Can the Xbox 360 do 5.1 surround sound over HDMI?

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lamb110

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I just bought a 360 and am having trouble figuring out why it wont output 5.1 to my receiver. Right now I have the HDMI coming out of the 360 and going to my TV and then I used my TV's optical out to go to my receiver.

I have a pretty crappy receiver with no HDMI's and only one optical in. I have my PS3 hooked up to my TV with HDMI and then use the TV's optical out to the receiver and the 5.1 works just fine. The PS3 uses the same optical out to the receiver that the 360 does and it works just fine, so I was wondering if the 360 just does 2.1 out over the HDMI cable.

If the 360 doesnt do surround over HDMI and I have to buy the adapter that the Elite uses, then I will need a new receiver because I will need a second optical in which my receiver doesnt have. I'd rather not get a new receiver if I dont have to.

I've looked at the settings on the 360 and its set to 5.1 Dolby but it just doesn't out put at that.
 
I can't answer your question per se. However, I can confirm that the 360 does do 5.1 over HDMI (which is what I use). I believe you may be encountering some PCM issues with the HDMI to optical conversion from your TV out, but I don't know that scenario that well.
 
Ah, you have one of the few TV's that'll do the 5.1 out correctly.
As for the 360's HDMI cable, I ran into something similar a few weeks ago. I guess the HDMI will do 5.1 correctly, however it's sketchy for quite a few people. You might have to play with some settings (try toggling dolby stereo and dolby 5.1) or you might just not have much luck at all.
For mine, I have to toggle stereo and 5.1 to get it to work about 1/2 the time. I eventually just started using the toslink to save me the trouble.
You might also play with the settings on your TV-out or even your receivers settings, too.

From what I've been reading, I guess the 360 fall update is supposed to fix some hang-ups like this one so that might fix it, too. For now, you might have to go the toslink route.

Here's my thread from 2 weeks ago for you:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1339271
 
The Hedon said:
I can't answer your question per se. However, I can confirm that the 360 does do 5.1 over HDMI (which is what I use). I believe you may be encountering some PCM issues with the HDMI to optical conversion from your TV out, but I don't know that scenario that well.
Click to expand...
So you only have the HDMI cable plugged in the back of the 360?

My tv is a Samsung LN40A550 if that helps anyone with answering my question :)
 
^ +1 On most tv's the optical out only works with atsc(over the air dtv) signals
 
Have a harmon Kardon AVR-347 and using a single HDMI cable for both video and audio from the xbox 360 and received 5.1.
What your going to need is http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-HDMI-AV-Cable/dp/B000UODATY/ if you want to output an optical or coax signal to your receiver and want to run a HDMI cable to the TV. I have heard of people modding the component cable to get this functionality, but by default the space between does not allow both to be plugged in at the same time.
I have a samsung A750 LED DLP, but as other mentioned I thought that feature was only for OTA HDTV audio out to your receiver.
 
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dezertrat said:
^ +1 On most tv's the optical out only works with atsc(over the air dtv) signals
Click to expand...

True indeed. I tried that before I got my new receiver. Sound was horrible going from HDMI into the TV, out to the receiver via optical. I couldn't get 5.1 surround, and mono was barely working.

He is better off going direct to the AVR.
 
I'm having this exact same problem, and came across this thread in a Google search for the issue.

I have the following setup:

Xbox 360 --> HDMI --> TV --> Optical audio pass-through --> Receiver

The exact same setup works with my PS3 without any issues. It works 100% of the time when I play a game ... I get a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal directly to my receiver, so I am pretty darn sure that my Westinghouse TX-42F430S isn't causing an audio issue. FYI, my receiver is a ~6 year old Harman/Kardon AVR-225. It's one of the original black ones, not the newer, silver ones.

Has anyone found a solution to this problem? I just applied the new Xbox experience update, and I have "Dolby Digital 5.1" selected in my Sound Configuration.

Thanks!
 
You need to plug the HDMI into the receiver to get the 5.1 as most (all?) TVs won't send multichannel audio from HDMI to optical.

Do this:

360 --(HDMI)--> Receiver --(HDMI)--> TV

Otherwise if you don't have a receiver that handles HDMI then get the 360 cable that lets you use optical and HDMI.
 
Hi,

Thanks for your message, but I think you overlooked the part where I stated that my PS3 works perfectly, given the same setup.

PS3 --> HDMI --> Westinghouse TX-42F430S --> Optical audio out --> Harman/Kardon AVR-225

Solution 1: [Buy a new receiver that has HDMI] ... I might end up doing that eventually, but I shouldn't have to, since my PS3 works using the same method. The fact that the PS3 works is evidence that my LCD display is properly passing through a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal.

Solution 2: [Buy a special cable that supports optical out] See above.
 
lamb110 said:
So you only have the HDMI cable plugged in the back of the 360?

