This topic has been discussed in great detail here.  The problem in a nutshell is that Vista will ONLY allow Media Center or Media Player to output to ONE audio output at any given time.  This is a problem for folks running whole house audio from the Media Center PC.  i.e.  The Digital output (Toslink or SPDIF) connected to Zone 1 in the receiver for the Home Theater and the Analog output connected to Zone 2 of the receiver.  Zone 2 powers the Whole House Audio system. 

Would a possible solution be to use an Xbox 360 as an extender?  

Can the Xbox 360 be configured to always play whatever stereo content is being played on the Media Center PC? 

Could the RCA outputs of the Xbox be connected to the inputs of the whole house audio system?

 

If the above is possible, $299 should solve a problem that Vista has created.

One solution we've come up with is low-tech, use a splitter / amp to Y the signal into the local receiver and zone 2 (or the multi-room amp).

An extender may be another solution if it can output analog and digital simultainiously (instead of trying to sync it - give up on that idea before you go mad). 

With a Y cable you only get analog Stereo to two recievers,  what we need is the ability to have Analog Stereo for 2nd Room and Digital 5.1 for the Home Theater, same source concurrently.

I wonder if when using Digital 5.1 output if a USB stereo "sound card" would output stereo audio?  These are as cheap as $15.  Has anyone tried this?

Or is there a breakout box that would take the digital signal and extract a stereo signal from it with pass through for Digital 5.1?

I have a similar audio setup.  I use a Creative x-fi audio card. It ouputs both analog and digital at the same time.  I generally prefer running analog so that I can enjoy the MLP audio from HD-DVD. Not planning on buying another Onkyo receiver at this time.

Are u saying that the Creative X-Fi Audio Card outputs both Analog and Digital in Windows Vista?  Or are you using Windows Media Center 2005?

I am sorry. I was inferrering that I also was using Vista 32.

Awesome.  I will buy a Creative X-Fi card and see if it is able to output both Analog and Digital at the same time in Vista for.

Which specific X-Fi card do you have?

Is it a half-height card?

Does it have a TOS-Link output?

I have the X-Fi Xtreme music edition. I beleive it is a full height card.  It comes without the Toslink connection. Although you can buy the model with the break-out box that contains a multitude of inputs/outputs including your Toslink. I found it too pricey, so I fabricated my own breakout box.

Have you actually done this?  That is using both digital and analog out at the same time?  Because I was under the impression it was a limitation of Vista to not let a single program use simultanous audio outputs?  I hope this works like you say, but I haven't read that you have actually tested this.

   I am not neccisarily trying to push the X-Fi at you, but on my onkyo receiver I have Video 1 reserved for HDMI input along with digital coaxial sound and Video 2 for component input along with multi-channel analog input. I prefer the analog because: it is a short run, the dac's onboard are of high quality and if I go digital I lose the use of custom filters.

   I am sure that down the road I will probably be forced to a DTS encoder, but right now analog is sounding very good in Vista.

You still haven't said if you are able to use both digital and analog audio at the same time (from the same program)...

I know you chan have both hooked up at the same time... but can you actually use both at the same time?  So can you start a song playing (through your analog hookup) then while it is still playing, can you switch to the digital hookup and still hear the song without changing anything on your computer?

Sorry for not stating clealy.  Yes you can output audio in both analog and digital formats simutainously in Vista 32 using X-Fi.  In fact if your receiver has multi zone support it will most likely prefer the analog while you still maintain digital for your local surround sound.

Can you please tell us exactly which X-Fi Card you have and if you are using any of the accessories such as the Digital I/O Module or the X-Fi I/O Console Upgrade Kit?

   I have the Creative X-Fi Xtreme music. I don't use their I/O expansion board. I fabricated my own for the sole purpose of attaching headphones and a microphone.  I use mini-RCA connectors for both simultaneous analog and digital outputs. My operating system is Vista 32 Home premium. 

   My only gripe thus far is that Creative's drivers no longer decode Dolby or DTS via hardware.

Here is a link to the X-fi:

 http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=14066