G73jh Spdif Output - Facts, Questions, Misunderstandings

I have a G73JH and have confirmed that the headphone jack is a combo jack that allows SPIDIF (OPTICAL) out. Strange that all the owners of the G73JH aren't looking for high end audio solutions. Here are my findings and questions if anyone wishes to offer feedback:

1. SPIDIF OPTICAL OUTPUT produces perfect Dolby Digital to my Onkyo Home Receiver. The receiver Lights up and tells me what audio it is detecting. However, this seems to only be the case for playing blu rays or dvd's through powerdvd. My assumption was that the G73JH just does audio passthrough through spidif optical. However, playing a game (that I thought supported Dolby Digital) only shows PCM audio on my receiver. (Modern Warfare 2). I tinkered with the in-game settings available which are windows default, stereo, 5.1. None of which lit up my dolby digital on my receiver.

So it seems that powerdvd is encoding the movie audio track and passing on to the SPIDIF OPTICAL output then to the receiver in AC3 format. cool thats fine.

I don't have any other games (yet) to test, but is MW2 just not support AC3 dolby digital?

I'm new to PC gaming so don't understand the whole Dolby Digital Live and Direct Connect people keep talking about. Specifically, if I need it, when I need it as it relates to hooking up to external receivers. I also know that the G73jh support CMS3d and EAX 4.0, but not sure what that does for me when connecting to my home theatre receiver?

The bottom line is that I want 5.1 sound from gaming. I come from the PS3/Xbox360 world where all games play 5.1. Is it safe to say that most modern games support dolby digital 5.1? rather complicated. I can see why console players like the plug it in and everything always just works... no drivers, setups or compatability crap to deal with.

I own a pair Tritton AX720s, TBX41's that take optical input and they work great on the PS3 and Xbox360 taking optical in, but plugged into the G73jh optical out... I get stereo only. (if you don't already know, the ax720 and TBX41's take dolby digital input and decodes it into Dolby Headphone).

So what's the deal with PC audio and specifically with the G73jh. Is there a USB sound card that would address this properly with certain drivers. I was looking at the Logitech G35 USB headset (acts as its own sound card) if I couldn't hook to my home theatre.

Anyone clarify add to the above. Please don't post unless you've worked on this issue or have interest in this topic.

 

I just use HD audio via HDMI- don't need the SPDIF.

If it's showing PCM, that just means that it's being decoded at the software level- sounds like the game you are playing is decoding or never encoding it to DD. As long as you're getting 5.1 audio (which should be easy to confirm) you're getting the same thing.

Make sure all your speakers are lit up on the Onkyo (what model?) and you're not using any special post-processing sound modes. Since you have the PS3 and 360 you should be familiar with getting PCM on some games as opposed to DD.