Anyone have anything further on this?  I keep updating my Realtek drivers hoping something will change.  Vista seems to have the ability to actually mix output levels but Realtek's implementation is "stuck" with Analog OR SPDIF but not both.

On top of this I've tried to split my Analog and when I do I loose just about all encoding.

Any solutions?  I'd be happy to buy another audio card if I knew it worked.

-trevor

This was the reply from realtech when i emailed about the same issue.

This is defined by Microsoft Vista system . This is not driver issue .

Can you provide some hardware recommendations for optical SPDIF splitter, then optical SPDIF to analog converter?

Thanks, Mike

---

Asus Duo Core2
pvr 250
geforce 6600
HDA Mystique 7.1 audio


on the skinny and it works just fine

Yeah, I really don't understand why MS can't give us at least an option to duplicate audio to a second output.

Agreed - it's silly.  A computer should be able to act as the ultimate mixer and not need lots of splitters and break-out boxes to accomplish something as simple as I am trying to do.

-trevor

I also agree that it would be nice if all audio was managed by MCE, but everything else works perfectly right now.  This is the reason I was ok with splitting the optical SPDIF out, 1 to the receiver and the second to the digital to analog converter.

I also heard that audio software can do this, but some digital or media rights issue forces them to only allow you to select one output.

---

Asus Duo Core2
pvr 250
geforce 6600
HDA Mystique 7.1 audio


on the skinny and it works just fine

mwiechmann:

 This is the reason I was ok with splitting the optical SPDIF out, 1 to the receiver and the second to the digital to analog converter.

What are you using to convert from digital to analog? I'm looking for a solution.

There was a post on the first page that offered the solution but no hardware recommendations.  I am also looking for a solution.

---

Asus Duo Core2
pvr 250
geforce 6600
HDA Mystique 7.1 audio


on the skinny and it works just fine

As far as my research goes, there isn't a cheap solution. Looking at audio forums, it seems that the cheapest way to split to digital into analogue is with an AV receiver! All the other options are much more expensive.

Remember that the digital stream is decoded by dolby digital/DTS decoders in the receiver to turn them into analogue to send to your speakers, so the box would have to do this if sending analogue signals.

I'm no expert on this at all, but that's what I can tell from what I've read.

andrewpmoore:

As far as my research goes, there isn't a cheap solution. Looking at audio forums, it seems that the cheapest way to split to digital into analogue is with an AV receiver! All the other options are much more expensive.

Remember that the digital stream is decoded by dolby digital/DTS decoders in the receiver to turn them into analogue to send to your speakers, so the box would have to do this if sending analogue signals.

I'm no expert on this at all, but that's what I can tell from what I've read.

One possibility would be to use a DAC, which have digital inputs and analog outputs, but these can be quite expensive.  Moreover, as soon as you send the DAC a non-stereo input, you're going to get some terrible raucous loud noise!

I'm afraid a receiver is going to really be the only reliable method, then, of splitting the digital output into an analog component; the key, then, is to find as cheap and, more importantly, compact a receiver as one can!!

Based on the idea of using a receiver, mine has a toslink out which I then could convert to audio. (RCA jacks).   Here is one idea.

http://www.amabilidade2002.com/toslink.htm

---

Asus Duo Core2
pvr 250
geforce 6600
HDA Mystique 7.1 audio


on the skinny and it works just fine

I have been looking for a solution for a long time!  How hard could it be?  M$ really dropped the ball on this imo.  A simple pass through for the digital and a down mix two channel audio for the analog.  The system is more then capable of doing this but it lacks the proper instruction.

I hope I don't have to buy some additional hardware for something that should be a no brainer.

This is a situation I had a problem with as well. I have a "theatre room" where a projector (Epson Cinema 400 on 110" screen) and 5.1 system (Logitech Z-5500) reside, and I wanted a second display in my kitchen, but I didn't need the 5.1 out there, and didn't want to hook up external speakers over and above the speakers built into the LCD TV (an Olevia 27").

This problem was compounded by the fact that I have an Auzentech audio card using the DTS Connect in any situation where SPDIF Direct Out wasn't used (during DVDs or Digital TV). I needed the DTS Connect for when I was playing games as I didn't want to hook up each individual analogue channel. So, not only did I need a Digital to 2-channel analogue downmixer box, but it needed to handle DTS as well.

Well, as much as I hate to push Creative's crap, they seem to have the only little box that solves the problem. The DDTS-100 will take any optical or coax digital signal and mix it into any concievable analogue configuration, from stereo to 7.1. I ended up hooking the stereo input on the kitchen's TV to the headphone output of the DDTS-100. Set it to a reasonable volume (to mimic stereo RCA inputs) and forget it's there, on the other side of the wall where you never see it again. It even has 2 headphone outs, if you want to hook up a second redundant display (I guess that'd be 3 displays in total, I'm working on it, believe me, I need something for the garage).

Here's the link to Creative's DDTS-100 page:

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=4&subcategory=136&product=9468

Yeah, it pissed me off that no combination of cards or configuration could get the SPDIF to run simultaneously with the analogue out, but whatever, it's in the past now and I'm happy with what I've ended up with.

Later,

Jeff

Where'd you get your Creative DDTS-100? 

I searched online and all of the sites I checked were sold out.

Thanks!

I got mine a while ago, can't remember where, threw out the reciept (buy too much stuff online to remember). This site says they have 91:

http://www.techscapecomputers.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=418&idproduct=14695

Unfortunately, they seem to be the most expensive site.

Later,
Jeff