Recommendations for Digital Set-Top Box Sound Card?

[AdmiralNemo]

Hi all,

My dad has asked me to build him a digital set-top box for his new home theatre system he is putting in. He is getting this nice Hitachi plasma TV and has plans for a Bose 7.1 surround sound system. He wants to build up a computer that will handle the fibre-optic S/PDIF output from the tele, decode it, and output analog 7.1 sound to his amplifiers. He was originally looking at the Creative X-Fi SoundBlaster, but I am having my doubts about their release of even a proprietary driver for Linux.

So, my question to you all is, what sound card would you recommend for this job? Is there a website I can go that has reviews of the best quality devices for this purpose? Has anyone had experience with this type of function? What would you suggest I get.

Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated. I really respect the opinions of the people here, and I would value greatly your input.

Thanks in advance.
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Help the Unanswered

[sonicbhoc]

Well, I don't know exactly what sound card you use, but when someone recommends a card, you can look at this guide to set it up:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Surround_Sound

I'm no expert on sound though.
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