Mac Mini to 5.1 surround

Hi,
My grandad bought a Yamaha YSP-500 surround sound system that has 2 optical digital inputs. To connect the Mac Mini to this sound output I need an Optical Cable with Mini Optical Connector right? Like the Belkin one on Apple's site?
Many thanks, and happy new year!

If your Mac mini is an Intel-based model, then yes, you just need the cable. The G4-based Mac mini does not have the digital optical audio built-in.
-Doug

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New Mac Mini 2012 - HDMI dolby surround

Hi,
I returned my Mac Mini 2011 because of the poor (lack of) dolby surround support outside of Apple iTunes.
I am very interested to know if somebody can confirm the new Mac Mini 2012 has better dolby surround support. I would like to connect the Mac Mini to my dolby surround receiver with plug and play support in Mac OS X Mountain Lion. And of course compatibility with media software (e.g. VLC or other players).
Thanks for your comments!

The Mini will pass through Dolby and DTS encoded tracks to
any device which can decode it with XBMC, PLEX, VLC,
MplayerX, etc.
The signals can be passed through via HDMI or optically.
The proper set up is required in the Audio Midi Setup utility
and in the app. If you are expecting decoding within the
Mini to multichannel PCM, I don not believe any apps are available
to do that (or I am just not aware of them).
If your are expecting the higher level encodings (DTS-MA or Dolby
True HD), at least up to the 2011 models, they do not contain the
required "protected audio path" to support those formats.

ITunes, Mac Mini and 5.1 Surround - No Joy!

Greetings,
I'm having problems with getting 5.1 Surround Sound out of my Mac Mini with iTunes.
Here is my hardware setup:
Mac Mini (Mid 2010 model, has built in HDMI output, running OS X Lion 10.7.1 and latest iTunes version)
Pioneer VSX-1121-K Amplifier
Panasonic TV
I've got the Mac Mini connected to the Amp with HDMI, and I've also tried a digital audio cable to the amp.
I'm trying to play a movie (The "Art of Flight" by Travis Rice... GREAT movie!) that I purchased in HD from the iTunes store.
When I look at the "info" about the movie in iTunes, it states that it does have Dolby Digital 5.1 audio
When I play the movie in iTunes, with Controls -> Audio & Subtitles -> English (Stereo Audio) in plays fine.
When I change Controls -> Audio & Subtitles -> to English (Surround Audio), the movie freezes and will not play.
When I play the movie directly in Quicktime Player, I can't find any way to set the audio output options from within Quicktime player.
I've tried using both HDMI and Digital Audio out in the Sound Preferences Panel
I've tried using the Audio Midi Setup program in Utilities to configure both the Built-In output, and the HDMI output.
I've set both the Built-in Audio Output and the HDMI to "Encoded Audio".
In Audio Midi Setup, when I go into "Configure Speakers..." button, select "Multichannel", I see "Stereo" selected in the drop down box. But when I click on the drop down box, the options for "5.1 Surround", "7.1 Surround", etc are all greyed out.
No matter what I try, I get stereo output, instead of surround sound.
Help??

Well, a bit more experimentation and I have some additional thoughts.
I read the discussion https://discussions.apple.com/message/2530573#2530573 here.
I installed Perian, didn't seem to change anything.
I read the discussion http://geekwithfamily.com/2007/07/05/home-theater/howto-5-easy-steps-to-output-d olby-digital-from-quicktime-player/ here.
When I go into Audio Midi Setup it still says the output is Stereo only. BUT, when I play the movie in Quicktime now, I can hear sound coming out of my rear surround channels now. The receiver still indicates it only has stereo output enabled. But it does sound like I'm getting stereo output.
Still not clear why in iTunes they have the option for Controls -> Audio & Subtitles -> to English (Surround Audio), but when that is selected the movie won't play at all. Bug in iTunes, or elsewhere in the system? I don't know...

Mac mini and 5.1 surround

Hi
i'm changing my complete computer-parc from PC to mac. I will start with an imac 27" for my work and a mac-mini that will be attached to my HDTV and 5.1 sound-system.
I have enough of windows and PC-stuff and want to switch as soon as possible. I'm looking to find a solution to all my problems that will suite me.
Why not buying an apple TV, I have 2 reasons for that.
- I want to be able to surf the internet, check mail, use other programs, ...
- I have encoded many films in AVI-format, and would like to use XBMC as mediacenter.
I have 1 problem for the moment. I saw that the mac-mini only has a stereo output.
Is there some solution to with an external sound-card that could be connected with optical cable to a 5.1-system.
For the moment there is a netbook connected to my HDTV with an external soundblaster X-fi 5.1 usb. It works fine for my audio. But i don't thinks there are Mac-drivers for that one.
Any solution or help would be greatfull.
Thanks in advance.

