How to get digital audio when using DVI on vid card

[sabre]

Hi all,

I am upgrading to a 42" HDTV and will look to record HD via firewire from STB, along with PVR-150 and Aver 1500 cards for analog capture. I have a Geforce 6200 vid card, and will use the 'DVI out' to 'HDMI in' on the TV. I have a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card. My question is, will I be able to get digital audio out on that card (which color output?), and if so I imagine i would have to use an adapter from the output to a coaxial audio cable into TV?

Would this be the best route for best performance, or would i get the same performance with DVI+analog RCA audio (green output on sound card)? Thanks

[lobosrul]

HDMI carries audio, DVI does not.

You'll need to use the SPDIF out on your soundcard for digital audio.

Edit: there are cheap adapters (like $10) to go from mini-mic (the standard analog audio on sound cards) to RCA (the red/white connecters that TV's generally accept). If your using on board sound on a TV (2 speaker) you really dont need digital audio. Maybe an audiophile could tell the difference, I dont know.

[sabre]

thanks lobosrul,

So it appears you are saying that digital video performance from DVI will not suffer by using an analog audio source -- ie. they will sync and output fine. But if I wanted better audio sound, say to run into a receiver for 5.1, then digital would be needed/best.

If I did want to use digital audio, are there adapters (3.5m) to go from SPDIF on sound card to a coaxial digital audio cable?

[lobosrul]

In my experience theres adapters for everything.

Heh, since its a sloooooooooowwwww day at work I just did the leg work for you: http://www.hdtvhookup.com/diaucospcoto.html Theres one for 17 bucks.

... "google helping ppl look smart since 1998" - quote i heard in a chat room

And your other question, no there should be no sync problems using analog audio, and if there are you can set sage to delay the audio.

Edit: that product says something about "toslink" I dont know if thats what you want or not after all.

[malore]

To connect the spdif output from a sound card to a receiver or tv that has a coaxial digital audio input you need a 1/8" Mono Plug to RCA Phono Jack converter like this one from radio shack. I just used 25' of cheap audio cable and it works fine, so you probably don't need an expensive digital audio cable if you don't want it.

You'll also might need to adjust you sound cards setting to use the spdif for digital audio output. Additionally you may need to configure the mpeg audio decoder to use the spdif to output dolby digital and DTS.