Can't get Dolby Digital Live or DTS connect on P67 Extreme4 Gen3

[acoustic5679]

I can’t seem to get Dolby Digital Live enabled on my new PC build. I have an Asrock P67 extreme 4 Gen 3 mobo that I currently have Optical SPDIF out to my digital receiver. I am looking in the options under Realtek HD manager and the Realtek digital out’s properties in windows 7 under the advanced tab I only see 2 channel options. I believe from another posts I read on here I should see Dolby Digital Live 5.1 in here. I got all my codecs and filters such as AC3 working with my media files and they sound great in media player classic. But I can’t figure out this Dolby Digital Live or DTS connect problem. Can anyone help me? In my BIOS, the only option I see for the HD audio is to enable it, disable it, or put it to auto. I have it as enabled. I have looked for DDL filters and plugins but I can’t find any. I am currently using real tek driver version 6.0.1.662 from Realteks site and I have also used Asrock’s version.6378 with no notable difference. My BIOS ver. Is P2.20. This description for the onboard audio on the website is this "7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), Supports THX TruStudio™" No games will work in surround on my system which makes sense because they need a real time digital encoder to process it. Can anyone help me out? Thanks!My post is similar to this one http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1708835. Although my hd audio manager doesn't show a "digital output(optical). Mine just shows "digital optical out" same thing with my choices of sound devices in windows. I see only a device called "digital output and no "digital output optical", but this may be a special feature for his Gigabyte mobo that my Asrock doesn't have. However I only see 2 channel choices under the default format tab.

[shankly1985]

Your Motherboard don't support DTS or Dolby Live P67 Motherboard Series Manufacturing - ASRock Inc. No mention on Asrock Site.
If You want DTS Connect Or Dolby Live you will need to buy a Sound card that can do this for you. I use a Asus Xonar DS ASUS - Multimedia- ASUS Xonar DS
You can get this card for around £40 and its superb.

[parsec]

shankly is right, very few boards support DD or DTS, and if they did you'd see that in giant letters in the boards description. DD and DTS cost money, in licensing, hardware, and software support. Yes, DD and DTS share the SPDIF digital output with two channel audio, but without the required processing, it's just not there.

The 7.1 CH HD audio on the board is simply eight analog channel output on the boards back panel, and is just the equivalent of an eight channel preamplifier. It still needs the decoded output of a DD or DTS processor.

[Haru]

I feel your pain. I have been investigating this exact same problem (although I have a different ASR board than you) and after reading a few dozen posts scattered about the net, it's not possible on our boards. And to that end, I'm calling bee-ess on ASR* and how they advertise their board specs. While true that the Realtek codecs may support 7.1, the MOBOs won't and they should just leave that bit off.

Here's the spec for my board from the ASR site: 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC898 Audio Codec), Supports THX TruStudio™

Funny thing...TruStudio is included in the initial install and there is an option to upgrade to TruStudio Pro which, like a dummy, I did. The problem is...nothing works in surround. TruStudio Pro doesn't even provide the option for 5.1 or 7.1 because of the output limitations from the MOBO. So, I wasted $25 on something that was doomed to fail. The only way to get proper sound is with a sound card and HDMI, as has been pointed out.

Lastly, here's a thread I stumbled across which describes this problem in detail (pay special attention to scorrpio's posts in the thread): EggXpert - No option to output 5.1?

*ASR isn't the only board maker doing this.

[shankly1985]

I feel your pain. I have been investigating this exact same problem (although I have a different ASR board than you) and after reading a few dozen posts scattered about the net, it's not possible on our boards. And to that end, I'm calling bee-ess on ASR* and how they advertise their board specs. While true that the Realtek codecs may support 7.1, the MOBOs won't and they should just leave that bit off.

Here's the spec for my board from the ASR site: 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC898 Audio Codec), Supports THX TruStudio™

Funny thing...TruStudio is included in the initial install and there is an option to upgrade to TruStudio Pro which, like a dummy, I did. The problem is...nothing works in surround. TruStudio Pro doesn't even provide the option for 5.1 or 7.1 because of the output limitations from the MOBO. So, I wasted $25 on something that was doomed to fail. The only way to get proper sound is with a sound card and HDMI, as has been pointed out.

Lastly, here's a thread I stumbled across which describes this problem in detail (pay special attention to scorrpio's posts in the thread): EggXpert - No option to output 5.1?

*ASR isn't the only board maker doing this.

I think they List 7.1 Audio if you use the 6 Audio jacks at the back of the board. But even still that's 5.1 lol so they must use virtual 7.1

[profJim]

I've used HT Omega PCI sound cards (Striker7 and Claro Plus+) in my systems for several years with my Logitech Z-5500 speakers.
Excellent sound quality and features.
No problems with either card or drivers under w2k and win7.
Tech support replied quickly on two occasions when I had questions.

Check out HT Omega for more information and product features.

Asus and HT Omega sound cards at Newegg: ASUS and HT Omega sound cards @ Newegg
It looks like Newegg has discontinued the Striker7.
Maybe you can buy the Striker7 direct from HT Omega.