Unable to install sound drivers on Shuttle XPC

[Hohum]

Yeah, I figured you'd have trouble with SP3. Microsoft really need to release an updated UAA package for it, as at the moment it's impossible to install any HD audio chipset if the required package isn't present on the machine prior to installing SP3.

Incidentally, you would never have come across this problem with Vista - that's a slightly different subject though.

[sharky_ob]

Just wanted to check, is it possible to get 5.1 (Dolby Digital or DTS) through an optical lead on a PC? I (naively) thought that I'd be able to set this up in the same way as I can with my 360.

Do games run in 5.1?

[randombs]

Yeah, you can for films no problem, but as for games it depends on whether the game supports Dolby Digital or not. As far as I was aware, in-game DD is a relatively new thing (probably spurred on by the PC ports of 360/PS3 games that already have it anyway), with most PC games supporting 5.1 and similar through other means (like EAX, but i think that's just some fancy virtual trickery as opposed to real 5.1. There's also things like OpenAL which I think are proper surround).

Regardless, the problem lies in the fact that your amp will most likely only decode DD and PCM which is fine for consoles but on the PC, it would mean whatever tech the game used for surround sound would have to be supported by the amp in the first place. It's more straightforward if you plug the 5 speakers and sub directly into the pc soundcard as the PC is doing the decoding itself anyway and you won't have that problem, but of course it takes the amp out of the equation

[sharky_ob]

Bugger, looks like I'm stuck with Prologic for most stuff then, although I assume the sound from the pc won't be matrixed for this. I'm glad I got the optical working for films anyway, as it means I can upgrade to bluray at some point and get proper sound. The problem I have with prologic is that the rear speakers always seem far too quiet, but if I boost them they're too loud for Dolby Digital! Can't be bothered to have to change them constantly...