Vista surround sound setup

Y

Yanks2435

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
167
I have a Sony 5.1 system hooked up to my computer by optical cable to my P5Q-E, but I'm not getting any sound from the center channel. Soundmax doesn't give me an option to raise the volume on any speakers except the two front ones, and there is no way to set Vista to a 5.1 setup that I am seeing. I know I am missing something kind of obvious, I just can't figure out what it is :(
 
DDL/DTS Connect enabled? If not then you will be limited to stereo on SPDIF. I'm assuming you are using onboard sound here.
 
-=Antimatter=- said:
DDL/DTS Connect enabled? If not then you will be limited to stereo on SPDIF. I'm assuming you are using onboard sound here.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's onboard, the P5Q has oboard Optical and SPDIF. I have no idea how to see if that is enabled though
 
Yanks2435 said:
I have a Sony 5.1 system hooked up to my computer by optical cable to my P5Q-E, but I'm not getting any sound from the center channel. Soundmax doesn't give me an option to raise the volume on any speakers except the two front ones, and there is no way to set Vista to a 5.1 setup that I am seeing. I know I am missing something kind of obvious, I just can't figure out what it is :(
Click to expand...

You need to go into Vista Media Center and run the configuration wizard for your speakers. Soundmax will never show all 5.1 speakers if your using SDIF as it is setup to only show speakers connected to the add-in card (Supreme-FX). When running the wizard you will be asked if your are using SPDIF/optical and once you select that you should be fine.

I have a similar mobo (Asus P5E) running Vista Ultimate 64 bit connected with optical to my Sony reciever and I hear 5.1 just fine (when watching a movie on my computer) and also 2.1/stereo (when watching recorded TV from my computer).

Please note you will only hear 5.1 when you are listening to a source that is 5.1 (which normally only applies to TV or music).
 
OP, what is the source you are trying to playback? Unless you are playing back an encoded DD or DTS audio stream, you WON'T get anything from the center or surrounds by design.



-=Antimatter=- said:
DDL/DTS Connect enabled? If not then you will be limited to stereo on SPDIF. I'm assuming you are using onboard sound here.
Click to expand...

How do you know his onboard audio device has DDL/DTS:C encoding?
 
No center speaker audio from music or a couple games that I tried. I figured L4D would do it, but I guess not. I'll try Crysis later.

Asus says the Xonar D2X can convert stereo to surround, but I'm assuming that isn't really what it's doing, right ?
 
Yanks2435 said:
No center speaker audio from music or a couple games that I tried. I figured L4D would do it, but I guess not. I'll try Crysis later.

Asus says the Xonar D2X can convert stereo to surround, but I'm assuming that isn't really what it's doing, right ?
Click to expand...

Ok, do us a favor and list all the parts you are using. I assumed you were going straight from your motherboards optical port to a receiver (what I am doing). It seems you may be using a sound cards optical port based on that post.

Also you might try watching a movie in Vista Media Center. It should play in 5.1 if its possible.
 
I am going right from the motherboard right to the receiver by Optical. My motherboard is a P5Q-E.

The thing about the Xonar was meant as a different question, sorry for phrasing it poorly.

edit: Playing a movie works.
 
Yanks2435 said:
No center speaker audio from music or a couple games that I tried. I figured L4D would do it, but I guess not. I'll try Crysis later.

Asus says the Xonar D2X can convert stereo to surround, but I'm assuming that isn't really what it's doing, right ?
Click to expand...


Like I said, music and games are 2 channel sources. Everything is working fine if you are only getting stereo output.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top