ok here's what i have. i have copied all the video files from a dvd using either dvd43 or anydvd. everything worked fine there. i am using powerdvd for playback. i have a soundblaster audigy with optical outputs. i am using these outputs to send the dolby digtal signal to my receiver. it seems though that the sound is slighty softer when i play the dvd from my computer different than when i play the dvd on my panasonic player also using optical outputs. shouldn't ac3 code be the same whether from a dvd player or computer. is ac3 code able to be amplified.
You can adjust the AC3 playback properties if you have the codec installed. Not all dvd players are the same. Some sound crap while others are fine.
Also check soundblaster settings.set card to pass through multi channel sound , not to decode it.if the sound card is set to decode ,multi channel sound will only be availible on analog outputs