Surround Sound On A Powermac Options

[danerik]

Hi, I am in the process of getting one of the newly released PowerMacs, and I've started researching the possibilities of surround sound under OS X. I am in doubt as to wether I can continue to use the speaker setup I have now.

I will appreciate any links/suggestions as to what I need to do in order to hook up my setup on my PowerMac. Currently, the setup is a 5.1 System from Cambridge Soundworks, and as far as I can tell it can decode AC-3 digital audio. Is it possible for me to keep this?

What PCI cards/companies exist that can help add surround sound to my PowerMac?

I have tried researching this on the net, but have been frustrated in my attempts.

Dan

[deleted]

I will appreciate any links/suggestions as to what I need to do in order to hook up my setup on my PowerMac.  Currently, the setup is a 5.1 System from Cambridge Soundworks, and as far as I can tell it can decode AC-3 digital audio.  Is it possible for me to keep this?

In my experience, there is two different steps.

Do you want to mix a project in surround (say 5.1) with your sequencer? Pro Tools, Digital Performer, Nuendo, etc. can do this, but you'll need an audio interface with at least 6 analog outputs dedicated to monitoring the surround mix, like Synthetic said.

Do you want to encode a discrete 5.1 channels surround mix to AC-3, and then send the encoded soundtrack to your Digital AC-3 input on your amplifier? I know of a tool included with DVD Studio Pro (previously by Astarte) that can do this, but i have no ideas as how to send the AC-3 stream to the audio interface, then to the amplifier (through s/pdif, am i correct)? Even better in realtime?

IMHE, only Pro Tools has a TDM plugin to encode & send AC-3 to a digital output, IIRC. Dunno if it's realtime, anyone?

Interesting thread, if someone knows more about this, hint, hint :-)

Bye.