Surround sound through HDMI?

All the new Mac models released in the past 12 months are supposed to be able to output multichannel audio through an HDMI connector. I have recently purchased a new MiniMac with an HDMI connector and was really looking forward to playing multichannel sound through one of my two Onkyo home theatre amplifiers. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. For one of the amplifiers (Onkyo TR SX576), the Audio Midi Setup application found an 8-channel device and named it TR SX576, but I was unable to get any sound played through the system.
For the other one, a slightly older model (TR SX506), which has a Samsung LCD attached, the Audio Midi Setup just reports HMDI (0in/2out) with "SAMSUNG" as the name. I can't output via the amplifier... it seems to just pass the audio though.
So, here's a simple question. Is there anyone who has succeeding in outputting multichannel sound via an HDMI cable to a home theatre amplifier? If so, what Mac, what amplifier? What is missing to allow Macs to talk with all home theatre amps via HDMI??

Hi levelg
levelg wrote:
Great. The only problem is that when I define 8channel sound, the amplifier doesn't do any surround sound processing, and so virtually everything that I can play on the Mac only comes out of two speakers . To get surround sound effects (Pro Dolby etc), I have to revert to 2ch-24bit and allow the amp to do the surround effects.
This reminds me of another question. Why on earth can't the Mac's Audio allow you to add surround sound processing directly?
I think the answer to your question is that using the HDMI would require the Mac to have an AC3 codec, which would take up to 6 channels of audio and then compress them into a Pro Dolby data stream which your amp could then decode. (This is actually the reverse of the "AC3 Codecs" that you might find available for download on the web). I believe that this software component would require a separate licence fee, and also might not work sufficiently fast in real time to avoid lip sync problems. It could also result in severe quality degradation in certain channels due to the amount of compression. You can't squeeze 6 channels into 2 and then back again without losing some quality along the way.
The result of this is that HDMI and TOSLINK connections from the Mac can play prerecorded surround sound from a DVD, etc, since this can be passed to the external decoder unchanged, but can't play audio generated on the fly by applications. (At least, that's what I've found - someone else might know differently)
I know from personal experience that it IS possible to buy an external USB 5.1 sound card to connect to a 5.1 audio system, and this will enable on the fly audio generation from applications. The same setup will also play surround sound DVDs, provided you use the alternative VLC DVD player.
All in all, the whole area of surround sound on Macs is extremely confusing! I'm worried that many users either buy the wrong equipment, or they buy the right equipment but then can't figure out the correct way to configure it. Such users inevitably end up frustrated and disappointed.
Bob

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Please find the link given below might help to fix your issue.
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Let us know how it goes!
"I work for HP."
****Click the (purple thumbs up icon in the lower right corner of a post) to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
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Extra info: it is not hardware related, sound works fine in windows
I am not a total beginner, I know my way in the CLI but still I lack a lot of knowledge.
Another tip, around the same time, my framebuffer decoration and splash(fbcondecor, fbsplah) stopped working, I don't know if it is related.

You may find this article >Here< to be of interest. I don't know much about Radeon audio but for your 6870 that may seem to be of relevance.
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