Kodi Community Forum

Hi.

So I'm in the process of collecting parts for my xbmc box, and I am a tad (read: completely) confused when it comes to the audio portion of things. I will be installing on Linux (either full blown XBMC, or OpenElec, which I'm going to try first).

First of all, I need audio to be over SPDIF, not HDMI. My receiver (a rather nice Onkyo) does not have HDMI connections. And my TV only has stereo outputs. So, I need the SPDIF connection. Preferably optical.

So, I am looking at a couple of ASRock motherboards with optical audio connectors on them. Some of them support 6 channels, and some 8 channels. Some THX, some not. Etc.

I am only interested in passing digital audio directly thru to my receiver. Does it matter which sound card I use if I'm only passing thru? The receiver supports 7.1.

Thanks,
John



(Since someone's bound to ask, I have a tube-type Toshiba HD TV. 1080i. One HDMI input. And only the stereo output. So my overall setup, while somewhat dated, is capable of playing HD content. Just need a few extra parts. Like the HDMI switch.)

AFAIK you only need a souncard / chip wich is supported by ALSA to stream the signal over SPDIF.

5.1 or 7.1 doesn't matter because it wouldn't be decoded.

I use an old Terratec Aureon 5.1 PCI Card for that purpose.

Just look here http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main to see if your card is supported with SPDIF.

Regards
Joachim

Hmmm. I'm wondering now if I can get a cheaper MB and plug in an old PCI Soundblaster Live 5.1 I have lying around.

Thanks,
John

Don't think the PCI Soundblaster Live 5.1 supports what you need.

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.p...ative_Labs

Yeah...I also came across something saying it supports AC3 passthru, but not DTS.

Kind of a moot point now anyways, since the MB I've been looking at just went on sale at Newegg this morning.

If I do ever need to add a sound card for whatever reason tho, it is good to know that I don't need to spend loads on a top of the line card.

-john