2008-12-29, 13:14
I never thought about this but yesterday I discovered it by mistake.
Creative X-Fi soundcards (at least the two I have on my desktop and HTPC) have an option to decode internally Dolby Digital and DTS.
In the Audio Console entry, under Control Panel (I'm on XP SP3) you find it under the Decoder tab.
If you select the "built in decoder" option and select digital output in XBMC, Dolby Digital and DTS material gets correctly decoded and outputs from the 6 analogue connections (you can even feed 7.1 systems, by using settings in the Audio Console panel).
What's happening is XBMC outputting a spdif stream and X-Fi intercepting it and decoding it before it goes out.
I haven't tried with stereo material but I think you can decide whether to process it with Dolby ProLogic or just output stereo sound (the setting is under Audio Console too).
I know X-Fi is not so widespread as Soundblasters used to be, but still... for now it's an option that I've never seen mentioned.
Creative X-Fi soundcards (at least the two I have on my desktop and HTPC) have an option to decode internally Dolby Digital and DTS.
In the Audio Console entry, under Control Panel (I'm on XP SP3) you find it under the Decoder tab.
If you select the "built in decoder" option and select digital output in XBMC, Dolby Digital and DTS material gets correctly decoded and outputs from the 6 analogue connections (you can even feed 7.1 systems, by using settings in the Audio Console panel).
What's happening is XBMC outputting a spdif stream and X-Fi intercepting it and decoding it before it goes out.
I haven't tried with stereo material but I think you can decide whether to process it with Dolby ProLogic or just output stereo sound (the setting is under Audio Console too).
I know X-Fi is not so widespread as Soundblasters used to be, but still... for now it's an option that I've never seen mentioned.
