RME HDSP 9632 [22/87] Dvd playback ac 3 dts under mme

User's Guide HDSP System HDSP 9632 © RME

12.2 DVD-Playback (AC-3/DTS) under MME

AC-3 / DTS

When using popular DVD software player like WinDVD and PowerDVD, their audio data stream

can be sent to any AC-3/DTS capable receiver, using the Hammerfall DSP's SPDIF output. For

this to work the SPDIF output wave device has to be selected in >Control Panel/ Sounds and

Multimedia/ Audio<. Also check 'use preferred device only'.

You will notice that the DVD software's audio properties now allow to use 'SPDIF Out', 'Use

SPDIF' or to 'activate SPDIF output'. When selecting these, the software will transfer the non-

decoded digital multichannel data stream to the Hammerfall DSP.

This 'SPDIF' signal sounds like chopped noise at highest level. Therefore the HDSP 9632 auto-

matically sets the non-audio bit within the digital data stream, to prevent most SPDIF receivers

from accepting the signal, and to prevent any attached equipment from being damaged.

Multichannel

PowerDVD can also operate as software decoder, sending a DVD's multichannel data stream

directly to the analog outputs of the HDSP 9632. Supported are all modes, from 2 to 8 chan-

nels, at 16 bit resolution and 48 kHz sample rate. Playback via the ADAT output of the HDSP

9632 is also supported.

For this to work the option Interleaved has to be activated in the Settings dialog, an output wave

device of the HDSP has to be selected in >Control Panel/ Sounds and Audio Devices/ Audio<,

and 'Use only default devices' has to be checked. Additionally the loudspeaker setup, found

under >Volume/ Speaker Settings/ Advanced< has to be changed from Stereo to 5.1 Surround.

PowerDVD's and Win DVD's audio properties now lists several multichannel modes. If one of

these is selected, the software sends the decoded analog multichannel data to the HDSP.

The device selected as Preferred Playback Device defines the first playback channel.

The typical channel assignment for surround playback is:

1 (first chosen playback channel) - Left

2 - Right

3 - Center

4 - LFE (Low Frequency Effects)

5 - SR (Surround Right)

6 - SL (Surround Left)

Note 1

: Setting the card to be used as system playback device is against common sense, as

professional cards are not specialized to play back system sounds, and shouldn't be disturbed

by system events. To prevent this, be sure to re-assign this setting after usage, or to disable

any system sounds (tab Sounds, scheme 'No audio').

Note 2

: The DVD player will be synced backwards from the HDSP card. So when using Auto-

Sync and/or word clock, the playback speed and pitch follows the incoming clock signal.