Dolby AC3 decoding analog out soundcard?
 

Apologize if this has been asked already, i searched and couldnt find an answear.

Asus p5n73-am
logitech z5300

So the htpc i just finished building is working great win7 and xbmc (thanks lowfat) though id like to have dolby digital 5.1 and perhapes dts decoding in the box, so it can output to the 3 analog jacks to the z5300.
Seems that all of the low and mid priced cards can output the signal over the spdif to the receiver, but cant decode it. Or they have features like dolby digital live, headphone, pro logic, but no mention of actually being able to decode 5.1

I have a xonar d2x in my main rig, that id rather not part with. I have an audigy 2 platinum sitting in a box, but i had a terrible time in vista with it, cant imagine win7 is any better.

Any suggestions? It like to stay away from creative, perhapes a xonar d2 or dx?
Thanks

Decoding isn't done by the soundcard it is done by software. You need either ffdshow or AC3filter to decode AC3/DTS.

Oh, cant believe i didnt know that lol. So upon some more googling, looks like xbmc can decode ac3 and dts audio streams, so i probably just neet to setup that, and my correct speaker config.
So i dont need ffdshow or ac3filter then correct?
thx btw lowfat!

if you are going to be using xbmc solely then no you don't as it uses its own codecs.