View Full Version : Can't get my PC to output 5.1
Hi,
I've been into home cinema for about 10 years and pride myself on knowing my way round a variety of setups, but this has me stumped.
I've got an MSI 865 Neo-2 V motherboard and it has onboard Realtek 5.1. I've bought an optional 'S-Bracket' so I can output via an optical connection, but can only get it to output 2 channels.
On the speaker set-up, I've checked the box for 5.1 surround speakers, and chekced (I think) the right option for the rear ports I have - but that's fairly unclear. I've also double checked that the AC97 is enabled in bios and downloaded the latest drivers.
I know its not outputting in 5.1 because I've got some Sony headphones that process DD/DTS, and flags to tell you what it is decoding - it only comes up as DOlby Surround. Also on the speaker test bit of the set-up the only speakers that register a sound are the main left and right - nothing from centre or rears. One other oddity is that from the audio devices section of the control panel, I checked the box for volume control for SPDIF output (it was unchecked by default which strikes me as suspicious) but when it came up it was greyed out and I couldn't alter it.
Also, when I did choose 5.1 output from a DVD, it still flagged as Surround, rather than 5.1, but went completely out of sync, so it looks like it was struggling to downmix the signal.
Oh, the drive's a Pioneer 104 DVD-RW if that's important.
It's things like this that convince me that computers are useless as media centres....
Can anyone help?
Uncle Nick
10-11-2005, 08:54
The only bit you've missed off is what DVD software you're using... and as that's the bit that chooses what to do with the audio bitstream coming off the disc it's slightly important! :)
You need to tell your DVD software to pass the 5.1 bitstream straight out of the SPDIF and not process it in any way. Tell us what software you're using, and someone will be able to point you in the right direction.
Ah...whoops
Nothing flash unfortunately - WIndows Media Player. If there's a better free alternative, I'd be happy to give it a try.
However - as far as I could tell, it wasn't outputting 5.1 on games either - Doom 3 to be precise, which does claim to have 5.1 on the back of the box....
ian turner
10-11-2005, 09:29
he means what dvd player drivers such as powerdvd or windvd or suchlike. win mp won't play dvds without the relevant codecs installed which don't come with windows as standard for some perverse reason
I was wondering about that - I was having a nose around the Windows website, and it was talking about DVD decoders, so maybe that's it...(but it plays DVDs ok, I watched region 1 Day of the Dead on it last night - or does it need the decoders to properly handle the audio?)
I do have the Nero media player, will that be any good? Or do I need to buy a DVD decoder plug-in?
ian turner
10-11-2005, 10:19
If it already plays the dvds then you have the codecs installed, its a matter of what. According to a thread somewhere else if its an oem version of powerdvd then you apparently can only play 2 channel audio but I've also found that some soundcards with optical out only do 2 channel audio as well due to copyright/patents they haven't been prepared to pay for.
Look through your program files menu and see if theres any entry for say cyberlink (for powerdvd) or windvd or suchlike.
My HTPC had me a bit stumped by not outputting 5.1 through SPDIF when I built it. I installed PowerDVD and configured it, setup SPDIF output in Media Centre and still nothing!
Like an idiot, I neglected to install the software for the sound that came with the motherboard - once I did this, all went smoothly and the sound is brilliant. I will know better next time to not use the drivers that Windows installs for you!
Hmmm, well I've downloaded the latest Realtek drivers so that wouldn't appear to be the problem.
I have no idea where the codec would have come from - this is a pretty new build and I've been careful not to put loads of junk on it - might try a free trial of some other codecs and see what happens. Nero? I do have a Hauppauge DEC, so wonder if that had some codecs on it that may have worked... (they wouldn't have been on the NVidia drivers for my gfx card would they?)
Does this mean I'll never get 5.1 through the SPDIF for games then? I have to plug speakers directly into the bracket? Bit crap that...
Uncle Nick
10-11-2005, 11:06
Does this mean I'll never get 5.1 through the SPDIF for games then?
Probably... whilst games will support "5.1" in that there's 6 speakers, it's not any sort of encoded 5.1 that the SPDIF can handle (eg Dolby Digital or DTS). To get that sort of output from your SPDIF you need to have a soundcard that can encode DD5.1 or DTS. Off the top of my head, I can only think of the nVidia SoundStorm chipset that can encode DD5.1 in realtime - perhaps one of the Soundblaster range can also do it?
I have to plug speakers directly into the bracket? Bit crap that... *cough* Realtek *cough* what did you expect? *cough*
Hmmm, well I've downloaded the latest Realtek drivers so that wouldn't appear to be the problem.
