Dynamic switching

Submitted by bob mauro on Sun, 2006-07-23 22:36.

I am using the Dolbly digital live option to output to my home theater via the digital optical cable.

I have found that when using dynamic switching, the audio output has to be manually changed to digital audio 48 khz, in order to get sound from the pc speakers and manually switched back to Dolby digital live to get sound from the home theater speakers.

Is this considered normal operation??

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dynamic switching

Submitted by bob mauro on Sat, 2006-08-19 16:01.

Aaron,

SoundBlaster X-FI and the Audigy 4 support DD for sure.

I have installed the X-FI card on my machine and the dynamic switching works with out having to manualy change the sound output.

Only problem is with the delay, to much echo when using DD live.

Hope you'all are working on a driver update:-)

Bob

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Hi Bob,

Submitted by Aaron on Thu, 2006-08-03 00:25.

Hi Bob,
You may find it hard to find a card that accepts Dolby Digital (DD) input. I can't think of any off-hand, but maybe someone else has seen one? Anyways, I'll update the status of this issue to the software team.

Edit: I should mention that if your computer is near a Dolby Digital-compatible receiver or decoder, you may have an easier solution. Most sound cards that support DD *encoding* will also have a "pass-through" mode, where the driver will send the DD signal directly to the SPDIF output jack.

I'm not sure if this helps you, and I'm not sure if the Audigy has a DD pass-through mode. If it doesn't, and you do have a DD receiver nearby, the Callisto will definitely do the pass-through. Not trying to sound too much like a salesman, though :^ )

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Dynamic Switching

Submitted by bob mauro on Sun, 2006-07-30 20:34.

Thanks for your reply Aaron. Aparently my SB Audigy 2 sound card doesn't do DD . I look forward to an upgraded Siroco driver to over come this switching problem. I am giving serious thought to buying a new sound card that supports DD just to see what happens. Has anyone else had this problem??

Bob

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That makes sense

Submitted by Aaron on Mon, 2006-07-24 18:50.

Hi Bob,
Now that you mention that you're using Dolby Digital Live mode, the problems you were having make sense.

What is happening when DDL is enabled is the following: when connected to Sirocco, the DDL signal is being streamed to Sirocco and is then decoded by your A/V receiver. When you disconnect from Sirocco, the DDL signal is being sent into your other soundcard's driver. If this driver doesn't support Dolby Digital decoding, it will mute the audio output when a Dolby Digital signal is received.

So possible solutions are as follows:
- switch the mode to 48kHz when disconnecting, as you mentioned (this is the easiest solution)
- connect your other sound card to a Dolby Digital Decoder of some sort
- find a driver/sound card that supports Dolby Digital decoding.

Obviously since the last two suggestions require additional purchases, the first solution will probably be preferable. I will let our software team know about this problem, and maybe future versions of the driver will switch to 48kHz PCM audio automatically when disconnecting.

Hope this sheds some light on the problem,
Aaron

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