User Manual

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME

9.3 DVD-Playback (AC-3/DTS)

AC-3 / DTS

When using popular DVD software players like WinDVD and PowerDVD, their audio data

stream can be sent to any AC-3/DTS capable receiver using the Fireface's SPDIF output. For

this to work, the WDM SPDIF device of the Fireface 800 (MME is not supported by every soft-

ware) has to be selected in 'Control Panel/Sounds and Multimedia/Audio'. Also check 'use pre-

ferred device only'.

The DVD software's audio properties now show the options 'SPDIF Out', 'Use SPDIF' or 'acti-

vate SPDIF output'. When selecting these, the software will transfer the non-decoded digital

multichannel data stream to the Fireface.

This 'SPDIF' signal sounds like chopped noise at highest level. Therefore the Fireface 800

automatically activates the non-audio bit within the digital data stream, to prevent most SPDIF

receivers from accepting the signal, and to prevent any attached equipment from being dam-

aged.

Multichannel

PowerDVD and WinDVD can also operate as software decoder, sending a DVD's multichannel

data stream directly to the analog outputs of the Fireface. All modes are supported, from 2 to 8

channels, at 16 bit resolution and up to 192 kHz sample rate. Up to 48 kHz, playback is also

possible via the ADAT outputs of the Fireface.

For multichannel playback, a WDM streaming* device, or the correct** MME playback device

of the Fireface 800 has to be selected in 'Control Panel/Sounds and Multimedia/Audio'. Also

check 'use preferred device only'. PowerDVD's audio properties now lists several multichannel

modes. If one of these is selected, PowerDVD sends the decoded analog multichannel data to

the Fireface.

* The option Interleaved in the Settings dialog has to be activated.

** Certain MME playback devices of the Fireface support multichannel playback (Interleaved)

with 2, 4, 6 and 8 channels:

-- Fireface Analog (1+2): Up to 192 kHz, playback on the analog outputs 1-8

-- Fireface ADAT1 (1+2): Up to 48 kHz, playback on channels 13-20

-- Fireface ADAT2 (1+2): Up to 48 kHz, playback on channels 21-28

Thanks to TotalMix, the software's playback channels can be routed to any hardware outputs.

Therefore a playback at 96 kHz using the analog outputs can also be done via both ADAT

ports. This also removes a limitation in some software (like PowerDVD 5), which always uses

channel 1 as first channel of a multichannel playback.

The channel assignment using PowerDVD is:

1 - Left

2 - Right

3 - Center

4 - LFE (Low Frequency Effects)

5 - SR (Surround Right)

6 - SL (Surround Left)

Note 1: Selecting the Fireface to be used as system playback device is against our recommen-

dations on system optimization, as professional cards are not specialized to play back system

sounds, and shouldn't be disturbed by system events. To prevent this, be sure to re-assign the

selection after usage, or to disable any system sounds (tab Sounds, scheme 'No audio').