Optical Out problems (Who DOESNT have them?)

[heyman421]

Hey guys, i recently got a new yamaha home theater system for my computer room, and so i got rid of m logitech z5500 series computer speakers in favor of the high-quality yamaha onboard decoding (rather than using the actual analog 5-channel outputs on the sound card)

to go along with the yamaha, i bought myself a creative audigy 2 zs sound card with optical out, and that was the source of all of my problems.

I can use the analog outs with 1/4 inch to stereo rca splitters to achieve surround sound through my home theater, but when i use the optical out i get the ac3 sound when watching movies, but i can only get a stereo downmix in PCM the rest of the time.

Is there hardware avaiable to achieve true surround sound through the optical out while playing games, such as doom 3 (which i know is in surround sound?) It's just a pain in the back to have to switch back and forth between the analog and the digital on my reciever. I'd like to be able to use the yamaha's decoders at all time, and have the peace of mind that i'm using true digital at all times.

If any of you guys have a solution for me, no matter what the cost, i'd love to hear it. Because switching back and forth is no fun, and i want to make sure i'm getting the full surround sound experience on my PC.

Thanks a lot everybody!

 

[heyman421]

Well then, a different question.

If no answers to that doozy, i was wondering if anyone knows if there's a difference between the optical outs on different cards, say versus a 250 dollar audigy 2 and a 29 dollar turtle beach with optical out. Are the optical signals identical?

My guess would be that the optical out is just a straight pass-through and the signal isn't affected at all by the actual sound card itself, but then again i can't be positive.

Just wondering if anyone else had this question, or maybe even an answer? Because 29 dollars would be ideal versus 250, since i only plan on using the optical out anyways.