[Solved] No Sony BDV-E380 audio from ASUS P7P55D PC Win7 x64 via TOSLINK

[Sjakal]

OK, here's my situation (there is a TL;DR version in the last paragraphs of this massive post, don't worry).


ASUS P7P55D VIA VT1828S, S/PDIF DTS Audio/Dolby Digital 44.1 kHz/48.0 kHz/96.0 kHz, through TOSLINK to Sony BDV-E380 Digital In Optical (TV)

Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti, Dolby Digital 44.1 kHz/48.0 kHz, through Mini-HDMI to Sony KDL-55EX723 HDMI In 2

Sony BDV-E380 HDMI Out (ARC) through HDMI to Sony KDL-55EX723 HDMI In 1 (ARC)


PC Win7 x64 set to use Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti as audio/video output (thus sending both audio and video to HDTV)

HDTV set to use Audio System as audio output (this makes its HDMI In 1 ARC become downstream I presume, outputting audio to Home Theater System instead of inputting from it)

HDTV set to use HDMI In 2 as audio/video input (thus receiving both audio and video from PC Win7 x64)

Home Theater System set to use 'TV' as audio input with ARC on Auto (remember that Digital In Optical on the Home Theater System was called TV)


HDTV, Home Theater System, and onboard PC Win7 x64 audio are all upgraded to latest versions via Sony online updating or ASUS website as per 2012-18-06.

With this configuration my PC Win7 x64 sends audio/video to the HDTV, which then sends the audio down its HDMI In 1 ARC to the Home Theater System, and this works as intended; I receive video on the HDTV and the Home Theater System plays any audio I have the PC Win7 x64 playing at the moment.

The problem is I can only output 2-channel stereo audio from my Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti and not 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, which is why I added in the TOSLINK from the PC Win7 x64 to the Home Theater System.


I then tried setting my PC Win7 x64 to output audio via onboard S/PDIF through the TOSLINK to the Home Theater System in the Playback settings on Windows.

When I do this my Home Theater System plays no audio even though I can see the volume bar in Windows jumping up and down from 10% to 80% rapidly, indicating that Windows is atleast forwarding audio to S/PDIF.

I have tried setting my HDTV audio output to TV Speakers to make ARC upstream, thus attempting to avoid confusing the Home Theater System with audio inputs coming from both the HDTV and PC Win7 x64 at the same time.

I have also tried setting Audio Return Channel to Off on my Home Theater System, disabling ARC entirely, and even unplugging the HDTV to Home Theater System HDMI cable entirely; but neither this nor using upstream ARC has made the Home Theater System play audio from my PC Win7 x64 S/PDIF via TOSLINK.


I think all hardware and software connections are set up correctly, especially when ARC is disabled, because if I disable ARC on the Home Theater System and connect the TOSLINK between Home Theater System and TV I can get surround sound from my TV when watching HD TV channels, so I know the TOSLINK is not broken and does not need replacing (I bought the TOSLINK 2012-06-19).

Maybe I have to make an internal cable connection from motherboard to TOSLINK port on the back of the computer chassis (seems I don't have to: the manual states the SPDIF_OUT connector on the motherboard is for an additional S/PDIF coaxial/optical output port; the onboard TOSLINK port I use is already connected). Maybe I have to use 32-bit audio drivers when connecting via TOSLINK to the Home Theater System?


Anyway, here is the TL;DR version of the above: Since my TOSLINK cable is not broken I can only see the latest VIA VT1828S drivers as being the problem when playing PC Win7 x64 audio on the Home Theater System (when using TOSLINK to transmit audio signal I am not using GeForce GTX 560 Ti drivers for audio output).

After over 18 hours of troubleshooting, reading manuals and PC/HIFI forum posts I am still clueless as to why I get no Home Theater System sound from my PC Win7 x64 via TOSLINK. Any help resolving this problem would we well appreciated, even if the advice is buying a dedicated audio card (as long as there is a decent enough argument for why this will resolve the issue).


PS: Is there a reliable and cheap way to test whether my PC Win7 x64 is actually outputting a signal through the TOSLINK? I see a red dot at the end of the cable when it is plugged into the PC Win7 x64 and the other end is disconnected, so I would assume SOME signal is being transmitted atleast.

 

[sdifox]

did you change your output device to digital out? that red light is always on.

