Sound/Video Card Question

[RitingFool]

I would like to play DVD movies on my computer with 5.1 Dolby Sound, like most recent movies have. My current system is as follows:

HP P4 2.4GHz
512MB RAM
DVD Player - came w/computer (listed as JLMS XJ-HD1665 in Hardware Mgr)
64MB ATI Radeon 8500LE video card
Audigy Gamer sound card
Altec Lansing 2.0 speakers

From these specs, I gather that I can play DVD's with 2.0 Dolby Stereo capability. Am I wrong? As a test, I popped in Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Rings DVD. It's two audio choices, 5.1 Dolby EX and 2.0 Stereo both played the movie with sound. Am I really getting the 5.1, or is the software simply defaulting to the lowest common denominator?

Any help here is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Michael

[Larry_OHF]

I went to the creative labs website and looked at the info on your sound card, the Audigy Gamer Although not specifically listed, somewhere in all that jumbo on another page I found out that (If I read it correctly) you indeed have 5.1 capability on that card...but your speakers are only 2.0.

I am pretty sure you would have to have speakers that do 5.1 to get the 5.1 surround. I have 5.1 speakers...and can hear each individual speaker do it's thing. I have this one..

Note: For great movie sound, you'd want something that looked like this. Notice all the little icons at the top...THX, DVD, Dolby, and EAX. That is good stuff there!

[RitingFool]

Thanks for that assist, Larry! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Regards,
Michael