5.1 surround sound in Windows games?

I'm about to invest in a current-generation (mid-2010) iMac.
If I Install Windows 7 in a Boot Camp partition, will Windows games be able to output 5.1 surround sound through the iMac's optical mini-TOSLINK output?
(I thought this would be a stupid/obvious question, but googling around I find plenty of conflicting information on the net!)

ok.... strap your-self in Freddie
with a surround panner, bleed-over (on to other channels) can be ugly as i have found surround panners are anything BUT precise (perhaps accurate, as you say but NOT precise). Oh don't forget that sub channel. The bus trick really helps out here with limiting and compression..blahblahblah.. Automation with panning (on the main track) and bussing (i know this sounds goof-ball) making dup tracks for different panning functions (like sweeping aircraft sound spinning around the sweat-spot spectrum) leverages standard (old-skool) automation 'thinking' rather then the (new-skool) surround panner thinking... plus i'm still waiting for a low cost HUI style mixer with REAL tactical 3d surround panning joysticks so i can truly leave the stereo world. the mouse and a surround panner is the 'lame' some times.
But, yah, i do mix in both worlds..5.1 panners and my uber-hax0r bus panners. To tell the truth, when i'm in LP7 i still have use my bus trick in conjunction with 5.1 panners. Kinda too bad however that logic (Pro and Express) don't have the kewl mono/stereo into 5.1 effects of Digital Performer... oh well... good luck all you AC-3'ers out there!.. i'm going back to work...[beep]

Similar Messages

I TUNES WON'T PLAY IN 5.1 SURROUND SOUND WITH WINDOWS 7. ONLY PLAYS FRONT SPEAKERS AND SUB WOLFER BUT WON'T PLAY REAR SPEAKERS. YOU TUBE VIDEOS PLAY ALL 5 SPERAKERS .

I TUNES WON'T PLAY MY LIBRARY IN 5.1 SURROUND SOUND ON MY DELL 4600 COMPUTER. I HAVE ALTEC LANSING SPEAKERS THAT ARE WIRED THROUGH THE PORTS IN THE REAR OF COMPUTER. IT PLAYS ONLY FRONT SPEAKERS AND SUB WOLFER, BUT YOU TUBE VIDEOS PLAYS IN ALL 5 SPEAKERS. I HAVE A WINDOWS 7 OPERATING SYSTEM. I TUNES LIBRARY PLAYED CORRECTLY IN 5.1 SURROUND SOUND WITH WINDOWS XP ON THE SAME COMPUTER, BUT CHANGED WITH WINDOWS 7 OS. THE DRIVER SETTINGS ARE CORRECT AND SET TO 5.1 SURROUND SOUND AND WHEN GOING THROUGH SPEAKER TEST, ALL 5 SPEAKERS PING. iS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO GET THE REAR SPEAKERS TO PLAY FROM MY I TUNES LIBRARY?

Hi mikefrompoland,
For more information about 5.1 Surround Sound in iTunes, you may find the following article helpful (it is primarily aimed at Mac users, but the settings in Windows should be similar):
Setting up iTunes and your DVD Player for digital surround sound
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4072
Note: For surround sound to work, the content being played must be encoded to support it.
Regards,
- Brenden

Surround sound bootcamp windows 7

Okay, so here is my issue, and I hope you can help me with it. I have a 17" iMac dual booted with windows 7. I have the audio out through a 3.5 mm to optical (Toslink) cable into my surround sound system. My issue is that the cirrus logic cs4206a driver does not have the option of anything more than 2 channel sound output. I have already tried a couple suggestions on the internet, even wasted 5 bucks on dolby digital live and dts connect pack. Nothing is working and I was told that I could get true 5.1 dolby digital surround sound out of my iMac. If there is anyway possible to do this and I am just missing it. please let me know.
P.S. yes i know that no matter what the iMac cannot send out 5.1 audio signal it is compressed and must be decoded live by my surround sound. And my surround sound system is fully capable of that.
Thank you
-Brian

