No Digital Audio with PowerDVD and SBLive

[Overman]

Hey all...well, having a frustrating time here trying to figure out what the hell is wrong.
I just bought a DVD player (Shuttle 10X) and I'm using PowerDVD 2.55 along with a SBLive card. I have the SPDIF output of the DVD drive going into the SPDIF connector on the SBlive card. I can play audio cd's, and I do NOT have any other cables hooked up from the DVD to the sound card, (ie the analog audio connector), so I know that the SPDIF connection from DVD to SBlive card is working.

However, when I play a DVD (Matrix), I'm not getting any sound! I put PowerDVD audio setting to "Use SPDIF", and still no sound. Under "Info" I get:

Multispeakers Audio Device : Creative SBLive! (not in use)
S/PDIF Output Device : Creative SBLive! (not in use)

If I select "Use Wave Out", or "DirectSound" in PowerDVD, it workss fine!!!

My 1st question:
Since I only have the SPDIF cable hooked up between DVD and Sound Card, how is the audio information getting from the DVD to the Sound card? Is it being sent through the IDE cable? If it isn't being sent thru the IDE cable...is it then being sent through the SPDIF cable, but PowerDVD just doesn't state that (since it works under Wave Out and Direct Sound)?

My 2nd question:
How the hell can I get this to work!!!!!

I've tried other DVD's also...still doesn't work.

System Info:
MSI K7T Pro2-A(6330)
AMD T-bird 900 @1.1Ghz (not the problem)
SBLive with Updated Drivers and 4 speaker (analog) setup
Hercules Geforce2 Pro (updated drivers)

 

[Taz4158]

Why ARE you posting this in the video section?

 

[RobsTV]

Yes, DVD audio only travels through the IDE cable, and can not travel through the digital output of the drive. That is only for non-DVD use, like audio and gaming CD's. Why would PowerDVD put that unusable setting in there is beyond be.

 

[Overman]

Taz...where else should I put it?...I figured since I'm trying to use a DVD player to watch a movie it would be alright to put it here

Robs...thanks for the reply...but WinDVD also has this SPDIF option, so I'm thinking that it has to work with watching movies...why would 2 independent software companies put that option in if it couldn't work?

from PowerDVD manual "SPDIF, with this option you will be able to reroute the digital signal directly through a decoder to reproduce the soundtrack on 6 discrete channels"

Uuhhgg....frustrating! Any other ideas?

 

[Taz4158]

<< I'm trying to use a DVD player to watch a movie it would be alright to put it here >>


Didn't mean to be harsh but you'll get a better response in GH.

 

[RobsTV]

Overman.
Don't know what to tell you. I went though the same things with my Live! card, and Creative's tech support steered me in the right direction. It was they who told me about the audio not being present on the DVD Digital output pins when DVD's are being played. They are correct. No audio is present when playing DVD's on those 2 pins.

I can see why you would post this in a video forum, as it pertains to a DVD drive's common connections to a common sound card.

 

[Zak]

Yes, I have simliar setup: Live! Platinum, PowerDVD and some Hitachi DVD player. Digital audio from DVD only works over IDE - this way you get all the goodies like Dolby surround and stuff. SPDIF works with Audio CDs only.

Zak

 

[Overman]

Yeah...I just got off the phone with the Tech &quot;Help&quot; at creative...took awhile, but he ended up telling me that the audio (when playing a DVD) doesn't go through the SPDIF cable to the sound card, but through the IDE cable.

Why would the DVD Drive even have an SPIDF output then? Unless, does anyone know if there are other sound cards that DO have the sound running through the SPIDF? Would it be &quot;better&quot; sounding than through the IDE?

The reason I'm asking, is because I'v noticed the sound sucks when I use PowerDVD....sounds like the tinny &quot;hissing&quot; sound an MP3 makes occassionaly when playing certain treble sounding instruments (like some symbals in a drum set). I've tried using the WaveOut function with Surround, Stereo, and Mono...along with using DirectSound with Surround, Stereo, and mono.
Nothing seems to make a difference.

So that's why I was wanting to use the SPDIF connector...to see if it would sound better.

A positive is when I use WinDVD the sound is better. But I don't really feel like dropping $50.00 on a DVD software player when I already have one (the wife wouldn't appreciate that eigher...heh heh).

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the help!

 

[NuovoTech]

Do you have LiveWare3 from Creative installed for your SBLive card?

 

[NuovoTech]

Also check here for info on your SW DVD player's &quot;SPDIF output&quot; setting:
SBLive5.1 FAQ

 

[Kingofcomputer]

cd spdif in on the sb live is for cd. period.