Hi.
So I recently bought a 7.1 receiver which is great (Yamaha), except for the fact that I simply can NOT get multiple-channel audio out of my rig!
At first I was running an ECS KN1 Extreme. I had the audio driver installed, I tried configuring it for 5.1 and 7.1 but may amp only ever got a stereo signal. (This was using the coaxial spdif output.) I also made sure the speaker set up in Windows' audio properties matched the one I selected in the control panel added by the driver for the mobo.
I recently built a new system centered around a C2D with a Gigabyte DS3L mobo, which like the KN1 Extreme has coax and optical digital audio outputs. I installed the drivers and STILL only get a stereo signal. This time I tried hooking up the optical after the coax didn't work and THAT didn't work either, and I KNOW it's not the receiver or the cable because I used the same optical cable on the same input jack of the receiver to get audio from my TV.
What am I missing here? I REALLY want to get surround audio from my games, plus I was thinking about buying a dual format HD-DVD/BD drive for movies, but obviously stereo sound isn't going to cut it!
Edit: Well, someone on hardforum just explained that the only uncompressed signal SPDIF can output is PCM stereo, and that additional technology (though I'm not sure at what level... software?) is needed to output in multichannel compressed formats (Dolby, DTS).
Kinda frustrating - seems like somewhere (for instance in the speaker test interface in the control software provided by the mobo manufacturers) there ought to be a notice that says "NOTE: THIS SOUND HARDWARE IS ONLY CAPABLE OF MULTICHANNEL OUTPUT ON THE ANALOG CONNECTIONS".
So I recently bought a 7.1 receiver which is great (Yamaha), except for the fact that I simply can NOT get multiple-channel audio out of my rig!
At first I was running an ECS KN1 Extreme. I had the audio driver installed, I tried configuring it for 5.1 and 7.1 but may amp only ever got a stereo signal. (This was using the coaxial spdif output.) I also made sure the speaker set up in Windows' audio properties matched the one I selected in the control panel added by the driver for the mobo.
I recently built a new system centered around a C2D with a Gigabyte DS3L mobo, which like the KN1 Extreme has coax and optical digital audio outputs. I installed the drivers and STILL only get a stereo signal. This time I tried hooking up the optical after the coax didn't work and THAT didn't work either, and I KNOW it's not the receiver or the cable because I used the same optical cable on the same input jack of the receiver to get audio from my TV.
What am I missing here? I REALLY want to get surround audio from my games, plus I was thinking about buying a dual format HD-DVD/BD drive for movies, but obviously stereo sound isn't going to cut it!
Edit: Well, someone on hardforum just explained that the only uncompressed signal SPDIF can output is PCM stereo, and that additional technology (though I'm not sure at what level... software?) is needed to output in multichannel compressed formats (Dolby, DTS).
Kinda frustrating - seems like somewhere (for instance in the speaker test interface in the control software provided by the mobo manufacturers) there ought to be a notice that says "NOTE: THIS SOUND HARDWARE IS ONLY CAPABLE OF MULTICHANNEL OUTPUT ON THE ANALOG CONNECTIONS".
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