fluxxy1245 wrote:
I saw some articles on the web that talked about an upcoming update of the mac-mini. An update that includes a blueray-player
we can't speculate here what Apple will or will not do.
and HDMI-port. How real is this.
though slightly unrelated, see this http://www.macrumors.com/2010/04/13/apple-updates-macbook-pro-mini-displayport-i mplementation-to-support-both-audio-and-video/.
Let's hope they add SP/DIF (audio optical out).
the mini has that already. see http://support.apple.com/kb/SP505 and scroll down to audio.
JGG

Mac Mini Late-2012 5.1 Surround Sound Issue

Hey guys, I'm running into some issues setting up 5.1 Surround sound on my mac mini. Heres my setup:
- Mac Mini -> HDMI -> Projector
- Mac Mini -> Digital Output (Toslink) -> Surround sound (Logitech Z906)
No matter what settings i try i cannot get 5.1 surround sound working. I've downloaded test tracks from dolby and all. Logitech is set to 5.1 and all. I've attempted to change the setup in audio MIDI to 48khz + 2ch-24Bit Integer , with no success. The 5.1 option inside of configure output is greyed out. Is there something i'm doing wrong? I've tried the 5.1 test tracks from Dolby through VLC.
Please help me, i've been working at this for nearly 2 days now. I've checked other answers with no sucess.
Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately, there is no configuration option for the S/PDIF interface. The following are the supported output formats:
2.0 (Stereo L/R)
5.1 (Dolby Digital - DVD bitstream or AC3 encoded containers only via QuickTime or VLC)
5.1 (DTS - DVD bitstream only)
To configure for proper 5.1 use, you need to set DVD Player to use Digital Out (Optical), not the Digital Out (HDMI). To configure VLC you need to set it to use Digital Out also, though you may have to fiddle with it to figure out which digital output is which as VLC's advanced configuration options aren't the most user friendly out there.
Once again, for the S/PDIF interface there are no configuration options available other than Stereo. 5.1 tracks will not play properly unless the apps used to play them back are capable of sending encoded digital audio. Dolby Digital and DTS are bitstream formats (encoded), and as such require that the app can work with those tracks.
Audio MIDI Setup does have the option to manually select Encoded Digital Audio in the format menu, but you should not do so as that disables regular stereo playback. The aforementioned apps will automatically switch between Encoded Digital Audio and Stereo, usually reverting to Stereo when playback is concluded.

Putting files on Mac Mini

I just purchased the intel Mac mini that has the Tiger OS.
I also have an iMAC G5 at home with Jaguar.
I bought the Mac mini for entertainment purposes only.
My iMAC was getting too full of music and it was getting bogged down, so I am going to take my 30 gigs of music off of my iMAC and put it on the MAC mini. I am going to then hook my MAC mini up to my surround sound speakers and my LCD tv (useing *** the monitor) in the front room.
My question is .... can I transfer my iTunes files easily from the iMAC to the MAC mini if the 2 computers have diff OS?
If so, how?
Will it transfer smoothly with all my playlists and music in order?
Will I need to purchase a special firewire to do so?
The Apple employee told me it's easy. He said something about holding down the "P" button while starting up the computers after they are connected.
Please help.

There is no problem copying it to the other computer. And, it doesn't matter that they have different microprocessors.
The guy at the store likely said the "T" key.
That would put the computer in Target Disk Mode.
With both computers off, connect the two computers using a FireWire cable.
Turn on the iMac and hold down the letter "T" immediately after turning on the computer. Keep holding it down until you see the computer display a "FireWire" logo. That vaguely looks like a large Capital "Y" with a circle in the middle of it.
Then, turn on the Mac Mini.
When the Mac Mini is done booting up, you'll see a hard drive icon on your desktop that represents your iMac's hard drive.
Now, browse to the iMac's hard drive and navigate to:
Hard Drive --> Users --> "Your User Name" --> Music
Now, get the Folder called "iTunes" and copy it to the exact same location on your new Mac Mini.
It will ask to over-write the existing folder. Just say yes.
Now, when you open iTunes on the new Mac Mini, it should see the music library.
Alternatively, if you don't want to use the above route, you can do everything except copy the folder from one computer to the other. And, instead:
Open iTunes on the new Mac Mini, and then go to the "File" menu and select "Add to Library".
Then, navigate to the location I mentioned previously on the iMac G5 (where your music is stored), and go into the iTunes Folder, and choose the "iTunes Music" folder.
Now, tell it to import, and you should start seeing all your music being added to the library.
When you are done, turn off both computers, and disconnect the cable.
Use the normal method to shut-down the Mac Mini first, and then press and hold the power button on the iMac until it turns-off.
Hope this helps.

