# How to get 5.1ch DolbyDigital or dts sound from my pc



## pallethecop

Hey

This is my problem. I have my pc connected to a AV Receiver (Yamaha RX-V480rds) with a optical audio cable (s/pdif) i have 5.1 speakers,
that is two front, two back, one center and a subwoofer. The problem is no matter what i do my AV RECEIVER only gets/receives the "sound" as
PCM format and not as "DD" or DTS" what I'm aiming for. Dont know much about PCM but what i know is that PCM is a thing that digitalizes analog signals.
But PCM only send 2.1 so that means I have three useless speakers. I have tried everything, so now I'm wondering if anyone of you have had a similar problem, and what did you do? 

Enlight me!!


----------



## MMM

pallethecop said:


> Hey
> 
> This is my problem. I have my pc connected to a AV Receiver (Yamaha RX-V480rds) with a optical audio cable (s/pdif) i have 5.1 speakers,
> that is two front, two back, one center and a subwoofer. The problem is no matter what i do my AV RECEIVER only gets/receives the "sound" as
> PCM format and not as "DD" or DTS" what I'm aiming for. Dont know much about PCM but what i know is that PCM is a thing that digitalizes analog signals.
> But PCM only send 2.1 so that means I have three useless speakers. I have tried everything, so now I'm wondering if anyone of you have had a similar problem, and what did you do?
> 
> Enlight me!!



Make sure your sound card is set for digital output either by jumpers or in the sound card settings you must select digital 5.1 output.
Read your sound card instructions or consult your motherboard manual if onboard.


----------



## pallethecop

Tried everything, the funny thing is that I can only choose 2 channel sound from windows sound control panel, dont understand 

View attachment 4764 View attachment 4766 View attachment 4765

1. Picture shows my win sound control panel
2. Picture shows AMD HDMI Outout properties, the red rectangle shows " Max Channels:    2    (same thing with Digital Output)
3. Picture shows SPDIF properties channel choose page, it gives me a list of channel options to choose from and everyone of them are 2 channels!?

is theres something Im missing or am I just stupid 




EDIT: How big difference is there between onboard and individual sound cards nowdays? Is it worth the money for a regular gamer and movie watcher? Please write down + and - whats is your opinion and what labels, models are you using? Thankful for a answer!!


----------



## MMM

If you have a PCI sound card it might be just 2.1 channel output only then you might have to update to a new card.
If you have onboard sound card consult your motherboard manual as there should be jumpers for 5.1 digital output if your motherboard supports this.


----------



## pallethecop

I have the ASUS Rampage II Gene MB with onboard sound chip.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus_rampage_ii_gene/
AUDIO: 
SupremeFX X-Fi onboard 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
          EAX® Advanced™ HD 4.0
X-Fi CMSS®-3D
X-Fi Crystalizer™
Creative ALchemy

Browsed around in the MB manual, and up comes a picture of my Creative Console Launcher, the first thing I noticed is the cannel output button,
the button dont excist on the console that i have installed on my computer. And the mode selector button is completly missing too. I have to try to reinstall the console...
theres something fishy going on here...


----------



## massahwahl

The digital output is probably only a 2channel output, you need to buy a soundcard with a digital surround output that supports multichannels


----------



## pallethecop

Ahaaa, now i think im starting to understand, its only a 2 channel digital output on my onboard sound card..

So you mean the only way to get working 5.1 surround sound is to connect all the speakers separatly to the receiver with stereo-rca cables, (front LR, back LR, center&bass separatly) or to buy a sound card with multichannel spdif output so i can use only one cable!?


----------



## MMM

pallethecop said:


> Ahaaa, now i think im starting to understand, its only a 2 channel digital output on my onboard sound card..
> 
> So you mean the only way to get working 5.1 surround sound is to connect all the speakers separatly to the receiver with stereo-rca cables, (front LR, back LR, center&bass separatly) or to buy a sound card with multichannel spdif output so i can use only one cable!?


Your board supports this.

SupremeFX X-Fi onboard  8  -Channel  High Definition Audio CODEC 
  EAX® Advanced™ HD 4.0  
X-Fi CMSS®-3D 
X-Fi Crystalizer™ 
Creative ALchemy  
Supports Optical S/PDIF out ports on rear   

Go read your motherboard manual to set up the sound output for your needs.

*YOU DO NOT NEED A NEW SOUND CARD WHEN YOUR EXISTING ONE IS QUITE CAPABLE OF DOING THE TASK.*


----------



## massahwahl

My apologies, in getting this thread and another mixed up...

I think your pc is setup right since it is showing that spdif is the primary output, it sounds like the receiver is the one not playing nice. Do you have any other outputs on your board such as toslink to try and narrow down where the problem is?


----------



## massahwahl

Something else to consider is that your board might have hdmi passthrough enabled you will probably need to disable that if its the case since you dont want the audio feeding into the video channel. There should be a jumper on the motherboard to disable it or a bios option.


----------



## pallethecop

its working, thanks for the help.. :good:


----------

