pc to av amp question

[delboy13]

i have a media pc which i will be connecting to av reciever soon. i wanted to know if i can get a cheap soundcard with optical out so the av amp does all the work or do i need to buy a midrange one.
plus video card has only got dvi would hdmi give a better picture or same or does it depend on card capabilities thanks for any info using pc to watch movies on lcd tv

[ruudvandan]

before forking out for a new soundcard what sound outputs does your current soundcard have? If its just for SPDIF pass though then any card will do as long as it has the optical out.

there is no difference in quality between DVI and HDMI

[delboy13]

only got onboard sound with no optical out

[ruudvandan]

how good is your onboard sound? does it support HD audio, 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound? If it does I see no reason why you cannot use your computer to decode the sound. Won't be as good as a decent sound card but since you're lookin to do it on the cheap it will be a good start.

[delboy13]

not to bothered about cheap. i just want my av reciever to do the work. on board sound says it is realtek hd audio but it only has analog outputs no optical out

[ruudvandan]

well any card with an optical out will do. a lot of onboard sounds come with optical out these days so I can't imagine it being expensive.