Problem with getting 5.1 to work on my computer.

[DarkoMedakovic]

A couple of days ago I got my Pioneer BCS 323 home theater. I connected it to my TV, for video I used HDMI and for audio I used Digital Audio Cable. And to connect everything to my computer I used a HDMI from TV to the computer:

HDMI & Digital Audio from HT > TV > Computer using a HDMI.

So the problem is I only get sound from 2 of the speakers and the bass, I don't know if the problem is in the connections because when I listen to music directly from my HT through USB I don't get 5.1.

I would really appreciate any help to solve this problem.

 

[ssddx]

the device supports 2 hdmi in and 1 hdmi out. this makes me believe it works sort of like a mini receiver.

why wouldnt you connect up like this:

hdmi from computer to home theater main box
hdmi from home theater main box to tv

?

not sure why you said you have both a hdmi cable and a digital audio cable (do you mean spdif coax which looks like a yellow rca plug?) as hdmi can carry both audio and video.

----------

music is stereo so by default it will come out of the front speakers and subwoofer only.

movies are surround so will come out of all.

you can normally copy the stereo music feed to the rear speakers by running "ext stereo" or whatever the mode is listed as on your unit. however to get surround sound you would need to swap back to auto or another sound mode.

--------------------------------

reply back with details...

 

[DarkoMedakovic]

A couple of days ago I got my Pioneer BCS 323 home theater. I connected it to my TV, for video I used HDMI and for audio I used Digital Audio Cable. And to connect everything to my computer I used a HDMI from TV to the computer:

HDMI & Digital Audio from HT > TV > Computer using a HDMI.

So the problem is I only get sound from 2 of the speakers and the bass, I don't know if the problem is in the connections because when I listen to music directly from my HT through USB I don't get 5.1.

I would really appreciate any help to solve this problem.

the device supports 2 hdmi in and 1 hdmi out. this makes me believe it works sort of like a mini receiver.

why wouldnt you connect up like this:

hdmi from computer to home theater main box
hdmi from home theater main box to tv

?

not sure why you said you have both a hdmi cable and a digital audio cable (do you mean spdif coax which looks like a yellow rca plug?) as hdmi can carry both audio and video.

----------

music is stereo so by default it will come out of the front speakers and subwoofer only.

movies are surround so will come out of all.

you can normally copy the stereo music feed to the rear speakers by running "ext stereo" or whatever the mode is listed as on your unit. however to get surround sound you would need to swap back to auto or another sound mode.

--------------------------------

reply back with details...

Thanks for helping me.

But the problem is I only have 1 HDMI that works on my computer, it's the HDMI on the grapich card. I also have one on the motherboard but the problem is I can't get that one to work.

And I've tried only using HDMI but I don't get any sound to the TV or the computer.

And another thing is I don't get 5.1 sound when I'm watching movies neither.

This is the audio cable I mean:
http/0.tqn.com/d/hometheater/1/0/2/C/1/digitaloptical.jpg

 

[ssddx]

you should be able to output sound on the hdmi coming from your graphics card. most any newer card can support this. i am a few generations back with my gtx470 and it supports sound out perfectly fine (over dvi since this was before hdmi was standard).

make sure you check what device is set as your default audio device and also the properties of it. make sure it is set on 5.1.

personally i would try hooking up the graphics card hdmi port up to a hdmi input on the home theater system and detatching the audio cable. that is a toslink optical audio cable (also called spdif optical cable by some).

if your settings are correct you should be able to get both audio and video. the video should pass through the home theater to the tv and the sound should come out the home theater.

------------------

if that refuses to work then i suppose you could hook the hdmi up to the tv and the optical spdif (toslink) up to the home theater. sound quality is not as great as hdmi but it would work. you would again need to make sure in speaker settings (if in windows 7.. right click speaker in task bar, playback devices, click device, click configure) is set to 5.1.

then test things out with a dvd movie disk with dolby digital surround sound. keep in mind that some foreign movies or older movies are only stereo sound. anime is also stereo sound in most cases. movies watched on netflix or streamed online are also in many cases stereo. this is why i specified a retail disk.

--------------------

try to connect up via hdmi first how i specified (hdmi going to home theater) and make sure your windows settings are correct. if that doesnt work try with spdif (going to receiver from your pc) and again making sure your windows settings are correct.

 

[dqtl74]

I would like to add that you should check whether the player you're using is outputting 5.1. To my knowledge stock WMP doesn't work well with surround audio tracks unless you have a codec pack. You can also use a third party player such as MPC or VLC.

 

[DarkoMedakovic]

Thanks so much for your replies guys, but I don't have 2 HDMI's on my PC that are working. And as far as I understood you I have to have 2 HDMI's one from the screen and one from the HT.

Is there any other solution?

