Seting up a Home Theater with Windows Vista

If you are using SPDIF, then you might think that the quality of the chips or Codec doesn't matter. Even though the audio bypasses conversion to analog audio, cheaper chips (generally those integrated into motherboards) can cause audio skips, crackling, or video sync problems (even with Microsoft's new MPEG audio decoder). If you are experiencing any of these issues, then you may want to check if SPDIF is enabled, even if you aren't using it. Some audio software has the SPDIF option even if the motherboard doesn't have a digital audio port! I have resolved nearly every one of my audio issues by using an add-on audio card and/or disabling SPDIF.