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[drosoph]

I keep hearing you guys talk about these multi-channel files .. with 4 or 5 channels .. well supposedly my board has 5.1 output .. and Im using digital output already... anyone know of ap place I can grab a file that I can actually LISTEN to this ?

[Bartabedian]

Mostly, your multi-channel sources will be DVD's. There are DVD-Audio albums being released in 5.1 as well. Other than that, you might find an AC3 audiostream around with mulit-channel audio. Keep in mind, multi-channel audio was originally created and still mostly used by the Audio for Visual market, hence movies, games and other video sources will tend to offer these additional channels.

[DougHamm]

If you're talking about formats other than DVD/AC3/DTS, then:

http://www.windowsmedia.com/9Series/DemoCenter/AudioQuality.asp?page=6&lookup=AudioQuality

and

http://www.windowsmedia.com/9Series/DemoCenter/VideoQuality.asp?page=6&lookup=VideoQuality

This link has audio and video samples in Windows Media 9 format, which are multichannel.  Unfortunately MC9 only plays them in stereo at this time, and I haven't heard of a plan to change that.

If you keep an eye on windowsmedia.com, you'll find other treasures but they seem to pop up and then disappear.  Pink Floyd's Money in 5.1 WMA was up several weeks back, and sounds absolutely amazing.  Again, you must play it in WMP9 to get the full effect.  

On an aside, at least MC9 will play them, if in stereo - ZoomPlayer and (I assume) many others can't play files such as Money because they don't support Digital Rights Management.  MC9 will play these files back as long as you first play them in WMP9 to obtain a DRM license.  It would be a complete package, were it not for the lack of Windows Media multichannel support.

Finally, a while back there was an option to order the "Do Amazing Things" DVD from Microsoft, for no more than shipping costs.  Among other things it includes a bunch of BMW commercials in high definition video, with killer audio tracks.

One caveat to this whole thing: if you are looking for surround sound Windows Media format material, you must output via analogue to your receiver.  You cannot use a digital cable, as this limits you to either pre-encoded Dolby Digital or DTS, or 2-channel PCM sound.  The only 'workaround' is an nForce2 motherboard which can transcode multichannel Windows Media audio into Dolby Digital on the fly; however you lose audio quality in the process.  The best solution is a 24/192 capable multichannel analogue card such as an M-Audio Revolution, Audigy2, or higher-end card like a Delta 1010, etc.

I have a HTPC with Audigy2 going into a 6.1 receiver using analogue cables, and it sounds wonderful.

Hope this helps!

-Doug

[PhatPhreddy]

http://www.sr.se/multikanal/english/e_index.stm

[Bartabedian]

...And not two hours after writing my first reply, I read an article on MP3 with multi-channel abilities, apparently Cyberlink Power DVD 5 can play them...

[drosoph]

PhatPhreddy ,

I downloaded those WAV files from the site .. but all show as 2-channel in MC ... I havent had time to test the output through my digital port though (im not at home right now)

[drosoph]

OK, had to change the output device to the specific adapter that can handle DTS . and all works well, but MC still says 2Channel audio ?

[Sadashiv1]

Question for DougHamm
In reference to your statement
"If you're talking about formats other than DVD/AC3/DTS, then: "

Do you mean Media Player will not play .ac3 files.
One can extract .ac3 fiels from DVDs. How does
one go about playing .ac3 files in 5.1 given 5.1 sound
card is on the PC.

[DougHamm]

Do you mean Media Player will not play .ac3 files.
One can extract .ac3 fiels from DVDs. How does
one go about playing .ac3 files in 5.1 given 5.1 sound
card is on the PC.

Howdy - actually by that comment, I was merely noting that when most folks think multichannel, they think DTS/AC3.  Though I haven't tried playing AC3 files in MC9, a quick check of the File Associations drop-down box doesn't note .AC3 anywhere.  I have no sample to try; you may find it works.  Not sure!

I know WinDVD plays .AC3 files, as well as .DTS.  It and PowerDVD will also decode DTS CD's and play them via multichannel analogue outputs, which is why I use WinDVD to play my CDs and not MC9.  Anyway, one app never does everything, and I find WinDVD a nice match for MC9.

-Doug