Playing movies through my pc using an external sound card

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

Hi everyone,
Could use an advice.

On my PC I have various movies decoded in DD and DTS.
In order to play movies decoded in DD, I have to copy the movie to an external HDD than connect the HDD to my smart TV (via usb), the TV is decoding the movie sending 5.1 CH to the receiver.
Problem is, my smart TV (lg 55uk6700y) can only decode DD and not DTS.
What I was thinking as a solution - connection an external usb sound card to my laptop, for example, this one:

Creative Worldwide Support - Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro

Welcome to Creative Worldwide Support. Get technical help for your Creative products through Knowledgebase Solutions, firmware updates, driver downloads and more.

support.creative.com

Questions:
1. Will it work?
2. Providing it will work, do you know any cheaper sound card to do the job?
3. Any ideas for a better solution?

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[everettT]

Hi everyone,
Could use an advice.

On my PC I have various movies decoded in DD and DTS.
In order to play movies decoded in DD, I have to copy the movie to an external HDD than connect the HDD to my smart TV (via usb), the TV is decoding the movie sending 5.1 CH to the receiver.
Problem is, my smart TV (lg 55uk6700y) can only decode DD and not DTS.
What I was thinking as a solution - connection an external usb sound card to my laptop, for example, this one:

Creative Worldwide Support - Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro

Welcome to Creative Worldwide Support. Get technical help for your Creative products through Knowledgebase Solutions, firmware updates, driver downloads and more.

support.creative.com

Questions:
1. Will it work?
2. Providing it will work, do you know any cheaper sound card to do the job?
3. Any ideas for a better solution?

Thanks,
Daniel

I'd just get a media server like the nvidia shield. Then you can stream all formats and take advantage of the apps on it instead of dumb errr smart tv, which can't pass all formats to an avr.

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I forgot to mention my avr is old and has doesn't have hdmi inputs but only toslink.
Besides that, I've noticed nvidia shield doesn't have a usb input, so how would I connect my HDD to it?

 

[everettT]

The shield has usb inputs and also you can connect to the PC via IP., the HDMI thing kinda limits your avialable formats though.

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

Could you refer me to the nvidia shield model with usb you're talking about? I'm not a gamer, and looking for the cheapest possible solution.
Also, would it be possible converting the hdmi output into toslink? or maybe a streamer with toslink outputs you can reccomend.

Thanks again.

 

[everettT]

Does your laptops headphone output doubles as an digital output?

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

Honestly I don't know, but I doubt it, laptop is a lenovo yoga 3 (14" not the pro) about 4 years and a bit old.
That's the reason I was thinking in the direction of simply buying an external sound card (with a toslink output).

Here's a screenshot from the device manager

 

[everettT]

Honestly I don't know, but I doubt it, laptop is a lenovo yoga 3 (14" not the pro) about 4 years and a bit old.
That's the reason I was thinking in the direction of simply buying an external sound card (with a toslink output).

Here's a screenshot from the device manager
View attachment 33314

This will work for your laptop

https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Coaxial-Converter-Convert-Analogue/dp/B00FEDHHKE?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

This will work for your laptop

https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Coaxial-Converter-Convert-Analogue/dp/B00FEDHHKE?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

Thanks! I'll give it a shot.
Keep you posted when it arrives whether it's working properly.

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

Right, so the DAC arrived today. Now I need to get it working...
Thing is the AVR only recognize pcm. I tried both BSplayer and VLC player.
Here's what's the DAC showing me during a DD movie:

Any ideas? Or is this device can only give me a pcm output?

Edit:
played with the definition a bit, now getting this:

Still in pcm though

 

[panteragstk]

Right, so the DAC arrived today. Now I need to get it working...
Thing is the AVR only recognize pcm. I tried both BSplayer and VLC player.
Here's what's the DAC showing me during a DD movie:
View attachment 33573
Any ideas? Or is this device can only give me a pcm output?

Edit:
played with the definition a bit, now getting this:
View attachment 33574

Still in pcm though

One thing is that I'd use LAV filters over ffdshow. They tend to do a great job.

Also, what do you have your output set to? Example:

I only have a 2ch DAC hooked up to this PC, but when you select your interface it should have similar options.

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

This is what I'm getting:

 

[panteragstk]

I wonder if there is a driver for the DAC you bought. What you're showing is pretty limited.

 

[sterling shoote]

Put iTunes on your PC. Connect PC to TV via HDMI. Done deal!

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

I wonder if there is a driver for the DAC you bought. What you're showing is pretty limited.

It is limited. I'm not sure if it really supports DD or dts. Am I wasting my time with this device?

 

[everettT]

I wonder if there is a driver for the DAC you bought. What you're showing is pretty limited.

There is

 

[panteragstk]

It is limited. I'm not sure if it really supports DD or dts. Am I wasting my time with this device?

Don't know if you are wasting your time, but @everettT says there is a driver so I'd install that. It should at least give you some sample rate options. The DAC probably doesn't decode DTS or DD, but that's fine. Especially if it's outputs are stereo. That's how my DAC is set up for my PC and it works great. I just tell the PC to decode everything (granted I only listen to music so nothing to decode really).

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Your AVR doesn't have DTS/DD?

 

[Daniel_Elmaleh]

Your AVR doesn't have DTS/DD?

My AVR support dts/DD, for example I do get DD from netflix or playing a DD file through my smart TV.
Connecting the DAC via toslink to the AVR yield only pcm.

Couldn't find a driver for this DAC.
Only found one evident online of someone mange to get DD/DTS with pcm2704 chip here:

External USB sound card with Toslink output, 5.1 sound, HiFi

www.engon.de

 

[panteragstk]

My AVR support dts/DD, for example I do get DD from netflix or playing a DD file through my smart TV.
Connecting the DAC via toslink to the AVR yield only pcm.

Couldn't find a driver for this DAC.
Only found one evident online of someone mange to get DD/DTS with pcm2704 chip here:

External USB sound card with Toslink output, 5.1 sound, HiFi

www.engon.de

With that specific DAC it looks like it is a 2ch only device. You'd need something that specifically supports bitstream DTS and DD. HDMI is the best/easiest route, but the DAC you have will work, but stereo only.