My old motherboard died and I replaced it with a different brand. I need a sound card with optical or spdif out. What is a good, inexpensive card that won't give me any trouble?

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

The Chaintech AV-710 is a good sound card and is in the Dragon system.

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Marty

Long live Myth and Knoppmyth!!!!!

Yeah, but nobody sells it anymore. I can't even find one on ebay.

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

The reviews on Newegg.com on this sound card look promising:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829118105

On the third page of reviews there is one with a Mythtv/Linux refrence.

There are also Linux and alsa comments on these ones saying these also work:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829111001

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829270003

I am in the same boat. Looking for a card that has (preferably) optical out. I'm no expert in linux but I guess I've been learning. Still, I really don't want to spend another month or two configuring a sound card like I spent dealing with the semi-supported IR receiver & semi-supported tuner card that I was unlucky enough to buy at the beginning.

So while the newegg cards look good, I need to know that I'll be able to get them to work reasonably easily.

TIA,

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Paul O'Flynn

I've a similar priced sound card. I looked at the link and it looks very similar spec. My one is this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/98073 or the slightly more expensive http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106539. I forget which. All I had to do to get the optical out to work was un-mute in alsamixer. It has been going strong for the last few years.
hth

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Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

I have been using the card in tophee's 2nd URL for about a year and a half without problems. I found it here http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid ... -N&cat=SND but it appears it is no longer in stock.

Simply unmuted in alsaconfig, set audio device to ALSA:spdif and life was good...

On reflection I think it is the one shown by the second of my links too.

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Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

For us US-based folks, looks like we can get this on geeks.com

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CL-S8768-8

Silly q: If I was playing a movie or whatever that only has 2 channel stereo, will that still o/p through the optical cable?

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Paul O'Flynn

Hmmm, I didn't see an SPDIF on that card

I did the following:

Using alsamixer
* Unmute ALL IEC958 mixers

In Settings -> General -> Audio
* Set 'Audio output device:' to ALSA:spdif
* Set 'Passthrough output device:' to ALSA:iec958:{ AES0 0x02 }
* Select 'Enable AC3 to SPDIF passthrough' and 'Enable DTS to SPDIF passthrough'

In Media Settings -> Music settings -> General settings
* Set 'Audio device' to ALSA:spdif

Since I use Xine to play videos:
* Set 'speaker arrangement' to Pass Through

I set the input on my receiver to Full Auto, meaning it will switch to the appropriate mode/speakers based on the signal it receives - Stereo for music and SD watching/recordings, dolby digital for 5-channel signals, etc.

Ahem, indeed, brain cramp on my part....

Thx for the detailed settings, all I need now is a card with SPDIF!

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Paul O'Flynn

I like the idea of something that'll take me 5 minutes to get working. I signed up for an alert at geeks.com for when they restock it.

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

I had a quick look around yesterday, doesn't look like anyone carries this card in the US anymore (that I could find anyway). Hope it works out for you.

My guess is this is a discontinued product and that'll you'll never get a notification. Thus we need to find a new card. The word 'new' & 'linux' in one sentence makes me quite nervous based upon prior experience!

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Paul O'Flynn

I picked the card I linked to above after researching the chipset here http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page When I found that it had at least partial ALSA support I figured I would give it a shot given the $15 pricetag.

If you find a card that has the features you want, check it's chipset against the list found in the above link. After that a little Googling should show you if others are experiencing success or failure with that card/chipset.