5.1 sound via PC

[muds270]

Hi

i want to know how i can get 5.1 surround sound on my pc.

I want to connect the pc with my pioneer htp gs1 system thanks!!!

[Andy98765]

Your system has

Analog/Digital: 2 Optical/1 Coaxial/1Analog

Therefore assumning the XBOX is connected via optical and you can switch between optical and Co-ax 5.1 inputs you need to use the co-ax or optical output on the PC. A co-ax input is a single phono cable. http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tvcables/PH400.html
This does assume that your PC has a co-ax or optical SPDIF output and there are sound cards that do support this. You will only get 5.1 from the PC if you are playing a DVD in the DVD rom drive as by default PC's do not enjoy Dolby encoding although others on this site have found ways around this.
AC3 Filter
Sound card with dolby encoding etc etc.

[Matt_C]

Not really knowing what your Pio system has input wise (I know it says 2x optical, 1x coax + 1x analogue - but what is the analogue? 1 pair of analogue stereo inputs? 1 set of 5.1 analogue inputs?) and not knowing what you already have plugged into it (Andy mentions xbox, but there was no mention of what you have in your original post) it's a little hard to reply.

But lets guess at a few things.

You have a DVD player and an xbox and you want to plug in your PC.

Well, what I would do is connect the DVD player using the digi coax output to the Pio. I would connect the xbox using optical to the Pio. This leaves you 1x optical input, and the "analogue" input.

To get your PC connected to it via optical, I would invest in a cheap (inexpensive) PCI soundcard that has an optical output. The one I have in my HTPC cost £7 and is an old Yamaha item - nothing fancy or "all singing all dancing" at all. But it does allow me full multichannel audio passthrough - Dolby Digital, DTS etc.

It would entirely depend on what software and codecs you have. You can set VLC media player to use A/52 over SPDIF which will output directly over the optical output in full multichannel (provided the source (DVD, AVI etc) has it. If you download and install the CCCP codec pack, you can use this in conjunction with Zoomplayer, Media Player Classic, and or Windows Media Player (at least v11, no idea about any previous releases) and output full multichannel - I know all this for fact as this is exactly how my set up it. Anything not multchannel won't be "upscaled" to surround sound - it will still only be 2ch stereo (mp3 for example), but whatever is embedded in the file (being 2.0 DD, 5.1 DD, 5.1 DTS, 6.1 DD/DTS etc) will be output directly over the optical without the PC changing it.

[muds270]

thank you so much for this help, its much appreciated, i have a thread for a soundcard will this do the trick?
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showt...=1#post6527623

to be honest i hate doing all this techincal stuff, i will connect the xbox via optical and the xbox 360 via the other optical so i will have a 2.1 analog input, red and white so will i still be able to connect my pc!!!

[muds270]

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/product...c=1#ShowReview
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(11248)...und-sound.aspx

or should i go for any of these?

[Matt_C]

If you have an xbox going in via optical and a 360 going in via optical, then you would need a card for the PC that has digital coax output, like this one;

http://www.trust.com/products/produc...spx?item=12950

[muds270]

hi matt i got the sound card and have been looking at the threads for this card, i have installed the card but cant get 5.1 sound i tried it using goodfellas and i dont get no sound, i used the drivers of the cd, what do i do?!!

[muds270]

ps matt would i need to have the optical from my system as output or input? IM a noob!

[muds270]

help me!!!

[MikeK]

Not sure exactly what it is you are trying to achieve here - I'm assuming you want 5.1 digital sound from DVDs.
If so, connect the optical output on the soundcard to one of the optical inputs on your HTP-GS1 system, and then select that input on the HTP-GS1 using the remote (may be an idea to turn the volume down until the driver config is complete)

Uninstall the drivers which came with the card, and install Dogbert's driver

http://code.google.com/p/cmediadrivers/

The driver you want depends which Windows version you are running -

if it's 32bit XP, select CMIDriver-1.1.8-bin-x86.zip
if it's 32bit Vista, select CMIDriver-1.1.8-bin-x86-WaveRT.zip
If you are running 64bit versions, select the relevant x64 driver.

Follow the install guide on the linked page - though installation is straightforward.

Once installed, there is a Cmedia config program in Control Panel, at least on XP - I don't use Vista so can't really help you if you are running that.
Set for AC3/DTS passthrough and enable SPDIF - make sure your speakers are setup for stereo desktop speakers under Windows (Control Panel - Sounds and Audio Devices - Speaker Settings/Advanced)

Don't forget to select SPDIF output in your player software - don't know which player software that is, so can't say how to do it!

That should be it - you should now get 5.1 digital sound (Dolby Digital and DTS) from DVDs which have it.

[muds270]

hi mike thanks a lot for that, i have installed dogberts drivers now but im a little confused, i put a dvd pirates of the caribbean in, and on my pioneer system, it doesnt say DOLBY DIGITAL NOr DTs, it says dolby surround sound, do u think i need to change my settings also when i watch AVI files=one with a 6 channel, i can hear some interference with my speakers is this normal?

[muds270]

"Set for AC3/DTS passthrough and enable SPDIF - make sure your speakers are setup for stereo desktop speakers under Windows (Control Panel - Sounds and Audio Devices - Speaker Settings/Advanced)"- should i do desktop speakers or 5.1 surround?

Ps i have VLC, media player classic and i have installed a klite codec pack, do you think i should remove some of my programmes?

[MikeK]

"Set for AC3/DTS passthrough and enable SPDIF - make sure your speakers are setup for stereo desktop speakers under Windows (Control Panel - Sounds and Audio Devices - Speaker Settings/Advanced)"- should i do desktop speakers or 5.1 surround?

You should set for Desktop Stereo speakers.
It's to do with how Windows works internally - there's a brief explanation on Dogbert's driver site!

Ps i have VLC, media player classic and i have installed a klite codec pack, do you think i should remove some of my programmes?

Not sure about the Klite Codec Pack - never used it.



VLC

Settings - Preferences - Audio and select "Use SPDIF when available".
Then with the disc playing, go to Audio - Audio Device and check it's using A/52 over SPDIF - if not select it from the list.


MPC

View - Options - Internal Filters
Under Transform Filters, click on AC3 or DTS (doesn't matter it's the same popup), and a window will pop up.
Select SPDIF for both AC3 (aka DD, Dolby Digital) and DTS.
Apply and Exit.

[muds270]

hi mike i tried Goodfellas with The a52/spdif and i didnt get any sound any ideas as to why?>!

[dogbert]

how have you connected the soundcard to your receiver system?