Home Theater question

R

randallkubin

New Member
does anybody know... my Dell XPS 420, has an integrated optical output... i have it connected to my home theater, optically... but... for some reason, it's not DTS. is there a reason why? is there anything for me to configure? Like I said... it's integrated, so I'm not sure who the manufacturer is.
 
This may sound stupid, but what are you using the PC for? Is it DVD playback or mainly music? This question does affect the answer.

(for music) Going on-board optical like you're doing, is going to be about the best quality sound you're capable of, in stereophile terms. BUT, the limitation is in the number of channels supported by SPDIF, and the bitrates.

(for DVD) If you're needing the surround mode, then you're looking at upgrading the PC to a soundcard with the DTS capabilities.
 
it's my media center pc. The onboard sound card is 7.1, with an spdif optical output.

I bought the pc specifically for watching blu ray movies... but mostly i've been listening to music on it.

My video card has an audio out, actually. it's an ATi HD 2600, and it sends audio and video through HDMI. My stereo receiver doesn't have HDMI ports, though... so i haven't been using it.

Is HDMI the best audio quality now? or does optical still hold the lead? I'm curious now whether I should update my sound card or home stereo.
 
couple things.

your computer doesn't need to decode DTS if you're passin it to a receiver (which you prob have). some where in the options, should be an option to not decode DTS and just pass it through.

HDMI and Optical are basically the same when it comes to sound quality. video is the only place it matters
 
The optical output will pass the DTS (and 5.1/7.1) signal thru regardless if the source media is DTS.
Are you sure the receiver can decode DTS? Not all home theater receivers can decode DTS. Also, most of them that can decode DTS usually need to be manually switched to it (my Harmon Kardon does).
 
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