I have had this soundcard for a year or so now. I have used it (and still do) for digitizing many DAT tapes via S/PDIF in over the coax interface. I had previously used it in a B&W G3 and an upgraded 7500 with a G3 upgrade card with lots of success.

I recently set up my Dual 1 Ghz G4 as a "media center" with my home theatre. I would like to be able to play the digital sound from DVDs, AVIs, etc that are housed on this computer through my Dolby/DTS amp. The 2496's latest drivers
(2.0.3+) suggest it will passthrough AC-3 or DTS via S/PDIF out. However I cannot get anything (even system beeps) to go out over the S/PDIF out - neither on 10.3 or 10.4 (I think its 10.3.9 and 10.4.2 but I am not sure).

In DVD Player, I have gone into preferences and chosen the Delta 2496 as the "Sound Output". If I connect RCA cables to the analog outs, I can hear the sound so its definitely going to the card. But nothing on the coax outs.

Partly, I am confused about what to set on the "Patch Bay" and "Monitor Mixer" tabs in the Control Panel. For the analog out, all I have to choose is "SW Out 1/2". The manual says that is where any sound generated by the mac comes through. However the S/PDIF Out column on the Patch Bay has a different option - "SW Out S/PDIF" (which is hard to read since its font size is 2-3 pts smaller than everything else on the screen). If I click this I hear nothing. No surprise, since the "Monitor Mixer" tab doesnt show any levels on there. Do I need to activate it on the mixer screen somehow?

Is anyone here using this card (or a similar one) that can tell me "step by step" what else I need to do?

Like I said, I've used this card alot but never tried to do S/PDIF out. I have seen the notes online about how the card should auto-set the right parameters when it sees an AC-3 signal (on the S/PDIF menu, set "professional", non-audio). Even manually changing these has no effect.

Ideas appreciated.