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SPDIF won't do Dolby 5.1

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Perryg114

Senior member
I am trying to hook a HTPC to my entertainment system and I can't get anything better than stereo to come out of the SPDIF jack. I would assume this should give me the same thing that is coming out of my stand alone DVD player. When I play DVD's that are on the hard disk or playing through the computer's DVD drive I just get stereo and no digital dolby 5.1. I was of the impression that the 5.1 encoding was in the normal audio stream so what what is going on here?

Perry
 
You have to tell whatever software you're using to just do a direct stream output to the SPDIF. Otherwise its processing the sound through software and then outputting a stereo decoded signal to the SPDIF port.
 
Well I am using windows XP 2005 MCE. I did the test of the speakers in the sound card software and it only output to the right and left speakers. Is the sound card smart enough to output in a 5.1 format? I can do component audio to my reciever but would rather do the digital. Would I look in the setting for my DVD decoder as well?

Perry
 
Originally posted by: Perryg114
Well I am using windows XP 2005 MCE. I did the test of the speakers in the sound card software and it only output to the right and left speakers. Is the sound card smart enough to output in a 5.1 format? I can do component audio to my reciever but would rather do the digital. Would I look in the setting for my DVD decoder as well?

Perry
Click to expand...

Windows' sounds are not preencoded with DD or DTS. You will only get stereo out of that test unless you are using an analog connection or a DD live or DTS connect card. Surround sound will only work from preencoded sources.
 
Ok so back to the problem of DVD's not playing in surround sound through the sound card SPDIF socket. I have the card set to 8 channel. It is still filtering out the 5.1 encoding.

Perry

 
What software are you playing the DVDs with? THAT is what you need to tell to output the raw audio stream via SPDIF. Otherwise, its doing the processing itself.
 
I found the problem. It is something to do with MCE and WinDVD 4. I went into WinDVD4 and set the thing up for SPDIF out and it worked fine when playing directly from the program. When I go into MCE it only plays in 2 channel stereo. I set up the speakers to 7.1 and it still won't play 5.1. I think WinDVD is too old to work correctlywith MCE. Also in MCE the arrow keys on the remote won't select the menu options on the DVD main menu. I have to use the mouse which I don't want to have to use at all unless doing setups in Windows. Does anyone know of a DVD decoder that plays nice with MCE? I think I have a version of ROXIO 6 that is supposed to have a DVD player with it.

Perry
 
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