S/PDIF Types?

[Cryofax]

The motherboard I'm going to use for an HTPC doesn't have S/PDIF out. So I'm looking at something like a cheap Xonar DG PCI card so I can use its optical out. But then some review of the card says it doesn't do DTS. I assumed this to mean the card itself couldn't process and output DTS via it's own speaker jacks.

What I would do is pass the optical out right to my receiver for processing. I was under the impressions the digital signal itself was the same, and since I am not asking the card itself to process the dolby, dts, 5.1, 7.1, etc it shouldn't matter. Am I wrong? My receiver handles Dolby, DTS, up to 7.1

Also I'm hoping for a PCI card (instead of PCIe) because I'd already have a graphics card and Ceton InfiniTV4 in there using the two PCIe slots. For purely passing the S/PDIF is there any particular reason I'd need PCIe over PCI?

[spanner]

Yes You should be able to use optical out for your receiver to process. If you have a more recent receiver with HDMI , maybe a different graphics card with hdmi audio could be your answer. save some room in your case and allow for more audio options than spdif.

[Mike88]

Does you mobo have a SPDIF header on it? Some do & some don't. Take a look at the mobo manual. The header is usually 3 pins & you can buy a coax and/or optical SPDIF bracket for about $10-$20 that connect to it. The bracket replaces a blank slot cover bracket on the back of the PC.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-Gigabyte-M ... 3f030e3464

You have to get the correct one for your mobo because there is no standard as to which pin is signal, ground or +5V. Of course you can swap around the wires in the connector to make it work.

[Cryofax]

Yes You should be able to use optical out for your receiver to process. If you have a more recent receiver with HDMI , maybe a different graphics card with hdmi audio could be your answer. save some room in your case and allow for more audio options than spdif.

Neither my receiver nor projector do HDMI, but the HTPC should be okay in the future should that happen as my graphics card has HDMI output and S/PDIF input.

Does you mobo have a SPDIF header on it? Some do & some don't. Take a look at the mobo manual. The header is usually 3 pins & you can buy a coax and/or optical SPDIF bracket for about $10-$20 that connect to it. The bracket replaces a blank slot cover bracket on the back of the PC.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-Gigabyte-M ... 3f030e3464

You have to get the correct one for your mobo because there is no standard as to which pin is signal, ground or +5V. Of course you can swap around the wires in the connector to make it work.

I will look into that. Thanks for the tip!