Can not configure my digital optical settings.

Earle Boege

Honorable
Dec 2, 2013
1
0
10,510
So, I have my PC, my Yamaha sound bar, and my tv. Hdmi cable from PC to TV and Optical cable from PC to Sound Bar. I am getting sound from the digital optical connection, however, I can not configure my sound settings and everything is coming through in stereo, not 5.1 or 7.1. How can I get my realtek sound manager to allow me to configure for this issue? I am baffled...probably the most obvious answer right in my face and I cant see it!! Thanks in advance!

Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Intel 3960x
MSI Lightning N680GTX x2 in SLI
Yamaha Sound Projector YSP-4100
Sony 55" 4k TV XBR-55x850a
 
Solution
i would just like to note that the soundbar isnt true 5.1 but its 2 speakers and 2 subwoofers which try to "emulate" 5.1

now... i'm not sure if the unit accepts just a stereo input (2.0) and fakes surround or if it takes a 5.1 and converts this to fake surround with the speakers it has. i couldnt find this in the manual. i'm guessing that it takes surround sound input though as this would result in better sounding "faked" surround over those speakers..

does your soundbar have "surround sound" for other sources? (such as a dvd player)? if yes then its likely just a setting wrong on your computer. if no then it could also be something relating to the optical output on your tv (does the optical out support 2.0 or surround?)

as far as...
i would just like to note that the soundbar isnt true 5.1 but its 2 speakers and 2 subwoofers which try to "emulate" 5.1

now... i'm not sure if the unit accepts just a stereo input (2.0) and fakes surround or if it takes a 5.1 and converts this to fake surround with the speakers it has. i couldnt find this in the manual. i'm guessing that it takes surround sound input though as this would result in better sounding "faked" surround over those speakers..

does your soundbar have "surround sound" for other sources? (such as a dvd player)? if yes then its likely just a setting wrong on your computer. if no then it could also be something relating to the optical output on your tv (does the optical out support 2.0 or surround?)

as far as your pc is concerned if you are connecting to the tv first then your default audio device will be hdmi. if the tv doesnt support surround out via its optical (if its 2.0 only) then you could always output from your pc via optical and run that direct to the soundbar. in this case the optical output would be your default audio device. you can access this menu by right clicking the sound icon on the taskbar and selecting playback devices.

also... i noted that the soundbar accepted hdmi input. instead of connecting to the tv via hdmi from pc... you could likely connect from the pc to the soundbar and then from the soundbar to the tv. the audio will be processed and the video would be passed through to the tv. this would result in better quality sound.

click on your default audio device in this list and press configure. you should be able to pick from a list to select among others... 5.1 or 7.1 sound. if your soundbar accepts surround input (i'm only guessing that it does) then this is what you want. then run speaker test to see if it triggers on all channels.

keep in mind that windows sounds, web video, music and a few games are 2.0 stereo sound only. your only source of surround sound will be movies, most games, specially recorded surround sound music and the very few web video streams that support surround sound. make sure you arent trying to get surround sound out of a stereo source because that just wont happen (without faking it).
 
Solution