7.1 Sound Card

I now have good old XP in my computer but it has no 7.1 sound card.
I looked at one today but it has no USB output.
What 7.1 card can I get to install in my computer to give me a USB output
to drive my ILDA system?
HMike

You need to install a USB 2.0 PCI expansion card that'll provide USB ports for your computer. They're pretty cheap (such as this), and you can then plug your USB soundcard into that.

If your computer is old enough that it doesn't have a USB port, it may not be good for playback. Still, it's good to have USB ports on any computer you might have for USB flash drives and other conveniences; so you might as well try.

I have a new Dell 260 with both Win 7 and XP. USB ports aren't a problem.
I need a sound blaster which will output 7.1 to a USB port. This "new computer
doesn't know what 7.1 is.
HMike

We're talking SPIDIF over USB for 7.1 audio.
Correct?

It's the USB device itself that handles the audio. Get one of those CMedia 7.1 cards and it should work. I think you already have one anyway right?

Indeed, these cards/boxes come with drivers that allow for 5.1 or 7.1 output depending on the model. It's probably easier to get the correct drivers for usb models then for pci cards.

My new Dell doesn't appear to have any 7.1 drivers. I will search Cmedia.
My OLD laptop which is dying does have 7.1. WTF???
Thanks -- HMike

I went to ebay and found some C-media cards but none have a USB connector.
Do these also connect to an external USB connector?

I now have dual drives - One with Win 7 and the other starts in XP. Will
a C-media download give me 7.1 USB output without a card?

I don't think you're understanding how these things work. It may be because of the use of "card" which is that holdover from when all sound cards were expansion cards we put into computers. If you're talking about a USB sound card, it'll simply work as a device that you plug into the computer to your USB port. They're peripheral (external) devices like the ones mentioned in the stickies of this forum. Drivers may be needed, but often aren't so long as your computer is USB compatible. I think USB 1.1 is sufficient for streaming audio.

The other kind of sound device/card is an expansion slot sound card. These could be old ISA-based sound cards (like my first), PCI-slot soundcards (which I currently use), newer PCI-e sound cards, or even some that are built right into the motherboard itself. They're not USB cards, nor do they plug into USB ports.

Those CMedia sound cards are usually USB external soundcards, good for laptops or systems that you don't want to mess with opening the case. CMedia might also have some internal, PCI cards, but I haven't gotten any of those, and they're probably not so convenient for a DAC. Remember to always look for "USB" in the sound card title if you need one that is not an expansion slot card.

As for drivers, many USB sound cards work straight out of the box as an USB streaming device because of the USB standard. I don't know if WinXP is equipped for that; however Win7 it came with drivers that worked with my USB card out of the box. You should just plug the USB soundcard into your Dell and see if Windows XP accepts and uses the CMedia card as a 7.1 device, and if not, then find some drivers to use with it.

Oh yeah, and if you need an external CMedia card, here is the one I got working (Amazon.com). It needs USB 2.0. Make sure your Dell supports that.

What you are looking for is one of these: USB 2.0 6 Channel 7.1 External Audio Sound Card S/PDIF | eBay

Searching C-media on Ebay is not too helpful since these do not show up. However, this should work just fine with Dr. Lava's or anyone else's sound card DAC circuit.

Edit:

Alternate choices which should work just the same: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/extern...ard-optical-audio-adapter-black-41289?item=37

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/premiu...-1-speaker-spdif-optical-output-27059?item=32

I guess it depends how many channels you need, but all should work just fine.

I'm lost. I have this: a DAC to driver box.


Now I need to be able to drive this thing from my worthless new computer. It has no apparent capabilities to output 7.1 USB in either Win 7 or XP. My OLD laptops have 7.1 in device manager but this POS has nothing.
HMike

That DAC has a built-in sound card.. it's a cmedia card just like the one described in the tutorial. As long as you're running windows XP and have the cmedia drivers installed (located here) you should be all set.

The "7.1 USB" you're describing is actually a term for a 7.1 channel USB sound card, which is what that green board is on the right side of your pic above. It might also be a 5.1 channel card but that will work just as well.

A 7.1 channel sound card provides 8 channels of audio. A 5.1 channel card provides 6. 6 channels is sufficient for laser show use, as you only have X,Y,R,G,B in most cases.

That's my problem..... My new POS Dell computer
doesn't have a 7.1 driver. I will try to load a driver into
my XP partition in this computer.
Thanks -- HMike
I got CM6206 opened in Win 7. It "sees" my audio card.
Now I need to get a scanner program running or I may have to get
this running in XP.

It may just be that the sound card is new enough that the driver did not come with Windows XP. See if this driver works with that card:

CMedia CM6206 driver

From what I've seen inside the archive, there is a Windows XP driver in there in addition to Windows 7. Plug your card into the computer, then run the program and it should be able to find it and install whatever is needed. I can also extract the WinXP portion for you and attach it to a reply if that doesn't work.

Finally, how old is your Dell, and do you know if it has USB 2.0 capability? Some older machines will only support USB 1.1, and so you'd need to buy a USB 2.0 PCI expansion card to connect USB 2.0 devices--like your sound card. I linked you to such an expansion card above (2nd post).

This is a new DELL 260 something with a CORE 13. I have a C drive with Win 7 and a E drive with Win XP. I can select at startup which "computer" it will be.
I've unziped the CM6206 into the XP but it won't startup because there is no sound card installed. I guess my Ishow box doesn't count as a sound card.
HMike

oops -- its an Inspiron 620

Hemlock_Mike said:

This is a new DELL 260 something with a CORE 13. I have a C drive with Win 7 and a E drive with Win XP. I can select at startup which "computer" it will be.
I've unziped the CM6206 into the XP but it won't startup because there is no sound card installed. I guess my Ishow box doesn't count as a sound card.
HMike

Click to expand...

Can you find the exact model number?

Lase

It's an Inspiron 620, 3.3 Ghz with 4GB of RAM.

In Win 7, I try to run CM6206, it asks for a USB multi Channel audio device so
I plug in my Ishow box but CM can't see it.
In XP it can't find hardware.
HMike

My OLD DELL laptop runs Ishow with no problem. This new POS cant find its own A$$.