Which sound card

[drdata]

I have not kept up with sound technology in awhile. If I have sound card that has surround sound, will it be able to decode the sound from the satellite or OTA? If so, what is the best way to get the sound into my receiver?

[Sorcerer1089]

I use an Audigy2, but an XFi would be even better. It gives you THX certified output and with the right cabling, will plug into just about any receiver.

[TomXP411]

The answer is: it depends.

Audigy cards can decode AC3 on-board. Other cards require a software decoder to do it. Personally, I run an optical cable from my card to my receiver and let the receiver do the dirty work.

BTV's internal decoder should decode the AC3 bistream in to 5.1, but I haven't tried it. If it doesn't work, You will need a 5.1 capable codec; for someone reason, BTV doesn't automatically recognize the sytem's available codecs, so you have to manually configure them. A popular (free) codec is AC3Filter. Look up my recent post about using AC3Filter with BTV.