I built a home theater computer and put the Sondigo Inferno 7.1 sound card into it so I could have awesome 5.1 ch sound. I have a Sony ES receiver with a Toslink optical input and selected this model because it has the optical out. I have 32 Bit Vista Home Premium and watch television on the TV speakers but want the receiver and big speakers for movies. I have a MSI K9AG Neo2 Digital motherboard and am only able to get sound from either the analog output or the optical output but not both. Yesterday I added an ATI 2600XT video card that pulls audio off the PCI-E bus and sends it out over an HDMI cable. I thought this might fix my problem by sending the audio to my television over the HDMI cable and still giving me 5.1 ch sound from the Inferno to my receiver. However, the only way I can get sound to my TV is to disable the Inferno sound card. Then the HDMI connection works great, transmitting video and audio to my plasma. Once I enable the Inferno it stops sending audio to the HDMI output and I can only listen though the receiver again. This isn’t as much a big deal to me as to my wife who doesn’t want to fool with the receiver. I want this home theater computer to replace my DVD player, CD Player, VCR, and everything else. This sound issue is the last thing standing in my way. Please help. How can I have both sound outputs enabled all the time? Thanks, Aaron
Hi Aaron, Windows will only
Hi Aaron,
Windows will only allow you to use one audio output device at a time- this is just a limitation of the Windows audio system. There are tricks to have different programs playing to different devices, but it's not a general solution, and I don't think it's what you're looking for.
With that said, I'm not sure why you're not able to use the Inferno's analog and digital outputs at the same time. As long as the Inferno's digital output is set to PCM, this shouldn't be a problem.
One card, two devices in windows
Thanks for the reply. I will try coming straigt off the Inferno's analog output again but this didn't work before. Windows shows two sound devices speakers (C-Media Oxygen HD audio device and Digital Output (C-Media Oxygen HD audio device. I am afraid windows sees the one sound card as two sound devices. I believe the speakers would be the analog and the digital out would be the toslink. Is this correct?
Still no go
I do have the digital output set to PCM and I double checked all my connections but I am not getting sound on the TV speakers from the Inferno's analog out. The device that is selected in windows is the "speakers (C-Media Oxygen HD audio device"). I would think this is the analog output but it is going out the SDIP optical output to my receiver. If I switch to the digital output device in windows I don't get any sound. Aaron
That is strange, although
That is strange, although the way that Vista defines separate audio devices from a single sound card can be kind of flaky. Are you using the latest driver from http://www.sondigo.com/drivers?
Yes
Yes, I am using the most current driver. I downloaded and installed "Beta Inferno driver for Windows Vista 32/64"
from the Sondigo website earlier today. In the main folder there is a setup file which I used. I noticed there is also an XP and Vista folder in the main folder. Do I need to go into the Vista folder? Aaron
No, the installer will pick
No, the installer will pick the driver to install, based on the platform that is running the installer.
One thing that might be worth trying is the older "XP only" driver. If memory serves, it actually worked quite well in Vista.
This doesn't address the real mystery to me though, which is why this problem only arose after installing a new motherboard. There may be some PCI-related BIOS settings on your board that could fix this, although since every board is different, I'm not sure which options are available.
Now no 5.1
Thanks so much for your help. I loaded the XP driver and at first had the same problem but after uninstalling reinstalling the the device I got it to work on both the TV and Receiver. However, now I only get 2 channel sound on my reciever. I thought the SPDIF output just put out the signal it got but it is getting 5.1 off a DVD and putting out 2 channel. Before it was putting out 5.1 Dolby Digital or 2 channel depending on the format it received. I don't want to just start changing settings becuase I'm afraid it will lose both outputs working. I have it set to 48K, PCM, and it says it is 2 CH. This is really frustrating. Aaron
Hi Aaron, I'm not sure I
Hi Aaron,
I'm not sure I understand- when the SPDIF output is set to PCM, it is only capable of outputting 2 channels of audio. That's just part of the SPDIF spec.
Conversely, when you are running Dolby Digital Live from the SPDIF out, you'll get 5.1 there, but you can't get any audio from the analog outs (since the card is receiving an encoded digital format).
You should be able to switch between these two modes by manually toggling the SPDIF output setting from PCM to DDL. Changing this setting is the only way to go from getting output from analog+digital simultaneously to getting 5.1 from the SPDIF output.
PCM did change from 5.1 to 2.0 ch sound automatically
Previously when I had the newer Vista Beta software running I had the SPDIF set to PCM and it would automatically switch between 2ch for music and 5.1 ch for movies. I didn't have to manually toggle anything. Every DVD player I've ever owned did this and this sound card alone cost more than most DVD players so I don't understand why I would manually have to make the change. I changed the SPDIF to DDL like you suggested and it did work. However, when I switched it back to 2 ch PCM I was no longer getting sound to the TV again. This is the problem I started with. I rebooted the HTPC and checked all my settings again but I am not getting sound out of the analog output. The software is lit up saying it is but no sound is coming out. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I put the Vista Beta version back on my computer but now I am unable to make it switch automatically between 5.1 and 2 ch. I know you are saying that it isn't supposed to but it did change from 2.0 to 5.1 on its own before. At this point I don't have sound to my TV speakers and I have to manually switch audio formats so I'm worse off than before. The card sounds great but the software is flaky at best. I just want it to work. My wife is not going to be happy if she has to reboot or fool with the settings to get sound on the TV. Aaron
Hi Aaron, The sound card
Hi Aaron,
The sound card requires you to switch manually because the audio environment on a PC is quite different from that of a DVD player. On a PC, any number of audio sources could be playing simultaneously, in different formats (PCM, Dolby Digital, etc). You have to pick which output format to use because sometimes not all of the sources can be played back together (since only one format can be output at a time).