My tv is a Samsung LN40A550 if that helps anyone with answering my question :)
Click to expand...

If the LN40A550 is anything like my LN52A650, then it does NOT do 5.1 through the TV optical out, even if you're feeding an HDMI 5.1 source -- says right in my manual. Lame if you ask me.
 
pcgeek86 said:
Hi,

Thanks for your message, but I think you overlooked the part where I stated that my PS3 works perfectly, given the same setup.

PS3 --> HDMI --> Westinghouse TX-42F430S --> Optical audio out --> Harman/Kardon AVR-225
Click to expand...

Wow..what a piss poor way to ask for help. This is still an issue with your TV (entry level), not the 360. The 360 does 5.1 through optical and HDMI,
 
Are there (m)any TV's that have an HDMI-out? I've always thought that would be a really good solution. Almost everything uses HDMI these days, but almost nobody is actually getting the surround-audio component from it. HDMI receivers are only just now becoming standard and too many are still just working as switches.
 
Bogie 19th said:
Wow..what a piss poor way to ask for help. This is still an issue with your TV (entry level), not the 360. The 360 does 5.1 through optical and HDMI,
Click to expand...

Ummm I really don't see how his response was rude any anyway. He thanked the person for responding and then pointed out the information missed.

As for the OP. I have tried the same thing with my Samsung LN40A630 and I've had the same results. The PS3 is able to output 5.1 while the X360 does stereo. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling the X360 is detecting the TV as a stereo device despite setting it to 5.1 and the PS3 does the same, but gives you the option to manually set and disable sound settings. I'll try to test this out again tonight.
 
The 360's HDMI is wonky anyway. Check the AVS forums for "360 5.1 HDMI" and you'll note plenty of people aren't getting 5.1 sound via their receiver without resetting the 360's audio every time. With the new Xbox Experience, they even broke the sound driver for a few people even wanting 2.1 sound. It has to do with the HDCP handshake and supposedly there's a partial fix on the way.
Anyway, long story short - the 360's HDMI isn't perfect. These cases don't relate to everyone, but they're common enough.
I just ended up using the optical dongle just because I got sick of changing the sound settings so often.
 
Domingo is correct. The 360 (as well as the PS3's) HDMI isn't perfect. However, while I knew that MS was aware of the NXE problem in regards to NO SOUND for a select few using HDMI, when did they say they were going to release a "partial" fix. I read they were going to FIX the issue.
 
Bogie 19th said:
Domingo is correct. The 360 (as well as the PS3's) HDMI isn't perfect. However, while I knew that MS was aware of the NXE problem in regards to NO SOUND for a select few using HDMI, when did they say they were going to release a "partial" fix. I read they were going to FIX the issue.
Click to expand...

They're going to fix the 2.1 issues, but from what I read on the AV forums, the 5.1 issue is hardware related and is just one of those things people have to live with. It's not totally broken like 2.1 support, it's just a little messed up :)
 
Domingo, I didn't mean any offense, but I'm sure you knew that. I appreciated the reply, but wanted to make sure you fully understood my situation.

I guess I'll just live without Dolby Digital 5.1 on my 360 for now. I have my eye on the Onkyo SR-606, but I just missed a Newegg 1-day deal for $288, and now I don't want to spend the $339, haha.
 
I am not saying you are wrong, but I don't believe what they are posting there (I post at AV forums as well). Considering 5.1 works prior to NXE, and if NXE has changed this for some since the update, it's obviously software related for the few experiencing any problems. And MS has never stated such. Not to mention, I haven't had any issues in this regard.

However, I do have some crackling in PGR4 after installing the game to the HDD. I checked out the PGR4 forums, and others have also mentioned the same crackling sounds from the car engines when installing to the HDD.
 
Mine:

360 --> LG 47" LCD TV via HDMI ---> Optical out to receiver.

At first, only 2.1 worked. Then I looked in the TV's menu and found some weird-named setting about surround sound. Turned that on and it works beautifully! I intentionally face the wrong way from people in Fable 2 to let them talk behind me. :D



EDIT: The setting on my TV is called "SRS TruSurround XT" and it must be on. And it's not just shitty upsampling, movies sound great and like I said, I turn circles in all my games and shit just to make the voices fly around me.
 
JohnleMVP said:
I'm glad its working for you and maybe your tv works that way, but the definition for SRS TruSurround XT doesn't sound like what we want.

"Tru-Surround is a sound-scheme that has the ability to take multi-channel encoded sources, such as Dolby Digital, and reproduce the multi-channel surround effect by just using two-speakers."

http://hometheater.about.com/od/hometheaterglossary/g/trusurrounddef.htm
Click to expand...

Hm. Well that doesn't sound good. The TV speakers are OFF...?
 
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