Digital Audio Cable Connection to PC

[psyclguy]

I want to know if it's possible to send the digital audio signal from my satellite receiver to my PC using the digital coax audio out port to the 3.5mm line in jack to the PC's sound card. I would need a 1/8" to 3.5mm stereo adapter to the PC but I don't know if it would pass the digital signal.
Anybody have any ideas?

 

[MDS]

You would need a cable with a single RCA plug on one end and a 1/8" (3.5mm) MONO plug on the other end. You can buy pre-made cables with that configuration or use an adaptor.

The issue is whether or not your PC sound card has a digital input. The line-in is typically for analog connections.

 

[psyclguy]

I would probably need an external sound card then. I think they have them with a usb connection.

 

[OttoMatic]

Just curious, but what are you trying to do?

 

[psyclguy]

I'm recording XM Music and using Audacity for editing and conversion.

 

[Hi Ho]

What kind of sound card do you have now?

 

[psyclguy]

SoundMax Digital Audio

 

[OttoMatic]

Here's one that has optical input.

 

[psyclguy]

Actually, that one has line in and optical out.

 

[OttoMatic]

Actually, that one has line in and optical out.

From the website --"Ordinary CDs, with their 44 Khz sampling rates, revolutionized the way we listen to sound. This PCI board samples audio at up to 96 Khz, at 24 bits of resolution. Line In, Microphone in, SPDIF optical input and optical output and you can hook your CD drive directly to the board's CD/Aux input as well. Better than CD sound coming out of your computer in 7.1 channel sound that surrounds you, immersing you in the experience. "

The pictures also show two optical connections.

 

[Hi Ho]

If your SoundMax onboard audio has an S/PDIF input then there is no reason to buy a different one in order to do what you want. I would definetely record digitally as onboard sound is quite noisy and the resulting recording from analog would be sub par.

Now, what kind of satellite receiver do you have? Is it an HD receiver? I'm guessing it's a DirecTV receiver. The reason I ask is that the PC will probably not be able to accept a 5.1 Dolby Digital input. It will probably work fine recording XM broadcasts without changing anything but I have never tried it with a DirecTV box. I have recorded a couple things off of Sirius from my Dish receiver through a digital connection and it worked great.

 

[psyclguy]

I'm thinking about buying one of these and just use the RCA analog outputs from the Directv receiver.