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Asus P5K-VM - how do I get 5.1 out of S/PDIF to work

H

HermosaBeach

n00b
Joined
Nov 22, 2007
Messages
7
Asus P5K-VM's coax S/PDIF output only seems to output to the left & right speakers. In my 5.1 setup, I don’t get any sound out of the left rear, right rear, center or woofer, when playing games or other 5.1 analog source material.

I have an 5.1 speaker setup - 6 speakers in total, connected up to a Yamaha TSS-1, which works great on my previous computer. I would normally connect S/PDIF output to S/PDIF input on the Yamaha and the Yamaha drives all 6 speakers. Great for games. Easy to control sound of individual speakers or all at once from the handy control box.

In the Realtek 3D audio control panel, if I select 4 speaker, 6 or 8 speakers and press the test play button, I only get sound out of the left and right front speakers. I see the other speakers light up on the control panel indicating the Realtek is supposedly sending out the sound, but no sound comes out the Yamaha. I connected up an extra set of speakers directly in the back to test whether sound was coming out the analog left/right rear - it was.

I have set volume to max for all speakers in both the Windows & Realtek volume controls.

I have tried downloading and installing the latest BIOS: v0602.

I have tried downloading and installing the latest Realtek drivers: Realtek ALC883 Audio Driver WHQL V5.10.0.5391 for Windows 2K/XP V5.10.0.5391

I have tried removing the standard High Definition Audio that Windows XP Pro installs, and then installed the latest Realtek drivers: Realtek ALC883 Audio Driver WHQL V5.10.0.5391 for Windows 2K/XP V5.10.0.5391.

None of the above have worked. What do I have to do to get 5.1 sound out of the S/PDIF ?

Update: It appears the Asus P5K-VM's audio chip does not contain support for DDL (Dolby Digital Live) which is required to encorde the separate analog channels into the digital stream and send it out the S/PDIF output. This means if you have a 5.1 sound system that expects 5.1 S/PDIF input, you'll only hear the left and right, when the original sound source is not already digitized (games). I guess Asus decided to save a couple bucks and not include this part of the sound chip.:mad:

Playing movies or other media that already has an encoded digitial stream such as dolby surround or DTS works great, as the onboard Realtek chip doesn't need to encode the separate channels, it only needs to send the already encoded digital stream out the S/PDIF output port :)

Dave
 
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