I know this thread is a year old, but I thought I should post my solution in case others with this problem come across this as I did.
I was having tis problem on both my laptops which I have connected to my living room and bedroom tv. Here are my equipment and connection profiles:
Asus G73jw with nVidia video card
Windows 8 consumer preview 64 bit
Onkyo tr-609 recevier
Samsung flat screen
Laptop connected to receiver via HDMI
Sony 2011 Z series
Docking station with an ATI video card that allows connection of multiple displays
Windows 7 pro 64 bit
Onkyo tr-509
Samsung flat screen
Laptop (not docking station) connected to receiver via HDMI
The solution turned out to be uninstalling all Realtek drivers and software, restarting the computer and letting Windows install it's own sound drivers. That cleared the problem. Somehow, whatever the realtek drivers pass through to the recever are not 5.1 surround or cannot be decoded.
If anyone wants more detail, post here and I will reply.

I can't get 5.1 Surround Sound running Windows 7, Mid-2010 Mac Pro

Hello,
So I'm running bootcamp on my Mid-2010 Mac Pro and I can't get Dolby Surround Sound to run from the Realtek HD Audio Manager. Is there a way to produce true Dolby 5.1? I understand this may be more bootcamp related than to the actual hardware itself but I figured this is the best place to start troubleshooting this.
Thanks

I can try-dunno how much help I'll be, though
go here for Realtek drivers for surround sound
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=37&Level=5&Co nn=4&ProdID=144
try this: go to Windows Sound, then playback devices, then click on speakers icon (should have realtek as default). Click on that, and click configure
if realtek has a sound manager, try clicking on that, and a config dialog might appear
sorry can't be much more help than that
JB

Mac Pro and Surround Sound

I cannot get 5.1 channel sound out of my Mac Pro (or my PM G5 for that matter).
So what are my options for bringing out the surround content of Windows games to my Logitech Z-5500 5.1 system?
I investigated the M-Audio Revolution 5.1. It's not compatible with the PCI-Express slots or with MacOSX 10.4.8.
Is the Mac Pro too new for any such products to be available for it yet?

Feeding my Logitech Z-5500 5.1 system from the optical out, only gives me DPL2, (I think) from DVD movies. For games on the Mac, I needed to take a feed to the Logitechs from the headphone out as the optical feed didn't yield any audio from games. What does the optical out give us then? Nothing more than sound for DVDs and some MacOSX alert sounds.
Now I'm guesssing this but my intuition tells me that the optical path is a direct feed from the DVD player. Well, perhaps not really direct but certainly a different path to that of the integrated audio hardware.
Now we have one most serious problem here. Nearly all games ported to the Mac are encoded 2-channel only. Aspyr admitted this to me. I do not watch DVD movies on my Mac so the Logitechs are serving no purpose apart from providing stereo audio.
Aspyr says that since Apple only provides for 2-channel audio in hardware and software, game publishers never bother with surround information in their games. Aspyr says, if it did it could cause instability and crashes because the Mac is a 2-channel computer. Games with surround sound will be more common if Apple builds the feature into its computers.
Unless Apple changes it's policy we are stuck with 2-channel. And similarly, Windows on Intel Macs is hobbled because the same hardware is used by Windows.
Can a Firewire or USB decoder extract surround sound from Windows games? It certainly can on a PC. But what about an Intel Mac? I'm about to learn the answer when the Audigy2 NX arrives.

Can an iMac output surround sound audio similar to Dolby 5.1 sound in Windows?

Is it possible for my iMac to output surround sound audio similar to Dolby 5.1/7.1 surround sound in Windows?
Mileman10

Yes on 5.1,
Here is a "how to" article:
http://guides.macrumors.com/Configuring_5.1_Surround_Output_in_Mac_OS_X
Roger

No surround sound in 64bit Vista

Just upgraded my computer from a 4 year old 32bit Windows XP system. I have 5.1 Logitech X-530 speakers running on a Sounblaster X-Fi card. Surround sound works on games, movies, windows media player, etc. But iTunes thinks I have a 2.1 system and only plays out of the front 2 speakers and the subwoofer. In XP, iTunes used all speakers and it sounded phenomenal. Now it sounds like crap. Any idea what I can do to fix this?

