5.1 Audio through Optical Output

[jdazzle34]

Hey everyone,

this is probably a big n00b problem, but i have no idea what i need to do to fix it. I've been setting up my computer this week since i'm back from school and decided to hook up my A/V receiver to it. My mobo is a gigabyte ga-965p-s3 w/ the Realtek ALC883 audio chipset. I've got it connected to my receiver with an optical cable. I can get stereo sound just fine, but if I switch audio over to 6-channel in the Realtek Setup software, I won't get any sound from the center/surround channels or the subwoofer. If i leave the computer in stereo mode, i'll get sound out of those speakers, but it's not real 5.1. I updated to the latest audio drivers from Realtek, but no luck. If anyone knows what i can do to fix this or can point me in the right direction, i'd really appreciate it.

 

[phide]

S/PDIF (the interface you're using) only supports stereo playback unless the stream is encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS. To put it bluntly, if you aren't spitting out DD or DTS, you won't get multichannel output.

 

[jdazzle34]

S/PDIF (the interface you're using) only supports stereo playback unless the stream is encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS. To put it bluntly, if you aren't spitting out DD or DTS, you won't get multichannel output.

okay, thanks for the help... but if i'm using VLC and watching a DVD, shouldn't I be getting full 5.1? I played a DVD on there, and i got the ambient noise from the L/R speakers, but no dialog (which should be from the center) and no low-frequency sound from the sub. Also, Realtek has it's setup menu and will play test tone through each channel. It won't play any of those test tones through anything but the L/R speakers... any ideas?

 

[Ladic]

I got exact same problem, but instead of the Optical, Im using Coaxial cable, which still shold be the same.

How do I get 5.1?

 

[phide]

okay, thanks for the help... but if i'm using VLC and watching a DVD, shouldn't I be getting full 5.1?

I don't know that program. You might need to read the documentation and ensure it's not performing decoding in software -- that's the task of your pre-amp.

Also, Realtek has it's setup menu and will play test tone through each channel. It won't play any of those test tones through anything but the L/R speakers... any ideas?

That's how it should be, because that doesn't output an encoded stream.

 

[jdazzle34]

turns out that the problem was getting VLC to play nice with S/PDIF outputs. Got that all fixed up and i'm running movies and such in true 5.1. Thanks for all the help

 

[Odin75]

turns out that the problem was getting VLC to play nice with S/PDIF outputs. Got that all fixed up and i'm running movies and such in true 5.1. Thanks for all the help

I don't have a problem, not I even have a setup like that, but I'm a very curious person, so...would you like to explain how you did it? It might help others. Thx.

 

[Nobi125]

What did you do to get VLC to work right?

 

[Ladic]

turns out that the problem was getting VLC to play nice with S/PDIF outputs. Got that all fixed up and i'm running movies and such in true 5.1. Thanks for all the help

how did u fix the problem? could u tell me the steps pls?

 

[Nobi125]

bump.

 

[Nobi125]

I guess this guy isn't going to tell us what he did.

I figured out what was causing the problem for me in case anyone is having it.

This screen shot shows you what you gotta do:

Select the Win32 wave option and then hit save, then restart VLC and you should be fine.

 

[Odin75]

Thanks for reporting back to the community. Because this is the point of HardForum. To share your experience with others, so we can grow as a better, smarter community. I just hate selfish people that just disappear after they get something done. But yeah, there might be a reason for him not reporting back, but who knows.