How to enable Surround Sound via Optical line?

Hi, I have been having problems outputting Dolby Digital 5.1 from my Mac to my Panasonic Home Theatre Reciever, When I insert the Optical line with the adaptor, It only gives me the option to send Stereo channels. No options for 5.1/6.1/7.1(Rear/Center)
However, I can use Dolby Pro Logic as another way of Dolby Digital. But I wanted to get actual Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. I don't want to use more space on my MacBook Pro's HDD. Just to encode another movie/TV episode. (a.k.a Family Guy)
Is there a way I can install AC3 on my MBP?
I would appreciate everyone's help!

I Found out the problem. When I was hooking everything up, I kept the t.v. on so I can assign audio inputs with the onscreen display. If the T.V. is left on....only stereo outputted. When I turned the t.v. off and with the airport express plugged into AUX, I was able to switch between surround sound settings.
so the moral of the story is, turn off video devices when you just want sound, especially if they are hooked up to the AVR with HDMI.

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Cannot get 5.1 Surround Sound with optic fiber cable (Mini Toslink)

I have a Macbook Pro (Early 2011 Model) and after spending lot of time I figured out that the best way to get 5.1 surround sound output is to connect the MBP to the AV Receiver with the optic fiber cable (Via Mini Toslink Adapter). So after reading all the articles and forums on it, I went and purchased the cable and adapter and hooked up my MBP to my AVR 142 Harman / Kardon receiver.
But now I’m still not able to not get Digital 5.1 surround sound!! Additionally, in Audio MIDI Setup (under Utilities), I can only select Stereo from the drop down menu, as "5.1 Surround" and every other option, such as 7.1 surround are grayed out.
Is there anything that I have missed out in the setup? or do I have to try some other method to get the surround sound??
Please Help!!

ATV definitely supports AC3 DD 5.1... etc, but definately not through AirPlay, only streamed through the inet.
I also found, in the case of Netflix, that the AC3 is preserved in the highest bandwidth mode but not available in the lowest. (frankly i did not test the intermediate bandwidth)
I was quite pleased with the sound and picture from Netflix.
I am not so patiently waiting for AirPlay to support AC3 DD or DDPlus because I record my home video in %.1 surround (AVCHD) and can preserve it through Final Cut Pro and DVD or Red Laser, but cannot use the intended cable replacement (AirPlay) to play them.
Bummer..
I think/hope if more people request surround sound via AirPlay Apple may then follow through on this otherwise good idea.
FWIW
Barry

Does anyone know of a mini sterio with surround sound and optical input in Mac Mini form factor?

Does anyone know of a mini sterio with surround sound and optical input in Mac Mini form factor?
I use a Mini as the family media center and would like to have 5.1 or 7.1 sound for films but don't want a huge piece of eletronic equipment (I have one of those, but it isn't hooked up because it doesn't fit on the bookshelf). Years ago I used a PC and still use the Creative Audigy speaker system (Jimmy rigged to the Mini) that I ran from the PC. The Audigy PCI sound card obviously doesn't work on the Mini, so I just have two chanel plus sub. That has been fine since I switched to the Mini in 2007, but am updating to a new Mini in the summer and would like to upgrade my sound as well.
I also wouldn't be opposed to a USB soundcard that can drive the speakers. In fact, my wife would prefer smaller and less visible, ergo USB card hidden in the back.
Suggestions?

Hello John, I figured it was a signal issue. All the speakers fire and the sound is great. I was running the speakers thru a Dell PC with a Creative X-Fi Elite Pro, THX Certified, 7.1 soundcard using a fiber optic from the Mac Pro to the Z906's, it worked great until the Dell died!!! When I bought the soundcard from Creative I also bought the GigaWorks S750, THX Certified, 700 watt, 7.1 speaker system, used the speakers for 11 years and then the woofer/amp said "I QUIT" Creative quit making the speaker system and the sound card. The satellite speakers from the Creative GigaWorks speaker system still sound great (rated at 78 watt each) and are a little better speaker than the one's that came with the Z906 and the wattage from the 906 is sufficient to drive the satellites without any distortion. Thank you for addressing my issue, you confirmed what I suspected all along, just needed to hear it from someone with the same setup.
One last question, I purchased a Diamond Multimedia USB Soundcard, can't use the fiber optic(not supported by Mac) but the green, tan and black RCA's plug in and produces adequetly. When you plug your 906's into the Mac Pro using the fiber optic how do you set your speaker configuration? When I plug into the mac pro with fiber optic the 'Audio Midi Setup' does not seem to see the 5.1 configuration. Any thoughts there?
Carl

Mac mini no surround sound via HDMI to TV

I have a MacMINI 2011 which is connected via HDMI cable directly to my Samsung UA55HU8590 TV.
The problem is that the MAC is not delivering a surround sound. If I e.g. watch a movie via iTunes I can only listen in stereo not in DTS or any other dolby sound.
I see in the midi audio setup at the HDMI entry that all my 5.1 settings are greyed out.
I have the latest Yosemite installed.
How can I transfer surround sound via HDMI to my TV?