I am going to return this card if I don't get any help. This is extremely disappointing to say the least. An expensi've card that completely sucks for one of the worlds most popular games.

[Solved - kinda] Intel series 9 surround sound?

I just upgraded my system to 1150 with a new motherboard, Asus H97M-E.
In the manual it states that you can choose to map the line in and mic to the necessary channels for 5.1 surround sound in Windows.
Now my question, can this be done on Linux as well or should I just splash on a sound card? I did a bit of the Google but cannot seem to find anything that will help.
Info:
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family HD Audio Controller
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 8616
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29
Memory at f6210000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
index: 1
name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
owner module: 7
properties:
alsa.card = "0"
alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xf6210000 irq 29"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
device.bus = "pci"
device.vendor.id = "8086"
device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
device.product.id = "8ca0"
device.product.name = "9 Series Chipset Family HD Audio Controller"
device.form_factor = "internal"
device.string = "0"
device.description = "Built-in Audio"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
profiles:
input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 60, available: unknown)
output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6000, available: unknown)
output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6060, available: unknown)
output:iec958-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output (priority 5500, available: unknown)
output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5560, available: unknown)
off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo>
sinks:
alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo/#1: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
sources:
alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor/#1: Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo/#2: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
ports:
analog-input-front-mic: Front Microphone (priority 8500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
analog-input-rear-mic: Rear Microphone (priority 8200, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
properties:
analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
properties:
analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
properties:
Thank you.
Last edited by MW (2015-05-06 11:02:02)

Well, my not so elegant fix:
1.
nano /etc/pulse/daemon.conf
default-sample-channels = 6
default-channel-map = front-left,front-right,rear-left,rear-right,front-center,lfe
2.
echo export KMIX_PULSEAUDIO_DISABLE=1 > ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh
chmod +x ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/kmix_disable_pulse.sh
3.
Test if all works after loggin out and back in again:
speaker-test -c 6 -D surround51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4KYoQKAnoE
The downside to this is that you cannot control you soundcard through the SystemSettings anymore, but you can still use kmix and alsamixer.

Hooking up MBP to home theater receiver: Surround sound for games?

I'm looking for a way to hook up my MBP to my home theater receiver to play games in surround sound. From what I've read, it sounds like the digital optical out will only provide 5.1 sound for DVDs, not games.
I have also read about the Griffin Firewave which supposedly provides 5.1 sound from the firewire port...however, it looks like there are five separate outputs from that device (center, and both front and rear speakers), and my receiver's inputs are not arranged in this way, so I don't think this will work for my setup.
Anyone know of a way to do this successfully? It's looking like it's not possible, but wanted to see if there were any solutions I was missing. Thanks!

Peep this...http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/bb/board/message?board.id=TV_Home_Theater&thread.id=1153
Disclosure: Former BBY employee.

No DVD Dolby Digital surround sound in media player or media center in Windows 7

I mirrored my working config from my Vista 32 bit install into my Windows 7 64 bit install and a Windows 7 32 bit install, but can't get the Dolby Digital SPDIF coax output to work (just get static) in my Windows 7 install when playing a DVD.
Notes:
- Both Vista and Windows 7 are on the same PC, but on different partitions of the same hard drive.
- standard stereo output works fine in Windows 7
- Dolby Digital and DTS do work in Windows 7, but only in the Sound config window, not in any program.
I have the latest Creative Audigy 2 ZS Soundblaster Windows 7 drivers installed (Creative Sound Blaster Audigy series driver 2.18.0011).
Anyone have any suggestions on how to get the Dolby Digital / DTS output to work Windows 7 when playing a DVD?
MY PC SPECS:
CPU : Intel® Pentium® D 820 Processor (Dual-Core)64-bit processor with Intel® EM64T Technology. Each core operates at 2.80GHz | 2 x 1MB L2 cache | 800MHz FSB
Chipset : Intel® 945G DH (Viiv™)
Memory : 2GB DDR2 dual channel, 533MHz (PC4200)

