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Surround Sound

S

sjjordan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2003
296
1
United States
What's up guys?

Quick question. I have a surround sound system from logitec. Can I put in a new soundcard into a powerbook/iMac ect. so that I can have surround sound?

I know nothing about this.
If so, what do you recommend. I know there are audio buffs out there.

Steve
 
Not into an iMac or a PBook, you'd need a PCMIA card for the portable and/or a FireWire/USB box for the iMac.

Most soundcards are PCI cards and usually go into the towers.

There are certainly PCI cards that support surround, usually over a digital or optical connector, or physical analog outputs.

There are systems like MOTU's 828 FireWire box, which is a pro-level system, but it's £800 (uk).

Hope this helps.

P.S. You should really post these questions in the Hardware or Questions/Tips forums.
 
i know the sound would be bad but you may want to consider if no options are left, just using simple rca plugs and a headphone jack.
 
I was told by a salesman at a University Computer store that the Power Mac could not support surround sound. That a stereo system like Cambridge Soundworks would work! :confused:
 
The only problem I see with 5.1 and greater surround sound right now is the fact that Apple's DVD player does not support multi-channel sound. Hopefully that will change soon with the advent of the new towers.
 
Originally posted by job
The only problem I see with 5.1 and greater surround sound right now is the fact that Apple's DVD player does not support multi-channel sound. Hopefully that will change soon with the advent of the new towers.
Click to expand...

That is indeed a problem, I think that with the towers getting S/PDIF in/out though..Panther's DVD player is likely to have AC3 passthrough..
 
Originally posted by vniow
That is indeed a problem, I think that with the towers getting S/PDIF in/out though..Panther's DVD player is likely to have AC3 passthrough..
Click to expand...

Word is its optical, sticking SP/Dif connectors wouldn't make a whole lot of sense when there's so much T/Dif and EBU kit kicking around.

You can export nearly all of the Dif formats down the lightpipe, then sort it out at the other end.

I hope Apple will support DTS encoding as well as AC3, it sounds MUCH better and is supported in DVDSP2 I think, plus most of the newer surround amp systems support it. AC3 is reaching the end of it's shelf life IMO.
 
Re: Re: ?

Originally posted by vniow
http://midiman.com/products/consumer/sonica_page1.php
Click to expand...

I hope this little sonica box is as good as the sound of the marketing and reviews, I just ordered one, so hopefully many thanks for the tip.

I'm doing this more out of spite than to satisfy my audophilia. A moronic PC friend of mine told me not to bother spending anything on audio for a laptop. Rather get a full blown proper home cinema set up. Bo**ocks to that. I'm semi- nomadic. If this thing works I got myself the whole deafening surround sound effect Creature 4.1 system for £110. And the right size to easily post on to my next address. That'll do me.
 
Re: Re: Re: ?

Originally posted by billyboy
I hope this little sonica box is as good as the sound of the marketing and reviews, I just ordered one, so hopefully many thanks for the tip.

I'm doing this more out of spite than to satisfy my audophilia. A moronic PC friend of mine told me not to bother spending anything on audio for a laptop. Rather get a full blown proper home cinema set up. Bo**ocks to that. I'm semi- nomadic. If this thing works I got myself the whole deafening surround sound effect Creature 4.1 system for £110. And the right size to easily post on to my next address. That'll do me.
Click to expand...

Thats the ticket, I got an Emagic EMT2/6 breakout on the 17" PB, I run it through a Dynaudio Air 5.1 rig sometimes, that will turn your head with the SPL:D

Mind, its nearly £6K, so it needs to rock:eek:
 
VLC Player needed for surround sound output

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I always understood that the standard Apple DVD player never did support surround sound and that you needed to use the VLC Player (which is freeware) to get that. This may all change with the "power of the update" of Apple's player, now that they do indeed have optical audio I/O and are selling a 5.1 system on their web site as of recently.

So, we'll see. :D
 
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