Try:
Force 5.1 out over HDMI
http://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/146-Mac-OS-X-Dolby-Digital-5.1-with-Mac-Mini- solved.html

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I have surround sound with my LCD TV. Will my new iPad into an HDML connection be able transmit surround sound via Utube, iTunes or whatever?

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ATV definitely supports AC3 DD 5.1... etc, but definately not through AirPlay, only streamed through the inet.
I also found, in the case of Netflix, that the AC3 is preserved in the highest bandwidth mode but not available in the lowest. (frankly i did not test the intermediate bandwidth)
I was quite pleased with the sound and picture from Netflix.
I am not so patiently waiting for AirPlay to support AC3 DD or DDPlus because I record my home video in %.1 surround (AVCHD) and can preserve it through Final Cut Pro and DVD or Red Laser, but cannot use the intended cable replacement (AirPlay) to play them.
Bummer..
I think/hope if more people request surround sound via AirPlay Apple may then follow through on this otherwise good idea.
FWIW
Barry

Recording Digital Audio via Optical Line-in

Hi,
I've been trying for the past hour to record Digital Audio from my XBOX 360 via an Optical Cable, into my MacPro's Optical line-in.
However all I get it huge amounts of noise / static / clicking all of the time.
Any ideas?
Thanks,

I suspect the audio from your XBOX is encoded in surround sound. The Mac will not decode this type of audio directly from the optical in port. You may need to try and change your XBOX preferences to standard stereo.

Sound no longer playing through Surround Sound via TV

I have had my Mac Mini for about a year now and recently purchased a new 3D LG TV. Prior to that I had another LG hooked up through it and have a Panasonic surround sound system set up with I believe it's a Gefen digital to analog converter, because unfortunately LG only makes digital and alls that is available is analog through my surround sound. I have always been able to listen to my computer through the surround sound, however, since I purchased this new TV I have not been able to. The sound plays through the TV speaker but will not play through the surround sound yet when I change inputs over to my PS3 or DirecTv I can hear everything else except my computer. This is why I am convinced it is the computer and not the TV. I don't know if I'm missing a setting or something needed to change for this type of TV or what. I am pretty technical when it comes to electronics so I have tried changing all different types of settings and played around trying to fix this but so far no luck so who has an idea or ever heard of this before?

@mndwgz and Lousyfool
Sorry for the delay, however, I was out of town and just getting back to this issue. I'm not 100% positive but I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with the computer settings or something of the sort because like I said prior to me switching tv's it has worked no problem, both of which were connected the same exact way. Both LG tv's only have an optical digital output port on it while my Panasonic surround sound only has an A/V input. To solve this I have a Gefen Digital to Analog converter in between the connection from the TV and the Surround Sound, so my computer is not connected anything in between the computer and HDMI connection to TV. Sound comes out of the TV through the computer but will not bypass through the TV to the Surround Sound. However I know it's not the TV settings because my PS3 regardless of the HDMI input plays sound through and over all my speakers. I have not tried rerunning my computer through the old LG LCD tv connect the surround sound as well to see if it worked because all the way up until I switched to an LED tv, it had. It's weird how this is a problem but have tried switching settings, changing inputs, problemsolving etc. but just don't see how my PS3 is converted through the tv to the converter to the surround sound and my mac mini is not!
Old LCD TV- LG model 42LH30
New LED TV- LG model 47LM6200
Surround Sound- Panasonic model SA-PT950
Converter- Gefen Digital to Analog Converter

IPhone 5 audio issues when paired with surround sound via Bluetooth.

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Hey there Vxas,
It sounds like you are gettings some very unexpected behaviour from the iPhone to your bluetooth surround sound system. I would try the troubleshooting recommended in this article:
iOS: How to troubleshoot Bluetooth connections
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4562
Check that you are in range of the Bluetooth device with which you are trying to pair your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Most Bluetooth devices have a range of approximately 30 feet.
On your iOS device, tap Settings > Bluetooth and find your device in the list. If your device says Not Connected, tap the name of your device to attempt to connect it.
Tap Settings > Bluetooth and turn Bluetooth off and then on again.
Make sure that your Bluetooth accessory is turned on and fully charged or connected to power.
Restart your iOS device.
Tap Settings > Bluetooth and locate the Bluetooth accessory you are currently connected to or attempting to connect to. Then tap and Forget this Device. Try to pair your Bluetooth accessory again.
Note: You may need to re-enter your Bluetooth accessory PIN if your accessory requires one. Some common PINs are 0000, 1111, and 1234.
Restart your Bluetooth accessory by turning it off and then on again1.
Update your device to the latest version of software. See how to update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
If your Bluetooth accessory has upgradeable firmware, check to see that you have the latest version1, 2.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Take care,
Sterling

How to get Surround Sound 7.1 output out of all speakers?

