Solved! How to get 5.1 surround working with PC -> Reciever -> TV using HDMI cords?

[connorman01]

So this is a very specific issue, please bear with me.

My old PC had a MSI Z97-G45 Mobo and a MSI GTX 980. I only gave these two specs because these are the only things that could be related to sound and display. My old PC worked perfectly fine when I connected my PC with an HDMI cord to one of the inputs on my Yamaha 5.1 Surround sound receiver (Model: RX-V385BL). Then I connected an HDMI from the output of the receiver to an HDMI input on my Samsung TV. I was able to configure 5.1 surround in playback devices and all was good.

But now I have a new PC and a new TV. Now my motherboard is a MSI AMD 970 Gaming, and the GPU is an MSI GTX 760, and the TV is a 50" Sceptre 1080p TV. Now I am having a very weird issue where if I plug an HDMI from the receiver output to the TV's HDMI/MHL input, I only get sound coming from the tv speakers and not the surround speakers. It even lets me configure 5.1 in the playback devices, but that is just an illusion as I still only get sound from the TV speakers. However, When i plug the output HDMI from the receiver into HDMI 2 or HDMI 3 on the TV, I don't get any sound at all. I don't understand why I get TV speaker sound with the HDMI/MHL input, but not with the HDMI2 or HDMI 3 inputs. Perhaps that is totally unrelated though.

I have done some research and its seems the most likely cause is that there is some major sound difference in my old motherboard compared to my new one, and that I may have to use a SPDIF cable since HDMI isn't working for surround sound on this new MOBO. However, I am totally open to suggestions. Could it be the difference in TV's, or even GPU's? Maybe there is a setting I am missing?

 

[boju]

Hmm

Only thing that would make sense to me is ARC. Your AVR supports ARC but not sure about TV. What model TV is it?

Find out if TV has ARC and which Hdmi input it is to get an idea. If it does, try set Tv speakers to external or disable ARC in both AVR and Tv if possible.

 

[connorman01]

Hmm

Only thing that would make sense to me is ARC. Your AVR supports ARC but not sure about TV. What model TV is it?

Find out if TV has ARC and which Hdmi input it is to get an idea. If it does, try set Tv speakers to external or disable ARC in both AVR and Tv if possible.

here's the TV Specs http/www.sceptre.com/overview-443.html. It doesn't look like it has ARC. But I dont really know what ARC or AVR is to be honest. And then i don't know how to disable ARC in "AVR" and my TV.

 

[boju]

I can't see ARC anywhere, looks like the TV doesn't have it. ARC stands for Audio Return Channel over Hdmi where you could control where the volume is amongst other features it brings. Kinda like the TV and AVR (Audio Visual Receiver - your Yamaha) controls each other.

Do you have a Hdmi monitor you can try hook up to your Receiver to test?

Look through your Reciever's passthrough options.