.
My problem was not the drivers but the actual software that was specific for the sound - some mixer thing! All worked well for me after putting that on.
*cough* Realtek *cough* what did you expect? *cough*
:)
Yeah, I was toying with buying an Audigy card of some description, but seeing as I'd only use 5.1 for games through my headphones (I have a full Home cinema set up in a different room) I thought onboard stuff would be ok -y'know, just plug in and away you go kind of affair.
More fool me....
Sorry to bump this again, but one last question to confirm:
So if I were to buy a decent sound card - say an Audigy 2 ZS. I can't get 5.1/7.1 positional audio through my decent quality home cinema kit through SPDIF, either coaxial or optical? You have to attach active speakers to the various outputs on the card?
Uncle Nick
10-11-2005, 14:55
I don't know mate - I'm sorry. I know that the Audigy will output DD5.1/DTS through the SPDIF from DVD software (ie it's just passing the bitstream on to your external decoder) but I don't know if it will encode all normal "Windows" sound, including the 5.1 using discrete speakers, into DD5.1 and out of the SPDIF for your external decoder to sort out. I only know that the nVidia SoundStorm chip I have on my motherboard will.
:shrug:
After doing a bit of digging, even the X-Fi won't do it, you need a sound card based on the "C-Media 8768+" chip - which has Dolby Digital Live encoding capabilities. (the "+" is important)
OK - Cheers for all your help. Will just live with games sounding fairly decent through the 'phones (but without scratching that geeky itch that it isn't 'proper' 5.1 :))
I have a couple of machines with Realtek 5.1 and they will absolutely output 5.1 sound if correctly configured in the drivers i.e. you have told them that you want 5.1 sound. The next issue is ensuring that whatever you are connecting to them is correctly configured and plugged into the three output sockets.
DVD playback is a separate issue and does require a proper software player which will cost money. You can get time limited versions to try them out - the obvious candidates are Powerdvd and Windvd.
Any dvd playing software will output the bitstream digital signal to the appropriate decoder it just needs to be setup correctly.
I cant remember where exactly but there is an option in WMplayer to output SPDIF digital, Which you would need to enable for it to pass the digital signal out to your amp !
ian turner
10-11-2005, 22:09
advanced under dvd in options probably except that as i have the oem version of powerdvd there are only limited options available and thats not one of them (though in powerdvd itself there is).
Check under the setup for the soundcard to enable spdif output.
Still no guarantee it will output 5.1 though
Cheers for all the replies guys - I tried a trial of NVidia's DVD Decoder lasst night and it works perfectly - DD and DTS streaming out nicely now! i checked my lilst of programs as well and there is something there from Intervideo, so I'm guessing that's how I wass able to play DVDs, but have no idea where it was installed from.
The next issue is ensuring that whatever you are connecting to them is correctly configured and plugged into the three output sockets.
Therein lies the rub. Take it by the three outputs you mean front, centre, rear etc. I had thought (wrongly, it would seem) that you could stream 5.1 for games through the SPDIF as well as movies but that doesn't seem to be the case. I imagine I could link the three outputs for 5.1 to my amp, and thereby treat the soundcard as an external decoder (essentially using my amp as a power amp only), but that's for the future, as my home cinema and PC currently reside in different rooms. I wanted to stream the 5.1 via the SPDIF so I could use my 5.1/DTS headphone which only have an optical input.
But as said earlier, at least the DVD side is working now, so ta very much.
Just thought of another noob question on this related topic - I'm slightly baffled by the various audio options on games - If I've got onboard sound but software AC(& codecs, should I be choosing software or hardware 3D sound.
Also, in my list of programs I noticed that it had EAX Unified - does this mean I can take advantage of EAX stuff in games as well?
Sorry for the repeated requests for help :)
ian turner
11-11-2005, 14:02
Intervideo is a nasty piece of work that some companies put as dvd players on their DVD releases and sometimes is the only way to access the bonus material that is for PCs only.
Select Hardware 3d sound unless you want to add to the load on the cpu.
As pointed out elsewhere the soundstorm chipset with some nvidia boards is one of the only known systems to translate into 5.1 output on the fly (though can't see anything specific in the setup on my system that includes this) . Since the sound in games tends to be data files and not an actual soundtrack i suspect that DTS is unlikely to be available in the forseeable future
Cheers Ian - will uninstall the Intervideo thing and see if it affects any apps.....
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