Difference between: DirectSound and non-direct? (1 Viewer)

[loadme]

hey all

so whats the difference?


having an onboard soundcard with 5.1 channels out (for left right front back sub)
and 1 sp/dif out.


i want to send the 5.1 (or even stereo or 7.1, depends on the source) in its original format from the videofile to my receiver via s/pdif

there are those selections:
"speakers (high def)"
"default direct sound"
"default wave out device"
"digital audio(S/pdif) (high def)"
"directsound: digital audio(S/pdif) (high def)"
"directsound: speakers"



i would guess,
- directsound means, its not being processed by my onboard soudcard and HAS to be processed from my receiver?
- everything without "s/pdif" has to be connected through those speaker connections, s/pdif has to be connected via "spdif output"

nearly right?


i would chose "directsound: digital audio(S/pdif) (high def)"
but is this the right choice for the best results?
and is it possible to hear stereo files with same settings through the same connection, too?



can someone clear things up?

 

[loadme]

can anyone tell me, if i should use

rather "digital audio(S/pdif) (high def)"
or "directsound: digital audio(S/pdif) (high def)" for better digital output?

 

[trythisone]

I believe DirectSound: renders are legacy software renders for programs written for windows XP. Choose the other one as it will go straight to your hardware.

 

[Owlsroost]

DirectSound is the standard Windows sound renderer interface (like DirectShow is for video and Direct3D is for 3D graphics). SPDIF is not processed by Windows - all the other renderers are processed through the Windows sound mixer.

SPDIF can carry stereo PCM, or AC3/DTS bitstream as a 'pass-through' from the video file - you need to set up the audio decoder to output AC3/DTS as 'pass-through' instead of decoding it.

Tony