Hi all... I moved my system from Ubuntu recently and am having one small issue that I haven't been able to solve; everything else is working great and I'm about ready to move all of my other systems to Arch also, once I've solved this. :-)
The one nagging issue I'm having is with sound. This is a fiber digital connection that was working on the ubuntu install and a couple other distros I play with, but I haven't been able to find the issue in Arch. Sound comes out of only the front-left and front-right speakers. When I do the sound test, it lists all of the other 7.1 speakers, but no sound out of anything other than the front 2 speakers. I noticed that I don't have an asound.conf, so I was wondering if that might help or if it's not needed with Arch?
sound.conf contains the following:
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
/proc/asound/cards contains:
0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xf9cf4000 irq 22
arecord -L shows:
default:CARD=Intel
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Analog
Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Analog
Front speakers
surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Analog
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Analog
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Analog
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Analog
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Analog
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
HDA Intel, ALC1200 Digital
IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
If anyone has any pointers, it would really be appreciated. I'm begging for help. ;-)

Thanks! :LOL: - those were 2 of the url's I've been looking through (in addition to the alsa faq, some stuff on the ubuntu, gentoo and xbmc forums).
I've setup an asound.conf and am about to give that a test.
--edit--
Well, that didn't solve it. I'll have to keep trying. :-(
If anyone has managed to get surround sound working out of more than just the front 2 speakers, I'd love to hear how you did it. ;-)
Mine is connected via digital, so it's beginning to look like I need to set spdif up somehow.
But... Now that I think about it, it 'should' be pretty easy since all I basically need is for it to force all raw audio out the fiber digital connection since the receiver actually handles all of the decoding (dang....it worked great in Ubuntu, now if I can just figure it out in Arch). LOL
Thanks!!
Last edited by jackmetal (2009-12-12 20:43:32)

Surround sound via external sound card

I'm looking to connect my W520 to a tv for watching movies. The video is all set up with a DP to HDMI adapter directly from the laptop to the tv. The sound, however, must pass through a receiver first. The receiver only has RCA inputs - it's quite old. I know the hypothetical setup would definitely work because I have a cable tv set top box connected that way.
What's missing is an external sound card that is:
- compatible with the w520
- capable of outputting 5.1 surround sound
- capable of connecting via RCA, be it through an adapter or not
Can anyone recommend a reliable external sound card for the job?

Have you tried one of these?
dynadock PA3927U-1PRP dynadock U3.0
You can stream 5.1 audio (and the video for that matter as it supports two displays). It also supports USB3.0 as an added perk (the dock itself can be plugged into a usb 3.0 port for best performance). It has one HDMI connection, one DVI-I, and an ethernet connection builtin as well as the usb connections.
PS Missed the bit about you only having RCA connections on your receiver. Lol I would get a new receiver. But then again this device may help you as it does have analog outputs (front,rear and c/sub). You would need to build/find cables though (3.5mm x3 to RCAs).
Btw no SPDIF? If no your receiver must be a pretty old one. Hope its a good one ;-). If you have an coax/optical input then there are also USB devices that will provide 5.1 (maybe even 7.1 nowadays) via the SPDIF connection.

