HTPC Sound. What is better dolby digital live or dts interactive! Thanks

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GamerOC

439 posts

Ultimate Geek

#101182 26-Apr-2012 09:41

Hi to all at Geekzone and thank you for reading this post.

I have now my dream HTPC setup big screen fast pc for both gaming and HD vidieo content plus the HD freeview twin tunners.

However after I uptraded the sound to 5.1 and purchase a nice 24/96 creative sound card i have the option to used either dolby digital live or dts interactive. I was wondering what is best DD or DTS for Movies, Livetv and Music.

Thank you so much in advanced to you all.

Andy

PS. when watching movies I like detail, rich sound with and good bass however when watching tv the ambien sound seemed so much louder than dialog. Should I have EAX and CMSS2 3D enabled as well or is for gaming ??? never had sound this flash before.

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

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Lifetime subscriber

#615328 26-Apr-2012 11:08

How have you got the sound connected? Is it going to a AV amp or are the speakers connected directly to the computer?
As far as using DD or DTS always use DTS if available but don't trust me try it out. Listen to the same place in a movie with lots going on in all channels and dialog first with DD and then DTS and you should be able to hear the difference yourself.
For more info on DD vers DTS
http://www.audioholics.com/education/surround-sound/dolby-digital-vs-dts-a-guide-to-the-strengths-of-the-formats

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sultanoswing

814 posts

Ultimate Geek

#615711 26-Apr-2012 21:53

"Uncompressed sound transmitted over SPDIF is always stereo!"

So if you have your 5.1 surround system hooked up via optical or coaxial to your PC and you are wondering why all your games including those that fully support 5.1 surround only get played in stereo or Pro Logic II, this is why. Games do not send out DD or DTS signals. Only uncompressed sound. A soundcard with Dolby Digital Live (or DTS Interactive) will allow you to encode that signal into DD 5.1 (or DTS 5.1) which can then be sent via S/PDIF to be decoded again by your receiver.

Take note that this is all it does. A standard SPDIF connection without Dolby Digital Live or DTS Interactive will still allow you to play all your DVD's, Blu-Rays, or any AC3 encoded file like music or tv shows in full Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS. Note, S/PDIF can't carry the uncompressed audio from DTS-HD or Master Audio from Blu-ray for bandwidth reasons.

If you have an HDMI capable receiver/amp, the better option would be to use an HDMI cable from your PC's graphics card to transmit the audio (and video) signal to your amp, then it will output the picture to your large screen TV and 5.1 audio to your speakers. It avoids the encode-decode step.

I use DD Live and DTS Interactive and can't really tell the difference between the two even though DTS is a higher bit-rate encoding, using an Asus D2 Xonar card. This is because my old amp doesn't have HDMI inputs, so I'm faced with either optical (S/PDIF or coaxial) in stereo or running 6 long analog leads from my soundcard to the analog inputs on my amp. Or using DD Live/DTS Interactive.

Comprenez-vouz?

GamerOC

439 posts

Ultimate Geek

#615786 26-Apr-2012 23:24

Hi there, first I would like to thank you for your replies and it is so great to have your information so I can get my head around getting the best out my movies and music.

Im currently running Dolby Digital live and it is connected to the amp by analog calbles for 5.1 setup that sounds great but i heard that DTS may be better but it is so confusing with DTS-ES ( DTS-ES matrix and DTS Neo:6). what option is the better one. my amp has not hdmi and i dont want to use video card for sound as I thought the creative card is better.

I will try the DTS tomorrow when i get my tv back it seemed that soon as I setup the pc to the tv everyone wants to be on it. google youtube etc..

Thanks guys,

Andy