Strange problem with mac mini hdmi, denon avr 3310 and itunes

Hello,
I just bought the new mac mini with HDMI. It is connected via HDMI to my receiver Denon AVR 3310. The receiver shows that it has "multi channel in" on the display.
I made all the configurations so that i can watch dvd an the mac mini. When i play a movie with Dolby Digital the receiver does show that on the display and playback is possible without any problems. I hear sound on all my 5.1 speakers.
The big problem is with iTunes. When I want to watch rented series, for example Dr. House, only 2 speakers of my 5.1 are used. And when I change to surround in iTunes I can only hear static noise.
What is the problem? Did I make a wrong configuration or is something wrong with iTunes?
Thanks in advance

Great news! My Mac mini is sending true 5.1 to my reciever through the HDMI cable! Okay so here's my list of gear.
MAC MINI 2011 2.5 i5 8gb ram
Using a quality audioquest hdmi I have connected my Mac mini to my Denon 1712 Reciever. I have connected this hdmi cable into hdmi port entitled game 2. I have connect my reciever to my tv with a monster 1000 hdx thx certified hdmi cable. It has a transmission sped of 17 gb or so...meaning it can handle transmitting 3d...if only I had a 3d tv.
Okay so that's the gear. Now onto the changes in audio midi. Open audio midi and Simply change it to 48000 hz and to 2 channel 16 bit integer. That's all I did and now it works. Before I had it set to 8 channel 24 bit and when I pulled up my surround sound options I could pretty much only get multi channel stereo. Now I can get several Dolby choices.
The voices are coming out of the center speaker and all the action is coming out of the other speakers....so in other words 5.1 surround sound has been achieved on my Mac mini 2011 which has Lion on it.
I have tested this with iTunes and Netflix. Both are in 5.1 and sound great. In iTunes I have tested both music and digital copies of movies. Both worked flawlessly.
Rejoice Mac mini owners 5.1 surround is now possible over your Mac mini 2011 edition with just an hdmi cable to your reciever. You can throw away that toslink cable becuase now you don't need it!
I hope this works for you. Remember not all hdmi cables and the same holds true for your reciever. If it does not work consider getting either audioquest or monster....everything else is junk.

I want to do output and input Surround Sound from my 2007 Mac Mini

I thought I could output my Mac Mini audio with a Toslink OUT connection, but it turns out my Mini only has a Toslink IN connection- God knows why. I wanted to use the Toslink out to connect to a receiver, which I'd hoped would process my stereo mp3's into Surround using Pro Logic IIx or other codec. But it seems I have to use a regular Y-cable from my Mini's audio out to my receiver's analog RCA in, and hope it does the decoding. Could I then plug it back into the audio in and have the mp3s in surround that I could record? Also, instead of a simple Y-cable, I could use my USB iMic line-out/in (and mic IN by flipping a switch) to go out of the computer into the receiver, which should provide higher quality sound, and eventually plan on using an Apogee Duet audio interface/controller to output the sound to the receiver with even higher quality- BUT STILL, can I then plug the receiver into the Mini's toslink audio in and then have surround versions of my mp3s and other audio being entered back into the Mini. I used to have a M-Audio Sonica theater which I lost which had surround formats including DTS up to 7.1 Surround (but not PL IIx I don't think) and still have the software disc that came with it, but think it is useless without the Sonica Theater hardware and speakers with a hardware amp/decoder such as 5.1 hardware/speaker systems previously sold by Klipsch and Alesis. And I assume my receiver can do a better job implementing surround on stereo sources anyway, I just need to be sure it can be fed back into the Mini audio input for recording. Finally, if and when I get the Apogee Duet (2-in, 2-out line and mic interface/DAW controllerpreset to control GarageBand/Logic, but capable of controlling most all other music software with included software called Maestro), I only have one Firewire input, but also want a Firewire HD- is it true I can daisy-link devices together to control many Firewire devices from one input?) Thank you so much for any info that could assist me.

If your mini is an Intel Core Duo 1.83 ghz model, it has optical audio out via a Toslink connector plugged into the audio output jack. You have to enable the optical output, and have a Toslink (optical audio) cable plugged in. Plug it all in then try setting your output with Audio MIDI Setup (in the Applications > Utilities folder).

How do I set up optical surround sound on my mac mini?

