Sweex 7.1 External USB Sound Card

I bought this product to connect an Acer Revo 100RL computer (Windows 7 64 bit) to Logitech X530 speakers. This was the only way I could find to play DVDs in Dolby 5.1 surround sound, since the computer (like most laptops I think), does not have the sockets for the three speaker jack plugs. The expensive option would seem to have been buying either a decoder, a receiver or digital speakers.

There are several similar sound cards available - Startech, Siig, Trust and Digiflex. I looked at the reviews for all of them and opted for this as a middle price product from a reasonable company. I'd recommend looking at the reviews for the External Sound Card USB 6 Channel 5.1 Audio by Digiflex, which I found useful when trying to set this card up. The forementioned cards all seem to be based on the CMedia CM6206 chip, and apart from the makers label, some look identical.

There was no manual or instructions provided with my card, however I downloaded this from the Sweex website. It wasn't particularly informative, however I plugged the USB in, connected the speakers and loaded the software from the provided CD. That's when the problems seemed to start.

I see that the previous reviewer was pleased with the stereo output from the card, and I'd agree. It produced good stereo, but only from the front speakers, nothing from the others. I then spent hours trying to get the promised Dolby 5.1 surround sound. Tried all the tips in the reviews, researched on internet etc. Finally managed to get all six speakers working and testing properly in Audio Playback, and with sound from all when playing DVD. But it wasn't the elusive Dolby surround sound, at which point I began to wonder if all the reviewers who had succeeded so easily to get 5.1 surround sound meant just that - stereo sound reproduced on six speakers. CMedia say, however, that the CM6206 chip supports Dolby sound. I emailed Sweex for advice and they kindly told me the card wasn't a receiver which I knew and was of absolutely no help. As a last resort I downloaded the CM6206 driver(Xear 3D V7-12-8-2142) from a free driver site, opened the file, double clicked on the Windows 7 folder and downloaded the software and driver. Tried the DVD sound but still no Dolby. Checked driver update (using option of search computer and internet) in Device Manager\Sounds\USB Audio Device, but informed driver is up to date. I had noticed that Windows was downloading a driver while the folder download was in progress, which I had thought was odd, but with my lack of computer knowledge thought must be right. However tried driver update again, but this time in computer only. Another driver was found and downloaded. Did sound check again, played around with speaker input/outputs on the sound panel, and finally got Dolby 5.1 surround sound.I don't know enough to try to explain this, but it seemed to work.
Two final points.
I see that most people set the sound card to 2 channel input and 6 channel output. I found that this would give sound to all speakers, but for the Dolby sound the input had to be set to 8 speakers and the output to six speakers. Again I don't understand nor can explain this. The whole process has seemed to rely less on logic and more on "suck it and see".
For some reason at one point I had to swap the rear and the centre/sub woofer speaker plugs on the card to get correct sound - then at a later date swap them back when sound failed. Again no logical reason for this. There is an icon on the sound panel which opens a page allowing this, but it didn't seem to work for me.

I don't know whether my difficulties stemmed from an intermittently faulty card, my admittedly limited knowledge, or inadequate software, but it has been problematic to get this thing operating as it should. At the moment it seems to be working, but with fingers crossed.

It is cool device, has many features, but only after 20 times, when I tried to connect my PlayStation 3 using optical audio cable (and I faied to), I needed to go to manufacturer web-site, find the manual, and find one little point, that optical IN DOES NOT SUPPORT SOUND AND IT IS ONLY FOR RECORDING.
Well I still can connect it to my laptop, so I have 5.1 surround sound in my room. But if I would see that one point before buying, I wouldnt order it.

THIS ONE SOME OF YOU WINDOSWS 7 ES OUT THERE WILL KNOW IF YOU USE A WIRELESS HAED PHONE TO TAKE IN YOU MUSIC WITH THE INTERNAL CARD YOU GET LOSS OF SOUND THIS BAD BOY WILL TAKE CARE OF THAT...