[mythtv-users] Surround Sound

Scott catfather at donpoo.net
Tue Jun 14 06:06:56 UTC 2005


On Jun 14, 2005, at 12:29 AM, Marty Ravell wrote:
> My current HiFi rig has been delegating this task to the VCR which  
> I plan to get rid of once MythTV is up and running. Is there such  
> thing as an audio card which can handle Dolby decoding and give me  
> line-outs for the surround speakers? If this is the case I’ll look  
> into buying or building a small amp to handle the surround. The VCR  
> was nice in that it had a small builtin amplifier for surround and  
> a pro-logic decoder.

The SB Audigy 2 ZS adapters can handle this and are well supported  
under alsa. Recently on the list there were example dot asoundrc file  
for 7.1 channel surround though I don't know if they were for use  
with the SB Audigy.

In addition to the adapter expect to make a trip over to Radio Shack  
for cables. I think your plan is to hook your existing speakers  
directly to the sound card. In that case this Creative Labs knowledge  
base article will be helpful: http://tinyurl.com/bqo52

Also, from this Creative Labs hookup guide:

> In addition, the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS card has one Digital- 
> Out. This Digital Out jack is a 1/8" (3.5mm) 4-pole mini jack which  
> can accept either a 1/8" 4-pole mini plug for connecting to  
> Creative Labs digital speakers <snip> or a 1/8" mono (or stereo)  
> mini plug for connecting to home theater systems.

In my setup I used a 1/8" mono mini plug to RCA. I connected this  
between the rear Digital Out jack on the SB Audigy 2 ZS and my  
digital coax input on my a/v receiver. I have an .asound file which  
sends everything through the SPDIF connector on the card and my a/v  
receiver does all surround decoding for output to the 6.1 speaker  
hookup.

Yet another possible setup with this adapter is to pass 5.1 discreet  
line level sound to an a/v receiver. Again, it just requires the  
right 1/8" mini plug to RCA adapters and an a/v receiver that accepts  
5.1 discreet line level inputs.

With these three surround sound hookup possibilities and the good  
support under Linux via alsa this adapter is fairly future proof in  
my opinion :)

--
Scott <catfather at donpoo.net>
AIM: BlueCame1



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