I'm still trying to figure out what I want before buying anything. Foxconn has an interesting motherboard -- 6150K8MA-8EKRS. It's basically a GeForce 6150 board, but with 3 PCI slots and only 1 PCIe.

NewEgg link

From reading manuals online, it appears to have a SPDIF connector that has the same pin arrangement as on the Asus A8N-VM-CSM. I think it might be compatible with the SPDIF accessory sold by excaliburpc.com but I'm not sure. Has anyone tried this yet? Anything I need to know about getting digital audio to work with recent drivers?

It doesn't have DVI, but at least it has VGA and a TV bracket. That's interesting because we don't have a digital TV, we're still using s-vid and component.

Any comments about this board?

bouncey,
I recently purchased this motherboard with the intentions of building a mythtv box around it. So far it works great, I installed knoppmyth R5D1 without a problem. I have not had a chance yet to explore my setup completely but I am pleased with what I am seeing and the possibilities. The SPDIF connector is on the motherboard, but you will have to purchase an accessory as you mentioned since there is not one included.

Thanks for the comments! I ended up ordering an ASUS M2NPV-VM. It's very similar, but it has HDTV component video and DVI outputs. It's also an AM2 board that uses DDR2 memory.

Only 2 PCI slots... But that's okay, the other 2 PCIe slots will be covered by audio and video outputs anyway.

Should be here in a few days.

bouncey,

I have the foxconn board 6150K8MA-8EKRS and just ordered the accessory from excaliburpc.com. I've tried to make my own coax cable connecting to the SPDIF-out and Ground connectors on the MoBo without much success.

ASUS
ASUS Motherboard Accessories SPDIF Out + Coaxial (In and Out) + Optical Module, 4-pin cable included. ( Free Shipping via USPS First Class Mail only )

SKU:
SPDIF OUT/COA+OPT

I'll let you know if it works.

I received the Optical / Coax digital interface accessory yesterday and try as I might I'm unable to get digital audio to play out the interface. Analog stereo works like a charm.

So far I've tried the optical interface and next step is the Coax.

modules are loaded:



device is registered



ALSA can see the device



I've turned on(unmuted) the IEC958 in alsamixer
followed that with a /usr/sbin/alsactl store and a reboot

It is registered in Utilities Setup --> General --> page 3

as. . .ALSA:iec958:{ AES0 0x02 }

I've tried the /dev/adsp with and without AC3 passthru

I've been referencing these pages:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Co ... ital_Sound

http://knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page ... AudioHowTo


I think my mistake comes from using the intel_8x0 driver

nvidia's site states:

Component Platform Use this driver
Audio (AC97) nForce-1 – nForce-4 intel8x0.c
Audio (HDA) nForce-430 and later hda_intel.c

The 6150K8MA-8EKRS has the nForce-430

Back to square 1

I think I'll start here and reinstall Alsa with hda_intel support

http://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Module-hda-intel

edit: 9/26/2007

I reinstalled Alsa with hda_intel support, no luck. Now Alsa Mixer does not see a device. Analog audio still works in stereo mode within MythTV, so life goes on. I have some bigger HDs coming in and I think I'll try a clean install of R5F27.