Surround Sound via HDMI

I've tried just about everything to get Surround Sound out of the MacBook Pro. I'm starting to wonder if it's even possible.
I have a MacBook Pro Mid-2010 (the first model to support Multi-Channel Audio, BTW), and I've been trying to output surround sound to a Vizio 7.1 Surround Sound System (It's got sound quality like you wouldn't believe, if only the speakers weren't so slippery and would stay still.) It's connected to a Vizio HDTV through optical audio, which is connected through an HDMI cable to the MacBook, which is using a Moshi HDMI to Mini DP adapter (It's pretty good quality). I know it's not a problem with the HDTV or the Sound Bar, as Surround Sound works fine with our 3D BluRay, our DTV Box, an HD Upscaling DVD Player, and Windows 7 or 8 PCs, including my Surface Pro 2 (Worst computer in the universe.) The Sound Bar doesn't like PCM very much (sometimes it works), and prefers Dolby.
First, I thought it might be a problem with the TV, so I moved the whole system upstairs to a 720p LG HDTV, which also supports optical surround-sound passthrough from an HDMI source. It still showed as a 2 channel device in MIDI Setup. Then I tried various different settings and restarting and resetting the PRAM. I also tried another, unmarked HDMI to Mini DP adapter that I had in a random box, also to no avail. I thought maybe it only works with a lower display resolution, but no. I even tried using someone else's Retina MacBook Pro, but it had the same problems. Seriously, how does anyone even consider a mac as an audio production platform? This is a serious issue for audio professionals (Not that I'd know, I'm an artist). Anyway, I've even tried a few supposed software solutions, like Perian, which didn't work at all. Someone suggested Soundflower, but I know that doesn't work, because I've actually had it for years. (It's quite useful for recording or redirecting audio.) There's a few tutorials I've seen to solve the problem, but they all stop making sense at the "Set the format to 6 or 8-Channel" part. Obviously, if I can't output Surround Sound, that means that there's no "Format" option that's not labeled "2-channel".
Screenshots: (Ignore the Premiere Pro option, that's just there just it's open in the background)
So basically, what do you do if Mac OS X tells you there's no Surround Sound, and every other device tells you different?

Dam I've done it, ok next thing is where the volumes are grey'd out I would like to increase the volume to the rear speakers.

Surround Sound through optical on MacBook Pro 2011

So I've got this brand new MacBook Pro connected to my 5.1 surround sound home theatre system through optical, and I can only seem to get stereo sound out of it. I go through the Audio MIDI Setup and it always only shows 2 speakers and when I open up Left 4 Dead 2 it also only shows 2 speakers, any ideas on how I can get the surround sound working, I've been searching for awhile and haven't found anything, thanks?

Stereo has 2 channels, 5.1 surround sound has six channels total.
The Mac passes 5.1 through the optical cable/port.
The audio has to have a 5.1 encoding of some sort, Dolby, Logic etc.,
Your receiver has to be set to decode the 5.1 format being sent to it.
You can test this with a DVD that has extra sound capabilities in the audio menu, then match the encoding on the receiver.
Some 3D games provide surround sound on a Mac, but usually it's to a PC sound card that handles the processing. Since Mac doesn't do that, it just passes the surround sound through, the surround sound must be in a encoding format your receiver can understand.
Some good receivers can take Stereo 2 channel and separate out some of the frequencies and send them to the appropriate speaker, like the sub woofer and mid range. Then take the left and right channels and duplicate them for the front and rear left and right channels to fill a room with sound. However this isn't true surround sound as you won't hear objects moving up behind you or flying past over your head like in a good movie or video game with true surround sound abilities.
Your lucky I was here, not many people mess with surround sound on a Mac, or really don't even know it's there.
But it's really worth the effort, even iTunes music sounds great. A iPod sounds like crap in comparison.

Help Connecting my laptop to my 5.1 surround sound with optical Ca

Hi
I have recently bought a new hp 9667ea Laptop which has a express card slot. So also decided to buy the creative blaster x-fi xtreme audio note book sound card. I?want to connect my laptop to my surround sound using a optical cable.
So after days of messing about I cound get the sound to come out the card using the headphones supplied but not through my optical cable also when rebooting my laptop with the sound card in it would freeze my laptop and was unable to get a internet connection.
I since found out this card only supports 2. throught the optical cable.
Now what I am after is a card that supports 5. and I am able to connect to my surround sound using a optical cable?
I know creative are bring one out that support 7. will this also be compatible with my 5..
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Scott

I connect mine via XBox 360 using a program called uShare https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UShare and it works brilliantly. However, I don't suppose you have an XBox or PS3, so you do actually have an option which is a VGA to HDMI converter. This is just one link I found for one http://www.amazon.co.uk/HDfury-1080P-HD … B000SOPWS8
It's fairly reasonable price, £57.80, I suppose if it works okay. You could always buy one and if it doesn't do what you want just send it back and get a refund.
Last edited by RichAustin (2011-11-01 13:00:08)

How to output surround sound with airport express N

is this possible? I am streaming successfully with airport express, sounds great with no audio dropouts. I have it hardwired to my router and the AX is connected optical to my surround receiver. Music is only played through my fronts. Is there a way to output surround sound? I can't even choose different audio options through my A/V receiver.

I Found out the problem. When I was hooking everything up, I kept the t.v. on so I can assign audio inputs with the onscreen display. If the T.V. is left on....only stereo outputted. When I turned the t.v. off and with the airport express plugged into AUX, I was able to switch between surround sound settings.
so the moral of the story is, turn off video devices when you just want sound, especially if they are hooked up to the AVR with HDMI.

How to enable Surround Sound via Optical line?

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