activate Dolby Digital and PCM bitencoding on SupremeFX 2014 ?

[dbottoms]

Hi RoG community. I'm a new forum member though my recently purchased Maximus VII Hero is my 2nd RoG branded mobo (Had a Maximus II Formula in 2008 and loved it).

I have a question about the on-board audio on the Maximus VII Hero. The mobo comes with the new SupremeFX 2014 branded Realtec audio chip set (based on the high quality 8-channel Realtek ALC1150 codec). I'm having trouble finding deep technical information on this.

I have my PC connected as a general media and gaming PC feeding a high-end home theater. The audio runs through the S/PDIF out (the Toslink optical output) and to my home theater pre-processor. I'm using a Krell HTS 7.1 Pre-processor with B&W Nautilus 803 and equivalent center and subwoofers in my private home theater. The Krell pre-pro is an older unit from the early 2000's so it doesn't fully support DTS Neo:PC. My Krell natively decodes all of the usual formats for early-to-mid-2000's including Dolby Digital, DTS, DTS EX, DTS-ES 6.1, Dolby Prologic II, DTS Neo:6 (this appears as Matrix), and is THX Ultra certified.

The info I've been able to confirm is that the Realtek sound chip uses the DTS Neo:PC (part of the DTS Interactive stream encoder (part of the DTS Connect platform)) compression algorithm. (From Wikipedia) This is a technology based on the DTS Neo:6 matrix surround technology, which transforms any stereo content (MP3, WMA, CD Audio, or games) into a ** simulated ** 7.1-channel surround sound experience. The 7.1-channel surround sound is output as a DTS stream for output via a S/PDIF cable port.

So the closest I can get to DTS Neo:PC is using DTS ES 6.1 or DTS Neo:6 (Matrix) on my Krell HTS 7.1. For video games its fine. But for music and movies the sound is very strange. For music, stereo sound seems to come from the front three speakers. For movies like from Amazon, Hulu, Vudu, Vimeo, etc., all come from all 5 or 7 channels equally. There is no speaker separation of sounds. My best guess is this is because my Krell doesn't fully support the DTS Neo:PC encoding. That's really a bummer.

It would be very handy to be able to activate Dolby Digital or to set the audio to use PCM bitstream output so my Krell can do the decoding.

The sound properties for the Realtek sound chips has a Dolby Digital test. But I can't find where to activate Dolby Digital. And while my old Maximus II SupremeFX II card could do PCM bitstream output this new SupremeFX 2014 doesn't seem to include this capability.

I have the latest Asus drivers and software installed.

I would prefer to use the SupremeFX 2014 if at all possible. I know I could buy an after market sound card to get what I want. But my main concern is it appears the Supreme FX 2014 might be able to activate Dolby Digital and PCM bitstreaming if Asus could give me some way to activate them. I wasn't clear if this was a license limitation or if there was a technical reason this isn't available by default.

I would be grateful for any guidance or thoughts on my situation.

Kindly yours,
Douglas

[Raja]

Hi Douglas,

If bitstreaming of those formats were available you'd see them in the properties of the digital output. There is no after purchase license available for end-users to add the features either so I think you're going to need a capable soundcard or receiver upgrade to get what you want.

-Raja

[alien345]

You should be able to select bit stream in the player itself. Try Pot Player - preferences audio filters - I am sure it has bit stream options.

[dbottoms]

Thank you both for your replies. Raja please pass along at least my request to consider adding this capability (Dolby Digital and/or PCM streaming for future driver updates. I would be grateful for such capabilities though I'm likely to purchase a sound card. I've been reading some about the Asus and Creative sound cards of late and having trouble deciding which meets my requirements. I'd welcome recommendations if anyone is using an after market sound card with their Maximus VII Hero and through the optical cable using PCM bitstreaming or Dolby Digital and at least 96khz.

[Raja]

I cant see this being added via a driver update at this stage. Next gen is possible but the demand would have to be sufficient to justify the licensing costs (not many want to pay more than they do for boards already).

-Raja

[tocguy]

Yes, plz do add. The Dolby Digital tests good for 5.1 but cannot be selected as the output format. The DTS Audio format on the other hand also test good for 5.1 but doesn't work when DTS Interactive (5.1 Surround) is selected as the Default format. Yet, it's the only default format that includes 5.1 audio soooooo either something is broken or I'm confused about how this is supposed to be setup. BTW, I just installed the latest Audio drivers for my M6F.