[pulseaudio-discuss] Dolby Digital / DTS s/pdif pass-through

[Vincent Tschanz]

Hello,

This is my first message on this mailing list, I'm a standard Ubuntu 
user and a home-cinema amateur. I basically use Ubuntu as a mediacenter 
hooked to a videoprojector and a 5.1 digital decoder sound system.

I'm a little confused about Alsa and Pulseaudio and their respective 
purposes.

My problem is to get the AC3 (dolby digital) and DTS flux from movies 
decoded by my 5.1 Amp.

My sound card (HDA intel - ALC889) is connected to my logitech Z5500 
decoder with an optical cable (toslink).

I'm using mplayer or VLC with s/pdif pass-through enabled but I can't 
get any sound out of my speakers.

Ubuntu 10.10 currently use Pulseaudio 0.9.22.

Can someone explain to me in broad terms how things should work through 
Pulseaudio and Alsa?  And what I should do to get ac3/DTS decoded by my amp?

Thank you.

Vincent