5.1 wont play through PC HDMI

[MonKENy]

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz
GPU: AMD R9-270x
RAM: WINTEC AMPX 8GB DDR3 1333
Motherboard: ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
PSU CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Bought ONKYO HT-s3500b trying to run HDMI from PC to Receiver

Have PC GPU HDMI to HDMI 1 on receiver, HDMI out to TV

Nothing I do gets me 5.1 just 2.1

Not sure what I need to do, no configuration has worked.

 

[Archaic59]

Not positive, but I think you need to use spdif to get 5.1.

 

[WyomingKnott]

I think that HDMI can't go above 2.1 uncompressed. It will go to more channels but requires compression. I found this nugget on a questionable source: "Compared to video signals, audio signals require significantly less bandwidth, even for the highest quality. This means that all HDMI equipment can handle high-quality audio signals, including uncompressed 2-channel PCM with sample sizes up to 24-bits and a 192 KHz sampling rate. It can also support compressed 5.1 and 7.1 channel audio."

EDIT: Did you connect the cable from the HDMI_SPDIF header to the appropriate connection (if there is one) on the graphics card? Is this necessary?

 

[Guest]

Your motherboard drives up to 7.1, you just need to configure it for the audio that you want and how you want it presented. Usually this is via the BIOS and/or the Realtek app in Windows.

In terms of physical connectivity, either SPDIF as above, or configure the 3.5mm sockets for 5.1 and use these to supply the Onkyo via RCA plugs (3.5mm to 2 x RCA).

 

[ien2222]

HDMI will do 5.1 uncompressed, SPDIF can only do 2.0 uncompressed and 5.1 compressed.

OP, why do you think you are only getting 2.1?

 

[MonKENy]

I was doing a test and only 2 speakers and the sub sounded off, as an update I did update the AMD drivers and now all the speakers work but it sounds like they all go off at the same time rather than directional. Any ideas about that?

 

[MonKENy]

ok update on the update, not sure what happened but now I am at NO speakers working, came home turned on the receiver and no sound at all. other inputs work fine.,,WTF grrrr

 

[ien2222]

Hmm... Let's try and narrow it down some.

First, let the AVR fully power on then switch on the computer, it's possible it's just a weird handshake issue, and if you still don't have sound try it the other way around.

If still no sound, it could be a bad HDMI port. Try switching to a different HDMI port that you know works on the AVR, also try a different cable on the off chance it's defective. If it's still a no go, directly plug it into the TV and switch to stereo and see if you get sound on your TV. If yes, do you get stereo when plugged into the AVR?

Let's see where we're at after you try those. We'll worry about the 5.1 issue you had later, need to get some sort of sound first.

 

[MonKENy]

well it looks like we are moving in the right direction. Something is wrong with the port on the AVR, I switched to another port and im back to getting sound.

So now its just 3.1 again Center, front right, rear right and sub

 

[ien2222]

That sucks, if you are able to you should get it exchanged or warrantied (if it's still possible).

Sorry, I was hoping to go through the manuals for both your computer and AVR to see what needs to be done to get 5.1 working, but it's already after 10pm so I won't get to it tonight. I should be able to tomorrow though.

 

[ien2222]

Ok,

Let's make sure the AVR has the correct settings (at least the important ones).

On page 40 of your AVR manual, under speaker config:
-Should have sub set to 'yes'.
-Front and center/rear set to 'small'. For the center/rear, it's possible this is currently set to none, which is why you were just getting 2.1.
-Crossover freq should be set to 80hz.
-Also, make sure that speaker B is turned off. If turned on, you'll only be able to do 2.1 for the main setup.

On page 43-44 under source setup:
-Set fixed mode to 'off'.

Next, read through the section "Using the listening modes" starting on page 28. It's possible you have a wrong mode selected right now. For right now, select "direct" as the listening mode.


If you're getting 5.1 now...woo! If not, I'll have to look more into the computer side, and if so can you give me the specific graphics card you are using?

 

[MonKENy]

OK, Ill be home in like 45 minutes ill try that when I get there.

 

[MonKENy]

putting it on direct is what seemed to do the trick, only catch now is that the front left speaker does not appear to be working. I checked the connections at speaker and AVR and switched inputs to DirecTV and everything sounds off except that one.

Ill be calling Onkyo tomorrow to see what the step is to replace it. The input being screwed up was something I did to it, they walked me through resetting it and its fine now,

Thank you so much ien!

 

[ien2222]

Front left huh.... 😀

Well, hopefully the call to Onkyo goes your way, and good to hear that you've got 5.1 going now. You'll probably want to use other listening modes instead of direct for the most part, that mode was just the easiest to make sure it would output 5.1 if it was receiving it as such.

 

[MonKENy]

If I switch to other modes so far it blends all the sounds together and does not separate them. Ill play with it when I get the new speaker or whatever they decide to do,