Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Sean Connelly" data-source="post: 6485" data-attributes="member: 3637">Hi guys,First time poster.&nbsp; I&#039;m a HS junior trying to make things work.&nbsp; I&#039;ve&nbsp; posted these questions in other forums without a single response.&nbsp; I&#039;m&nbsp; hoping someone around here might be able to help. If you want to see the&nbsp; entire back-story, you can follow this link:&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/sound-music-intercom/31018-help-putting-playback-system-together-please.html" target="_blank">Help putting playback system together, please?</a>I&#039;m just posting the Cliff&#039;s Notes version here...After reading endlessly through forums on the net, I think I&#039;ve answered some of my questions:The&nbsp; MacMini will not be a good video playback device, especially for&nbsp; Blu-Ray&nbsp;&nbsp; material.&nbsp; I don&#039;t think an external USB optical drive is&nbsp; reliable&nbsp;&nbsp; enough.&nbsp; And I don&#039;t think any Mac software will decode DVD&nbsp; and Blu-Ray&nbsp;&nbsp; audio and down-mix it to 3.1.&nbsp; A Blu-Ray drive, even with&nbsp; 7.1 analog&nbsp;&nbsp; outs, I don&#039;t think will down-mix the audio to 3.1.&nbsp;&nbsp; Besides, commercial&nbsp;&nbsp; Blu-Ray drives are really pricey.I can take the old PC&nbsp; (originally dual-core, 2 GB ram), which I&#039;ve&nbsp;&nbsp; already upgraded to 4 GB&nbsp; and Win7, pop a new video card in the PCIe&nbsp;&nbsp; slot (like a Geforce 640) for&nbsp; <a href="http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/HDMI" target="_blank">HDMI</a> connectivity and swap a Blu_Ray/DVD Combo drive for the DVD drive.&nbsp;&nbsp; I&nbsp;&nbsp; can pop a good 1394a card in the PCI slot to move the AudioFire12&nbsp; over.&nbsp; &nbsp; But that will bypass the Creative driver, meaning, I don&#039;t think&nbsp; I&#039;ll&nbsp;&nbsp; have anything to decode and down-mix the audio stream.&nbsp; And I don&#039;t&nbsp; &nbsp; know of any video playback software that will both decode and down-mix&nbsp; &nbsp; audio.Questions:Is there PC video playback software that will decode and down-mix 5.1 &amp; 7.1 audio to 3.1?Maybe I can use the SoundBlaster, using the S/PDIF (<a href="http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/coax" target="_blank">coax</a> or optical) outs, bypassing the on-board D/As?Will the Creative driver still decode and down-mix the audio using the S/PDIFs?Is there an inexpensive, external S/PDIF D/A I can use to connect to the PRO1?If&nbsp; I go with the AudioFire Pre8, losing 8 analog channels (4x4) but&nbsp;&nbsp; gaining&nbsp; a S/PDIF I/O, will I be able to pass a 3.1 audio feed onto the&nbsp;&nbsp; PRO1?My&nbsp; HS <a href="http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/TD" target="_blank">TD</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; keeps telling me that mixing consumer and commercial equipment&nbsp; will&nbsp;&nbsp; only give me headaches.&nbsp; At first, I didn&#039;t believe him.&nbsp; What does&nbsp; he&nbsp;&nbsp; know?&nbsp; He&#039;s a lighting guy. ;-)&nbsp; But my head is spinning about now.&nbsp;&nbsp; And&nbsp; I need to give my dad a realistic total for this playback system.Any suggestions?Thanks!Sean</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sean Connelly, post: 6485, member: 3637"] Hi guys, First time poster. I'm a HS junior trying to make things work. I've posted these questions in other forums without a single response. I'm hoping someone around here might be able to help. If you want to see the entire back-story, you can follow this link: [url=http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/sound-music-intercom/31018-help-putting-playback-system-together-please.html]Help putting playback system together, please?[/url] I'm just posting the Cliff's Notes version here... After reading endlessly through forums on the net, I think I've answered some of my questions: The MacMini will not be a good video playback device, especially for Blu-Ray material. I don't think an external USB optical drive is reliable enough. And I don't think any Mac software will decode DVD and Blu-Ray audio and down-mix it to 3.1. A Blu-Ray drive, even with 7.1 analog outs, I don't think will down-mix the audio to 3.1. Besides, commercial Blu-Ray drives are really pricey. I can take the old PC (originally dual-core, 2 GB ram), which I've already upgraded to 4 GB and Win7, pop a new video card in the PCIe slot (like a Geforce 640) for [URL="http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/HDMI"]HDMI[/URL] connectivity and swap a Blu_Ray/DVD Combo drive for the DVD drive. I can pop a good 1394a card in the PCI slot to move the AudioFire12 over. But that will bypass the Creative driver, meaning, I don't think I'll have anything to decode and down-mix the audio stream. And I don't know of any video playback software that will both decode and down-mix audio. Questions: Is there PC video playback software that will decode and down-mix 5.1 & 7.1 audio to 3.1? Maybe I can use the SoundBlaster, using the S/PDIF ([URL="http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/coax"]coax[/URL] or optical) outs, bypassing the on-board D/As? Will the Creative driver still decode and down-mix the audio using the S/PDIFs? Is there an inexpensive, external S/PDIF D/A I can use to connect to the PRO1? If I go with the AudioFire Pre8, losing 8 analog channels (4x4) but gaining a S/PDIF I/O, will I be able to pass a 3.1 audio feed onto the PRO1? My HS [URL="http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/TD"]TD[/URL] keeps telling me that mixing consumer and commercial equipment will only give me headaches. At first, I didn't believe him. What does he know? He's a lighting guy. ;-) But my head is spinning about now. And I need to give my dad a realistic total for this playback system. Any suggestions? Thanks! Sean [/QUOTE]

Verification