AARDVARCUS

I am looking to dual purpose my sig rig into a htpc. Some day, when I have more money, I will build another computer for my 3d graphics work and dedicate this machine solely to HTPC, but in the meantime it will have to share.

Basically, I want to add a blue-ray drive, 7.1 sound card, appropriate software, and actually get 7.1 analog sound out of it. I have heard bad reviews about blueray drives only outputting 2.1 sound, and "7.1" soundcards that only output 5.1 because they mix the side and rear channels so that only special speakers can decode it.

I need this to be a high quality upgrade, as this will probably be my only HTPC for a long time, but I also don't want to just waste money on something that isn't better. What are your suggestions for soundcards, and what are my options on software? I am running Vista x64 HP.

The analog outputs will be feeding my set of McIntosh 1900 recievers and then on to my JBL Century L-100's , along with some altec lansing valencia speakers(to be changed to L-100's).

EvilGenius007

The complaints about getting only stereo sound from Blu-Ray drives is almost certainly due to the fact that the software bundled with the popular LG BR/HD/RW is only capable of stereo output. To play full 7.1 sound you'll need a full retail version of Total Media Theatre (Arcsoft), Power DVD (CyberLink), or WinDVD (Corel).

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Mr Bear

There still are not that many movies/games encoded for 7.1 hence why its mixed.

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