 

[ssddx]

this section is if you use your television as a monitor for your pc and everything else

you DO NOT need 2 hdmi from your pc.

you DO NOT need 1 hdmi from pc->screen and 1 hdmi from pc->ht

you CAN use 1 hdmi from pc->ht which pushes both video and audio to the ht. you then hook up 1 hdmi from ht->tv which pushes the video.

this section is if you use a seperate monitor for your pc and you do not want to use the tv which is connected to everything else

you DO NOT need 2 hdmi from your pc

you DO NOT need 1 hdmi from pc->screen and 1 hdmi from pc->ht

you can use 1 hdmi from pc->monitor for video and 1 spdif optical from pc->ht to send audio to ht.

----------------------------

i believe that you trying to use two hdmi cables is the problem or however you have things connected is the problem.

i have listed two ways to connect above. pick which suits your needs.

there is another option in addtion to those two. if you wanted to use either your monitor OR your television you could connect up like you were using the tv except put a hdmi switch in between the tv and ht. you could then pick (turn a knob) to select if video would go to the tv or monitor.

in this way you would have hdmi quality audio (instead of just optical)

-----------------------------

as dqtl stated... make sure the player you are using supports 5.1 and also do check those settings i specified.

------------------------------




please do read what we have said... and TRY all of the solutions we listed and REPLY with your findings.

i did not say to use 2 hdmi cables in that manner.



besides painting a pretty picture diagram i cannot simplify it any more. until you start trying the ideas we listed and checking your settings i'm going to hold off on replying to this post.



good luck!

 

[DarkoMedakovic]

this section is if you use your television as a monitor for your pc and everything else

you DO NOT need 2 hdmi from your pc.

you DO NOT need 1 hdmi from pc->screen and 1 hdmi from pc->ht

you CAN use 1 hdmi from pc->ht which pushes both video and audio to the ht. you then hook up 1 hdmi from ht->tv which pushes the video.

this section is if you use a seperate monitor for your pc and you do not want to use the tv which is connected to everything else

you DO NOT need 2 hdmi from your pc

you DO NOT need 1 hdmi from pc->screen and 1 hdmi from pc->ht

you can use 1 hdmi from pc->monitor for video and 1 spdif optical from pc->ht to send audio to ht.

----------------------------

i believe that you trying to use two hdmi cables is the problem or however you have things connected is the problem.

i have listed two ways to connect above. pick which suits your needs.

there is another option in addtion to those two. if you wanted to use either your monitor OR your television you could connect up like you were using the tv except put a hdmi switch in between the tv and ht. you could then pick (turn a knob) to select if video would go to the tv or monitor.

in this way you would have hdmi quality audio (instead of just optical)

-----------------------------

as dqtl stated... make sure the player you are using supports 5.1 and also do check those settings i specified.

------------------------------




please do read what we have said... and TRY all of the solutions we listed and REPLY with your findings.

i did not say to use 2 hdmi cables in that manner.



besides painting a pretty picture diagram i cannot simplify it any more. until you start trying the ideas we listed and checking your settings i'm going to hold off on replying to this post.



good luck!

Thank you so much man! I've just one more question for you, the quality is kindy crap when I do it this way, I've messed around with the settings abit but I don't actually know what to change anymore.

The sound doesn't come through all the speakers though, I haven't try to do much about it but I will now.

So if you could help me with the last question I would've been awesome!

Thank you so much man, much appreciated!
- Darko

 

[ssddx]

what source are you playing and getting stereo only sound?

you would need surround sound source (and make sure your windows settings are set to 5.1 too)

pleae specify exactly what you did (how you have it set up to get sound) and all the details... or we are guessing here on our end what you need to do.

 

[DarkoMedakovic]

what source are you playing and getting stereo only sound?

you would need surround sound source (and make sure your windows settings are set to 5.1 too)

pleae specify exactly what you did (how you have it set up to get sound) and all the details... or we are guessing here on our end what you need to do.

I used your first solution:

you CAN use 1 hdmi from pc->ht which pushes both video and audio to the ht. you then hook up 1 hdmi from ht->tv which pushes the video.

I got the 5.1 working on games but not on youtube / spotify when I'm listening to music. But do you have idea of why my quality on the TV is not as good as it was when I had it the other way connected?
(The quality is like that on when I'm displaying the computer)

 

[ssddx]

youtube is stereo only sound. there is no surround sound .

spotify is likely stereo only as well. (music if you read what i said in an earlier post is mostly stereo only).

explain what you mean by the quality on the tv. i'm not quite sure what you are implying.

 

[DarkoMedakovic]

youtube is stereo only sound. there is no surround sound .

spotify is likely stereo only as well. (music if you read what i said in an earlier post is mostly stereo only).

explain what you mean by the quality on the tv. i'm not quite sure what you are implying.

I not quite sure how to explain it correctly.

I looks like the colours are abit messed up or I don't know, changing the resolution doesn't have, and I've changed the colour mode one the HT to RGB if that has something to do with it.

 

[DarkoMedakovic]

I took a screenshot, I don't know if it will look the same to you but look at the colours:

http/tinypic.com/r/2eey1yq/5

 

[dqtl74]

That screenshot will look normal to us. You'll need to take a picture of your screen with a camera or something like that.