Hi all,
I have a funny situation where my mac no longer recognises my receiver as a surround sound device through the digital optical connection. It used to, it worked for about a year and a half, then suddenly stopped sending 5.1. 2.0 still worked (mp3s, avis), but trying to send 5.1 (mkvs) ended up with no sound whatsoever, on any app (VLC, Plex).
My equipment: 2009 Mac Mini running OS 10.6, Denon AVR-3082 amplifier, connected via optical link.
I tried a complete reinstall (as it had been a while), and I remember last time I set up 5.1 on my mac mini, it was some very involved process involving Perian and changing settings in the DVD player. I saw the default interface now supported setting up speaker configuration directly through the Audio/Midi setup utility, however this doesn't seem to work for me. When I select multi-channel audio output, all the options except "Stereo" are greyed out. I am using "Digital out" as the output device (only choice), and have tried 44.1 and 48kHz. My amplifier does not support HDMI audio input, which would be the simplest solution, so I am stuck using this optical solution.
On this clean install (not even any OS updates), 2.0 playback works (mp3 through VLC), and now 5.1 playback is mixed down to stereo by default. I have seen a number of guides online saying to use Perian, edit config files and so on, but they are all several years old so I presume somerthing has changed since.
Does anyone know how to get 5.1 output from my mac mini to my receiver, in the way it used to work for years until last week? Thanks in advance.

You can download mail for exchange to a pc or laptop then use nokia pc suite to install it.
The bug still exists were your email will be show up as being sent from Mail For Exchange and not you name
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Mac-mini doesn't recognize Yamaha yht-397 Surround Sound?

Just bought a Yamaha YHT-397 5.1 Surround Sound System. Connected it to my Mac-mini using HDMI cable. Video bypass works and I get the video from my Mac to my TV but mac does not recognize my surround sound system in the Sound System Preferences only recognizes Internal Speakers and my TV. Any ideas?

Go to: Applications > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup > Output, can you see and select it from there?
If not, then perhaps a Toslink to Mini Toslink Optical Cable from the Mac Mini's Digital Output Port to 1 of the Yamaha's Digital Audio Inputs is the way to go?

Audio - connecting surround sound speakers to mac mini

I have a PC surround sound sytem, 4 speakers and a subwoofer, that I would like to connect to the Mac Mini. There is a left and and right cable that I previously plugged into my computer's sound card.
Any suggestions as to how to connect the speakers?
mac mini

Hi there,
First of all, which Mac Mini do you have? A G4 or Intel? Does your PC surround sound system accept a digital input?
From gathering what you wrote, if the speakers only accept a left and right cable, then it is not a true surround sound system. You'd simply need a cable that splits the sound system into the left and right inputs such as this:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103865&cp=&origkw=audioy+adapter&kw=audio+yadapter&parentPage=search
Hook this up to your audio output (or headphone jack) and you are all set for stereo output only.
Mini 1.42GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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 hdmi auto detect stereo or surround

Hi,
I have just switched from an windows 7 media center to using a mac mini for my media center.
In my setup I have connected the mini to my Denon surround receiver with an HDMI cable (like I had with my windows media center).
However I have a small problem when playing music. With my windows media center (using iTunes for windows) my receiver could automatically detect that the music was in stereo and only use the front right/left speaker for the sound - and when I turned on Plex to play a movie the sound was automatically surround and I didnt have to change any settings on my receiver.
With the mac however both music and movies is sent to the receiver in 7.1 surround? Can't I get the mac to auto detect if the source is stereo or surround? So when I play music from iTunes only the front speakers should be used?
I know I can just turn my remote - open it and change the speaker setting on my receiver but I fear this is much to complicated for my girlfriend so she will demand that I turn back to windows and I really dont want to do that?
Kind Regards,
Søren Jensen

HDMI audio and Minis can be quirky at times.
Have you changed the order of power-up?
I found in my system, I need to power up the TV,
then the receiver, then boot the Mini.
Also, if using some other source and then switching
back to the Mini, I end up in stereo only and have to
reboot the Mini to get surround pass tthrough capability
back.
HDMI audio in general is at times quirky as I have seen
similar comments around and about for all types of
equipment.

Surround Sound on Mac mini 11

I am trying to set up an Trust Soundforce 5.1 surround sound. The problem is that it requires 3x 3.5mm jacks to connect to the Mac mini is there any adapter that I can purchase to solve this problem?

Should work with a > Amazon.com: Logitech 5.1 Game Console Adapter Convert Rca Plugs To A Single 1/8: Video Games and a RCA to mini stereo Y cable, but it will probably only produce 2ch sound.

Surround sound on Mac mini

Hi guys,
I've been trying to connected by Mac Mini late 2009 to my bose surround system using a 3.5mm cable. However, it produces a very buzzy sound and the sound only comes out from 2-3 out of 5 speakers. Is there any way that I can make it go to the whole 5 speakers without the annoying sound?
thanks a lot.

Are you using a Toslink optical cable with a miniplug adapter? Only the digital optical can provide you with 5.1 surround audio.
Dah•veed

Mac Mini to 5.1 surround

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