PC to receiver via HDMI. 5.1 in games?

[darth_adversor]

Hey everyone,

I've searched the web, but can't seem to find any answers specific to my situation. I see a lot of people talking about the best way to hook up their PC to a receiver, and how to get 5.1/7.1 audio for Blu-Ray movies, but what about games?

I have a 6950 video card, and an HDMI cable going from it to my Yamaha RX-V565 receiver. Sound properties in Control Panel confirm 8 channel capability with all the TrueHD and DTS-HD goodness. Using PowerDVD 11 and setting it up for bitstreaming, I've achieved TrueHD and DTS-HD audio from my Blu-Rays. So all of that works flawlessly.

Problem is, I only get 2 channel audio in games. I can set my receiver to Pro Logic II and it fakes it pretty well, but I want the real thing. A lot of people keep talking about Dolby Digital Live. My soundcard has it, but since I'm using the HDMI passthrough on my video card, I'm bypassing the sound card now...right? I'm a little confused...does DDL only work with S/PDIF?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[kilz]

I think this problem may vary from game to game. When it comes to surround sound, some games may support a couple different surround sound options while others may not support surround sound at all. Try to find exactly what your game(s) support to help you figure this out. And yes, if you are getting audio via video card HDMI, then you aren't using your sound card at all. And as far as I know, if your receiver supports DDL, then it should work through HDMI.

 

[ssddx]

i have my receiver hooked up to my video card via a dvi to hdmi cable. i get full 5.1 surround sound in movies and games both.

remember, not all games have surround sound enabled. you might have to look under sound settings to find it. some games do not support surround sound at all.

with such a setup you dont need to use your sound card settings. in fact the receiver should be the default audio device and all settings should pretty much be unavailable. you want to control your audio properties on your receiver.

if you are getting surround sound already.. its not the receiver. its the game or game options.

 

[darth_adversor]

Well, it turns out none of you were really able to answer my question, but I do thank you all for posting.

Turns out it was something really easy that was right in front of me the whole time...

I hadn't configured Windows 7 for anything more than 2 channel LPCM audio. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD worked because it bitstreamed to my receiver, but games output in LPCM. Once I told Windows that I had 5.1 speakers...everything started working.

Thanks again everyone. Kind of an epic fail on my part...sorry.

 

[darth_adversor]

Best answer selected by darth_adversor.