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[theurbanhipster]

Hi folks, I've been away from Media Center for a little while and am now getting back into it. I just downloaded ver. 11 and I have a few questions. (yes I have searched the forums but got frustrated because I'm not exactly sure what to search for)

1) Is it possible to have DVD 6.1/5.1 sound delivered to my 6.1 amplifier from MC and have the amp divide it up between the speakers. I assume I would need a sound card that has a digital or optical output.  which brings me to my next question.

2) Can anyone recommend a cost effective sound card that would be capable of doing this?

3) I have a Pinnacle pro TV card that doesn't seem to work with MC. The last time I played with this was in ver. 10 and somone here pointed me in the direction of a generic driver that made it work in MC. Can this be done with ver. 11 and where can I find that driver again.

4)Is it possible to have MC play the movies/video/visualisations on one monitor (I.E. a projector) and have the controls on a regular touch screen monitor in theater mode? if so how do I do this?
Thanks for your help.
John

[Alex B]

Hi folks, I've been away from Media Center for a little while and am now getting back into it. I just downloaded ver. 11 and I have a few questions. (yes I have searched the forums but got frustrated because I'm not exactly sure what to search for)

Welcome back!

1) Is it possible to have DVD 6.1/5.1 sound delivered to my 6.1 amplifier from MC and have the amp divide it up between the speakers. I assume I would need a sound card that has a digital or optical output. which brings me to my next question.

Yes. A software codec with a passthrough option is needed besides MC. MC can use e.g. WinDVD or PowerDVD codecs. Also, a freeware codec AC3filter can be used for the audio part. AC3filter is very good for video files with DD/DTS sound.

2) Can anyone recommend a cost effective sound card that would be capable of doing this?

Any good sound card with a digital output will do. For standard audio files a card that can output 44.100 kHz without resampling it to 48.000 kHz would be better. E.g. M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and the external M-Audio Transit USB are good. I have used a Terratec card with great statisfaction. Their current Aureon series is very nice, but I think it's easier to find a good bargain on M-Audio products (if you are in the US). A well-known cheopo alternative is Chaintech 710, but I think it needs some tweaking before everything works flawlessly (I have never tried it).

3) I have a Pinnacle pro TV card that doesn't seem to work with MC. The last time I played with this was in ver. 10 and somone here pointed me in the direction of a generic driver that made it work in MC. Can this be done with ver. 11 and where can I find that driver again.

Was it this driver: http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ ?

4)Is it possible to have MC play the movies/video/visualisations on one monitor (I.E. a projector) and have the controls on a regular touch screen monitor in theater mode? if so how do I do this?

I use that kind of setup all the time, except that I have a 17" LCD screen on a coffee table besides the sofa and I run the standard MC GUI on it. I have never actually tested the Theater View mode. It is designed for lower resolution display devices and I think it uses always the same display device with video and visualizations.

You can access the display options in MC11.0 by right-clicking the main display.

[theurbanhipster]

Welcome back!

Yes. A software codec with a passthrough option is needed besides MC. MC can use e.g. WinDVD or PowerDVD codecs. Also, a freeware codec AC3filter can be used for the audio part. AC3filter is very good for video files with DD/DTS sound.

I will try this and see how it works for me.

Any good sound card with a digital output will do. For standard audio files a card that can output 44.100 kHz without resampling it to 48.000 kHz would be better. E.g. M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and the external M-Audio Transit USB are good. I have used a Terratec card with great statisfaction. Their current Aureon series is very nice, but I think it's easier to find a good bargain on M-Audio products (if you are in the US). A well-known cheopo alternative is Chaintech 710, but I think it needs some tweaking before everything works flawlessly (I have never tried it).

Gonna do a little searching. I'm sure I have something in my boxes of stuff. If not it looks like a good excuse to go shopping.

Was it this driver: http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/ ?

YES! thats it. Thanks!

I use that kind of setup all the time, except that I have a 17" LCD screen on a coffee table besides the sofa and I run the standard MC GUI on it. I have never actually tested the Theater View mode. It is designed for lower resolution display devices and I think it uses always the same display device with video and visualizations.

You can access the display options in MC11.0 by right-clicking the main display.

I guess I'll need to play around with it to see what I can get it to do.