggestion. I think I'll fire off a query directly to PCS, I trust them to give me a good steer.

Cheers

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Hello TankTop,

All the Laptops are capable of 5.1 Surround sound in DVD's and Blu Rays only. These have the audio already set up on the disc. Games however you will require a Sound card with Dolby Live. Becuase the 5.1 audio track varies on a game you need a sound card with this feature to make this possible.

The laptops sound card alone is not capable of this.

Hope this answers your question.

Mike

 

[tom_gr7]

Yeah, smokes nailed it. Dvd's and blu rays have the DD5.1 or 7.1 recorded on the disc already, so the system can send it via optical out/spdif.

Games, however, require a soundcard if you want DD5.1 or 7.1 as laptop and desktop motherboards are not able to create 5.1

 

[TankTop]

Ah ok, so basically in games by pushing a button to fire a gun for example I'm 'selecting' a specific sound that needs to be decoded in real time for 5.1 playback, compared to a pre-determined soundtrack recorded on a bluray? Makes sense.

Thanks a lot guys for the answers and explanation, I'll keep the Omni on order then.

Cheers and +reps!

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Exactly, because nothing is set in stone in a game the sound card need to be capable of doing some math etc.

I've been toying with one myself but the HIFI does pro logic 2 which mimics the 5.1 just not as well, but it does the job for now.

No problem at all any time

 

[tom_gr7]

It's worth noting that with DD 5.1 your PC has to encode the sound from an analogue signal into a digital signal which is then sent via optical cable/spdif to your decoder and turned back into an analogue signal to give you sound through your speakers,. Therefore, you might get some interference and a slight bit of buzzing. Which, can't really be helped when using a digital sound system, but worth noting if you hear interference/buzzing it's pretty normal.

 

[TankTop]

Ok noted, thanks for the heads up!

 

[TankTop]

Hello again,

Sorry to revisit this subject after the clear answers I got yesterday, but could I alternatively use a HDMI connection straight from my GPU (880m) to my receiver (as grimsbymatt mentioned)? Would this also give discrete 5.1 for gaming?

I've done some searching but there seems to be conflicting opinion. Some say HDMI can pass 8 channels of uncompressed PCM which the reciever can use to provide true 5.1 / 7.1. Others say, for gaming, HDMI won't give the full discrete 5.1 experience. Is there a definitive answer on this?

Cheers

 

[grimsbymatt]

My onboard soundcard can definitely send multiple channels of digital audio, either uncompressed (PCM) or still encoded (Dolby Digital or DTS) down HDMI from DVD/Blu Ray or from video files (AVI, H.264, etc.).

From what people say here, it seems it's a bit more complicated for gaming and you need a soundcard that supports Dolby Live as the sound in games is generated on the fly (e.g. a combination of background music and in game sound effects). I know nothing about gaming and can't confirm this, but it sounds reasonable. Have you checked the requirements of the games you intend to play?

 

[TankTop]

Ta for the reply Matt. Yep, I get the distinction between movies and games, it just occured to me in my original post I only mention SPDIF without saying HDMI is also an option if it delivers the same end product as using SPDIF/ DDL, my fault. There's a tonne of discussion about this but, like I say, hard to pinpoint a definitive answer.

Good idea to check game requirements but I've nothing specific in mind just now as I'm still waiting for my pc. I'd hope that if HDMI works at all for gaming, it would be ok for the vast majority of titles, at least the more recent ones.

Cheers

 

[TankTop]

Ok, so I just got the below reply from PCS...

Standard surround is obtainable through the built in HDMI, but SPDIF etc is iffy on it, I would always recommend a Sound Blaster for this be it PC or laptop (speaking from personal experience using DDL).

The HDMI will provide it, but a basic version.

I'm not entirely sure what they mean by 'standard' or 'basic' surround, but I'm going to stick with the external card as suggested, try both HDMI and SPDIF and see which I prefer. It's worth the price of the card just to satisfy my curiosity on this once and for all