Solved! Trouble setting up surround sound

Ruben_Samich

Commendable
Oct 16, 2016
2
0
1,510
Hey guys, I just got a new surround sound system, and I'm having trouble setting it up. I have everything plugged in, and everything works, every speaker works, that's all good. I just can't get my TV to detect the 5.1, my TV still thinks its stereo. I have a TCL Roku TV, and I know for a fact that it supports 5.1 surround sound, I can even tell it to do that in the settings. The speaker system I got is slightly dated, so I had to get a passthrough in order to have inputs supported by my TV. But the passthrough can decode stereo into 5.1 so that's not the issue. I'm no audio expert, but what I think the issue is is the fact that I'm connecting my TV to the passthrough via SPDIF, which I know is a pretty dated input. The audio modes my TV supports are

PCM-Stereo
Dolby D
Dolby D +
Dolby D, DTS
Dolby D+, DTS

My TV's specs (for what inputs it has): https://www.cnet.com/products/tcl-roku-tv-32s3850b-32-class-31-5-viewable-led-tv/specs/

My passthrough: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0126U4C1Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Solution
SPDIF is perfectly fine. It won't carry lossless audio like Dolby TrueHD from a BD disc but then neither will your TV output that.
You did select bitstream as the output type in the TV audio menu?
The optical to 5.1 surround sound processor (passthrough) has a button on it to select 5.1
Make sure that the program you are playing is in Dolby Digital surround sound. I suspect that the "passthrough" may not switch to Dolby Prologic when it receiver a stereo signal. Your TV will only send out stereo if that's all the program has. It also won't process 2 channels into 5.1
SPDIF is perfectly fine. It won't carry lossless audio like Dolby TrueHD from a BD disc but then neither will your TV output that.
You did select bitstream as the output type in the TV audio menu?
The optical to 5.1 surround sound processor (passthrough) has a button on it to select 5.1
Make sure that the program you are playing is in Dolby Digital surround sound. I suspect that the "passthrough" may not switch to Dolby Prologic when it receiver a stereo signal. Your TV will only send out stereo if that's all the program has. It also won't process 2 channels into 5.1
 
Solution

Ruben_Samich

Commendable
Oct 16, 2016
2
0
1,510



Which option from what i listed above should i pick?

Also I will try Netflix playing a movie/show that supports 5.1 surround sound and see if it works

Thanks!