Hi,
Thank you for posting.
Please try the following to check the S/PDIF device:
1.    Go to “Control Panel\Hardware and Sound” and click “Sound”.
2.    In the opened dialogue box, switch to the “Playback” tab, right-click on the box listing the current devices, select Show Disabled Devices and see if the item “Digital Audio (S/PDIF)” will appear. If it appears, please enable it and set it as Default Device and see if it works.
Considering the issue is related to the specific hardware, it is also recommended that you contact Creative and see if they have any constructive suggestions.
Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.
Hope this helps. Thanks.
Nicholas Li - MSFT

Creative speaker settup test problem.... surround sound test prob

OK this seems to be a hard concept for the support staff at creative to grasp so hopefully someone out there can help me..... OK? I have a Audigy 2 XZ platinum sound card with?the creative?7. speakers. it has worked fine in the past. recently when I go into the speaker setup and do a test to see if all the speakers are working correctly.... front left...front center...front right.... now this is when things get stupid.... rather than it continuing to the side right speaker..... the side right "sound" comes out of the front right speaker.... and it does the same for the rear right.... then to the rear left but this time it comes out of the front left speaker?and the same thing for the side left. I did a reinstall of windows and did a speaker test.... I was happy to see that it was fixed all the correct sounds were being heard from the correct speakers. I thought this was over with until I just ran a test again and it is back. It seems that all surround sound features don't work, none of my games nothing. if anyone knows how to fix this that would be awesome.... it is really pissing me off.
things I have tried....
I have tried completely removing all drivers software and my sound card hardware and reinstalling everything..... does not work. I have tried to install new drivers..... no good. I want to say that after I installed the new updated drivers is when it started acting dumb. Anyways thanks for the help in advanced.

well I have been trying to figure this out... I am pretty sure its something to do with the drivers.... when I go in DXDIAG and run the sound tests it is saying that my Audigy 2 zs does not support hardware buffering? it seems that it is using the generic sound driver rather then the correct creative driver... I jsut dont know how to fix it.

No Surround Sound out the optical port to my receiver?

In lieu of this post:
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=270
What to people do that want a 5. experience out of a game, but don't want to go buy an entire second set of speakers to plug into all those mini-jacks in the back of the card to get 5. game sound? Is there some other layer or 3rd party drivers that took upon the task of converting the EAX stuff to the optical audio jack? Obviously it can support it, as I can fire up a DVD and play it in Windows Media Player and it sends a 5. signal out the optical jack to my receiver. It's just the games which fail heinously.
I'm using the "XFTI_W7DRVBETA_US_2_7_0007" driver currently. I've tried flipping things on and off, but never get a surround sound output out of that optical jack. I find it hard to believe I'm the only one that 'only' wants to use the optical out to a receiver as my sole source of sound. I was wondering what solutions were available?
Edit: I suppose it would be helpful to know I have an X-Fi Titanium.
Message Edited by notebene on 05-02-2009 2:09 PM

: For )
Find the 2 packages from here -> http://support.creative.com/download...rType=3#type_3
Download these...
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=4090
Thanks much. I downloaded the 2 apps for future use.
Now I'm stuck on the fact that it will 'not' let me install drivers anymore. It keeps telling me I don't have a supported device. I do have a supported device, and I 'did' have the drivers successfully installed and working at one point, but now it won't let me install them. That doesn't make 'any' sense to me at all.

