First, im using SPDIF. I found this answer while searching google, but it doesnt make sense to me, and ill explain why....
The standards for S/PDIF were set long before the existence of FLAC or of > 2 channel uncompressed PCM. Thus it cannot transport newer formats -- FLAC, DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD, etc -- nor can it transport uncompressed PCM with more than 2 channels. It just wasn't designed for it. If you want to listen to those formats you have 3 options -- get a sound card that supports > 2 channel analog output and send that to the multi-channel input on your home theater receiver, or get an HDMI sound card, or use software to convert on-the-fly to one of the older lossy compressed formats that is supported by S/PDIF (AC-3/Dolby Digital, or standard DTS).
Your movies and AC-3 files are already in those older, lossy compressed formats. So no further conversion is needed to send those audio streams over a S/PDIF transport. Nothing odd about it!
I know for a FACT that these files used to play on XBMC just fine. Pink Floyd, Dark Side Of The Moon in 5.1 96 khz 24 bit was golden. Maybe it was the Eden upgrade when they stopped working, im not sure, but I have to be missing something silly.
If the above explanation is correct, is it possible that my old sound card (I changed it because if was clipping) was somehow down-sampling on the fly or something?
Any help is appreciated.
The standards for S/PDIF were set long before the existence of FLAC or of > 2 channel uncompressed PCM. Thus it cannot transport newer formats -- FLAC, DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD, etc -- nor can it transport uncompressed PCM with more than 2 channels. It just wasn't designed for it. If you want to listen to those formats you have 3 options -- get a sound card that supports > 2 channel analog output and send that to the multi-channel input on your home theater receiver, or get an HDMI sound card, or use software to convert on-the-fly to one of the older lossy compressed formats that is supported by S/PDIF (AC-3/Dolby Digital, or standard DTS).
Your movies and AC-3 files are already in those older, lossy compressed formats. So no further conversion is needed to send those audio streams over a S/PDIF transport. Nothing odd about it!
I know for a FACT that these files used to play on XBMC just fine. Pink Floyd, Dark Side Of The Moon in 5.1 96 khz 24 bit was golden. Maybe it was the Eden upgrade when they stopped working, im not sure, but I have to be missing something silly.
If the above explanation is correct, is it possible that my old sound card (I changed it because if was clipping) was somehow down-sampling on the fly or something?
Any help is appreciated.