 

[Sjakal]

As per the picture below I have set SPDIF Interface (TX0) as the default device for playing audio on the PC if that is what you mean by digital output device, checking off the compressed audio formats I think the Home Theater is capable of decoding.

As per the VIA HD VDeck control panel further down the sample rate for Windows sounds is set at 96.0 kHz with bit depth 24 (I tried 48 kHz with bit depth 16 as well without any luck). I use the TX0 SPDIF Out as I believe the TX1 SPDIF Out2 represents the extra SPDIF connector on the motherboard which I have not connected.

TX0 can be set to either HDMI or SPDIF mode, which I believe is a feature of the VT1828S chipset so that it can work with either HDMI or SPDIF, depending on which ports are provided by the motherboard on which the VT1828S chipset rests. I set mine to SPDIF mode as my motherboard has no onboard HDMI output ports.

I tried forcing Media Player Classic to output to TX0 or TX1, either through DirectSound or standard WaveOut, but still I get no stereo or surround audio when watching Fight Club with its 48 kHz 5.1 surround track.

 

[sdifox]

waveout is the one you need.

have you tried just playing a CD?

leave it at 16/48

 

[Sjakal]

I got it working! 5.1 surround sound in Battlefield 3 (only voices from front speakers so I think it's surround sound at least!).

As sdifox suggested the problem was related to selecting the proper output sound formats for the S/PDIF device in Windows. Sony BDV-E380 supports DTS Audio and Dolby Digital, both in 44.1 kHz or 48.0 kHz, but not in 96.0 kHz.

After disabling the unsupported audio output formats AND navigating to the Advanced tab I selected 2 channel, 24 bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality) as the Default Format for SPDIF Interface (TX1). You could probably do this via the VIA HD VDeck as well if you prefer its interface to that of Windows.

But there was one more thing I had to do before I got audio playing on the home theater.

This part of the problem stems from the Sony BDV-E380 home theater considering both the HDMI Out (ARC) and the Digital In Optical ports on its backside as the same 'TV' input.

So the Sony BDV-E380 can't figure out which of the two sources to use if you like I have HDMI Out from the home theater to the HDTV and also have TOSLINK connected to Digital In Optical on the home theater.

Enabling or disabling Audio Return Channel or HDMI Control on Home Theater System and HDTV did nothing to fix this; I had to physically disconnect the HDMI Out cable to the HDTV, and then power down the BDV-E380.

Once the BDV-E380 is then booted up again it will detect the first input (which used to be ARC from the HDTV via HDMI Out) and now the SPDIF Interface (TX1) playing audio from the PC is the only 'TV' input source.

This made it possible for me to play audio in surround from my PC on my home theater. So if I want surround sound from my PC I'll have to disconnect the HDTV and restart the home theater (and make sure my PC outputs in the correct S/PDIF audio format).

I hope I can come up with a better setup where this won't be necessary. One idea could be replacing the TOSLINK with a coaxial digital audio cable instead, since coaxial digital input on the Sony BDV-E380 is seen as 'SAT/CABLE' input and not 'TV' input, allowing me to cycle from 'TV' input to 'SAT/CABLE' on the home theater remote whenever I want to play PC audio instead of HDTV audio.

In my case this can be accomplished by purchasing a coaxial S/PDIF expansion card for the PC chassis, and then connecting SPDIF_OUT on the motherboard to this expansion card, and then connecting the expansion card via coaxial digital cable to the Sony BDV-E380.

Once I've done this I can use SPDIF Interface (TX0) in S/PDIF mode (not HDMI mode) instead of (TX1) as audio output device in Windows. Or I could probably even purchase an HDMI expansion S/PDIF card and use (TX0) in its HDMI mode if I wanted.

But perhaps it would be even better just forking out the extra dough for a proper dedicated sound card; one with plenty of decoding capabilities and output to both HDMI, coaxial and TOSLINK S/PDIF audio.

If the Mini-HDMI output on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti supported more than 2 audio channels and DTS/Dolby Digital formats I would never have had this problem; then I could simply have used the graphics card as a dedicated sound card for transmitting digital surround sound to the home theater system. And save that spare TOSLINK cable for something else.

Anyway, TL;DR, I got it working finally, with a lot of troubleshooting and some help from sdifox. Thanks! Problem resolved.