R
Rolf Molini
Hello board,
currently I'm trying to connect my surround sound equipment to a Windows Media Center Edition PC and I'm experiencing constant
problems with that. I decided to put this post in here because I think this is an issue not specific to MCE but rather to Windows
XP.
The PC contains an NVIDIA nForce Audio chip with hardware decoder included, so there is a S/PDIF-output as well as 3 stereo jacks
for analog output of front, rear and center/subwoofer. My surround sound system (SSS) contains only analog inputs (3 pairs of
RCA-plugs).
The first try was to use adapter cables between the analog stereo-output of the PC and the analog input of the SSS. The nForce
audio-chip is controlled by an NVIDIA-applet called nMixer. Whatever configuration I chose there, it was not possible to get any
sound to the center speaker. The speaker itself and the amplifier work fine. Sending white noise to all speakers from within nMixer
lets all 6 speakers respond correctly. Only when real sound is to be transmitted, the center speaker will receive no signal from the
nForce chip (I can see that in the applet in a mixer, where all channels but center receive a signal).
I suspected the nForce-chip (to be specific: the audio decoder) to have a problem with the center channel. So I bought an external
audio decoder from Creative (DDTS 100) and connected S/PDIF-output of the PC to it and the analog outputs of DDTS 100 to the SSS.
To my surprise, the result is exactly the same. Sending test signals (this time from DDTS 100) to the SSS lets all speakers respond.
But sending real sound from PC to DDTS 100 and then to SSS leaves the center speaker silent.
Now, I'm asking myself if there is a general misunderstanding on my side. If not, might it help to use a PCI-audio adapter instead
of the onboard chip?
Thanks for any help
Rolf
currently I'm trying to connect my surround sound equipment to a Windows Media Center Edition PC and I'm experiencing constant
problems with that. I decided to put this post in here because I think this is an issue not specific to MCE but rather to Windows
XP.
The PC contains an NVIDIA nForce Audio chip with hardware decoder included, so there is a S/PDIF-output as well as 3 stereo jacks
for analog output of front, rear and center/subwoofer. My surround sound system (SSS) contains only analog inputs (3 pairs of
RCA-plugs).
The first try was to use adapter cables between the analog stereo-output of the PC and the analog input of the SSS. The nForce
audio-chip is controlled by an NVIDIA-applet called nMixer. Whatever configuration I chose there, it was not possible to get any
sound to the center speaker. The speaker itself and the amplifier work fine. Sending white noise to all speakers from within nMixer
lets all 6 speakers respond correctly. Only when real sound is to be transmitted, the center speaker will receive no signal from the
nForce chip (I can see that in the applet in a mixer, where all channels but center receive a signal).
I suspected the nForce-chip (to be specific: the audio decoder) to have a problem with the center channel. So I bought an external
audio decoder from Creative (DDTS 100) and connected S/PDIF-output of the PC to it and the analog outputs of DDTS 100 to the SSS.
To my surprise, the result is exactly the same. Sending test signals (this time from DDTS 100) to the SSS lets all speakers respond.
But sending real sound from PC to DDTS 100 and then to SSS leaves the center speaker silent.
Now, I'm asking myself if there is a general misunderstanding on my side. If not, might it help to use a PCI-audio adapter instead
of the onboard chip?
Thanks for any help
Rolf