DTS & 5.1 Surround Sound using my Home AV Receiver and X

Hello, new to the boards and computers (buying @ least). Let me start with my Desktop, followed by the sound card and my home AV Recei'ver. BTW, all drivers are current and up to date.
HP m820n
Processor
Intel Viiv Processor Intel Core2 Quad Processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)
Operating system
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatalty w/ I/O Dri've
AV RECEIVER
Yamaha HTR-5730 5. w/ DTS and Dobly Pro Logic II.
Connection between the two:
Digital Coax Cable from X-Fi I/O SPDIF Out to AV Reciever CD Coax Digital Input.
At first there wasn't any sounds coming from my receiver using the current connection (see above). However, I was able to change an input to digital PCM (pulse code modulation) on my AV Recei'ver and all of the sudden, I'm listening to mp3 & wma files in surround sound (all 6 speakers).
I thought that the problem was solved. Well then today I discovered it changed to stereo only, and as long as the digital input cable was hooked in back of the receiver, I couldn't change the setting from "stereo, PCM" to DSP, DTS or DoblyII. Solution? buy the Home Theater cable set or external decoder.
Next Problem, for some reason when I change the X-Fi settings to 5. ( or 2.0) and set up a "test" (whether creat.labs or Window's Media Center)there's no sound coming from any channel/speakers. HOWEVER, my AV Recei'ver will even change the setting from "Stereo" to "5." on the test automatically....but still, there's no sound??
So.... I ignored it and figured to grab my Led Zeppelin Double Disc DVD that's Dobly Digital and DTS 5. Sorround sound. After messing w/ the default & SPDIF by-pass settings and inserting the DVD, I can only listen to it in Stereo (left and right PCM). BTW, changed audio selection in menu on DVD too.
What gives? What's digital even good for on these things since the only solutions are to ether decode or switch to analog. Also, sorry that this is so long and possibly parts don't make sense but I'm extremely tired (2:45 am Central).
Thanks,
Chris

To the Top...
Also, an update. Using my TV Tuner card, I was able to watch tonights football game in HD which is Dobly 5. Surround sound. Sure enough, the AV Recei'ver kicked into Dobly Digital right away. Now I just need to figure out how to configure DTS and Dobly using my DVD's and possibly buying software that converts music files into surround sound.
Chris

Surround Sound Headphones?

Has anyone here tried surround sound headphones with the SPDIF output on an nForce mobo? If so, how do they work with games?
-r

Quote
Originally posted by Ryu Connor
I've had to read your question a few times to be sure that I'm answering the question right.
I'd have to say the general answer to your question is no.
Setting the panel to headphones is supposed to cause Windows to do something to the output of the sound. I can't perceive any difference when I shift the setting about. I've begun to wonder if the setting is only applicable to analog sound cards.
Furthermore an external DSP is required to use S/PDIF. At minimum you need a DAC to convert the digital signal back into analog. You also have to remember that any DD sound output from the S/PDIF must be decoded before it goes to the DAC. Since it appears that the nForce encodes any sound that passes through it, this too would make a DSP required.
I should have been a bit clearer on the external DSP. I realize a DD decoder is necessary when using the SPDIF output, but a DSP for additional HRTF would not necessarily be needed (if I'm understanding this correctly).
Quote
The adjustment of these settings along side Pro Logic tend to create the necessary HRTF output through headphones. That's for DD content any ways. 3D Sound API's acheive their goal by processing before output through the S/PDIF or analog outs.
But is the 3D Sound API's sound processing "preserved" when encoded to Dolby Digital? In other words, does the EAX and/or A3D positional infomation remain after it is encoded to DD?
Quote
One person who recently listened to a DVD-A song on my rig said the following afterwards, "Wow, the sound felt like it was in the back of my head."
Which I suppose is the result you're looking for.
Yes, exactly! But for games as well as DVDs?
Good info Ryu! Thanks!!
-r

No Surround sound in WoW - XFi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro

I have windows 7 64bit. and I installed the latest software from Creative. I can only get stereo sound out of this card in WoW. When I enable DDL under the encoder tab of the Audigy Control panel, I get a No Sound Driver Listing in WoW's audio tab. The card is set to gamer mode, and i can get surround out of the Creative Console when I test it out with the speaker icons. Running in compatibility mode doesn't work. Neither XP service pack 2 or 3 did anything to fix it. I have enabled Alchemy and that didn't work I have turned off EAX and disabled Alchemy, that didn't work. I bought this card for the sole reason of getting surround sound on my home theater, via SPDIF optical, when I play WoW, and it doesn't work. grr I don't have another game to try. I just want WoW to work. Please help me, I don't know what else to do.

I am going to return this card if I don't get any help. This is extremely disappointing to say the least. An expensi've card that completely sucks for one of the worlds most popular games.

5.1 surround sound in Windows games?

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