Digital sound with .mkv files via SPDIF

[Hunt]

I'm having trouble getting my PC to output digital sound via SPDIF when playing .mkv files. I know the SPDIF will carry the digital sound to my receiver because if I play a DVD with my PC, the receiver reads 'digital' and the sound output.If I play .mkv files with either digital or DTS sound it seems to output the sound to my receiver as 2.0.

My OS is Win 7 64bit. My sound is just onboard Realtek HD on a Gigabyte P35-DS3L.

I've tried AC3 Filter and Haali spliter, but it hasn't worked for me. If I play the file with VLC and set the output to SPDIF, my receiver picks up the digital signal, but the sound stutters horribly.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, if there's an easier option to output via HDMI through my 5770 and get digital sound, I'm all ears.

[lowfat]

What software are you using? What receiver are you using?

[Hunt]

The receiver I'm using is a Pioneer VSX1019AHK Pioneer VSX1019AHK Home Theatre Receiver vsx-1019ah-k

As for software, I've tried VLC Media Player and Windows Media player. I've tried these in conjunction with AC3 Filter 1.63b. Tried Haali Splitter 64bit beta to try to break the .mkv down into it's audio/video signals for proper processing, but no luck.

I'm not sure the driver version of my onboard sound, but I can look that up when I get home.

I'm at the point now where I'd pay for decent software to get this running properly. All these free programs are just a pain in the butt to configure properly and it seems hit and miss for them to work together.

[lowfat]

Just use HDMI. Install the newest CCC driver set and you are pretty much good to go. Just make sure you set ATI HDMI driver to default in the Sound Control Panel.

[Hunt]

Do you know if the ATI HDMI driver will be able to handle .mkv files properly?

Also, will outputting via HDMI to a receiver work properly? I tried to output with a dvi-hdmi cable from my video card, but the receiver wouldn't display the picture, plus the computer wouldn't recognize dual monitors. If I run the dvi-hdmi cable directly into the tv, there were no problems at all.

Just want to figure that out before I invest in another 25' cable. haha.

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by Hunt

Do you know if the ATI HDMI driver will be able to handle .mkv files properly?

Also, will outputting via HDMI to a receiver work properly? I tried to output with a dvi-hdmi cable from my video card, but the receiver wouldn't display the picture, plus the computer wouldn't recognize dual monitors. If I run the dvi-hdmi cable directly into the tv, there were no problems at all.

Just want to figure that out before I invest in another 25' cable. haha.

Try moving the computer closer to the receiver to test w/ a shorter cable first. And you'll be decoding all the sound before it gets to the receiver. The ATI card will be outputting 5.1/7.1 LPCM. And that is what the receiver will receive and use.

[Higgy10]

I just have to set spdif as my default device in realtek control panel for it to output 5.1. I had a similar issue with ac3filter also. In the ac3filter cp make sure output is set to 3/2+sw 5.1 and under spdif options select use ac3 encoder option, that worked for me.