Does any one know of any receivers with a USB connection for the computer? I know I saw stereo units with a computer link but I haven't seen any receivers out there. What I would really like is a receiver and speaker combo but I can always get the speakers separately.

well have found something that might work out.Sonica Theater looks pretty good and it is only $119. The thing that I really like about it, is that it supports DTS. Does anybody know if this product is as good as it looks?

I think Onkyo makes one with something comparable (it's an ethernet port for connecting to a music server), but it's in the $1300 range. (The TX-NR900)
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?p=...lass=receivers

I have the Sonica THeater and I use it direct-connect to my outboard amps on my not-ht pc. It does not support DTS. It is just a sound-card on the end of a USB port. If your DVD software will decode DTS to 5.1, then the Sonica will play it just fine. But the Sonica and its drivers are completely AC3/DTS agnostic. But it does have Circle Surround II in the drivers which is kind of like Dolby Prologic 2.

I think you would be interested in something like the Yamaha RP-U200 CAVIT which is (apparently) just recently discontinued:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...l/-/B00005I9PS

Buy.com was dumping them for like $90 just recently.

doesn't power dvd support dts? so sonica theater doesn't support dts even if you run the digital outs to a receiver that supports dts?

Some versions of PowerDVD are able to decode DTS. All versions that are still commercially available will do "DTS pass-thru" out a sp-dif port. It is called pass-thru because the bitstream is just copied off the DVD and sent out the sp-dif port, no processing or decoding at all.

If you are using a version of PowerDVD that does DTS decode then the sonica theater will support that. It should also support DTS pass-thru out the sp-dif port to a receiver. But why bother with the Sonica if all you want is to route out the sp-dif to a receiver? Just get one of those $15 uber-cheap PCI sound cards that have sp-dif out and use that.

well I do have the version of powerdvd that has dts decoding and would also like the support of 7.1 surround for my new laptop. Another question about the Sonica has just come to mind, is USB 1.0 enough for 7.1 audio?
I looked at the Yamaha RP-U200 CAVIT but it wasn't what I was looking for, it isn't a 5.1 or 6.1 receiver and only supports 2 speakers. I which it was a 6.1 system I would get it in a sec, but alast it isn't.

it should be fine, in terms of bandwith.

ok sounds good