DTS and DD5.1 PC Question

[Rossco]

Got my new PC and the mobo has integrated 5.1 surround using the several different coloured sockets on the back, not just a normal coaxial or optical cable like I imagine most good sounds cards would.

Now to get DTS and DD5.1 would I be better getting a seperate sound card for the PC or can you direct me to the correct cable I would use to plug the PC into my amp as I've never used this type before and dont know what I'm doing!

Any help would be muchos appreciated people!

[briareos_kerensky]

External amp, so that all decoding is done by it and not by the integrated chip+CPU.

[sj33]

Got my new PC and the mobo has integrated 5.1 surround using the several different coloured sockets on the back, not just a normal coaxial or optical cable like I imagine most good sounds cards would.

Now to get DTS and DD5.1 would I be better getting a seperate sound card for the PC or can you direct me to the correct cable I would use to plug the PC into my amp as I've never used this type before and dont know what I'm doing!

Any help would be muchos appreciated people!

Welcome to the complete mess that is PC audio.

Those different colour sockets are just 5.1 analogue outputs (they carry 2 channels each).

I'm suprised your new PC does not have onboard coaxial/optical though, as this has been commonplace on PC's for years. But you can get a cheap soundcard that can provide this for you.

(Now you will be pulling your hair out when you wanna do something like play a video with 5.1 AAC sound, and find you can only send that to your speakers as 5.1 either over analogue, or transcoding to DD using AC3Filter. Or when playing HD-DVD's with DD+/TrueHD sound)