A video game's 7.1 output and 2.1 speakers

[knowledge2121]

If a PC video game outputs 7.1 but you have stereo speakers then only front-left, front-right and the subwoofer channels are outputted from the speakers and all the other channels are clipped, so there are sounds that the game produces that we may never hear using only a stereo speaker ? am i right ? can someone confirm it ?

 

[mauller07]

if windows and the game are set to stereo then all sounds are just merged into stereo channels.

 

[ssddx]

yes... the sounds merge into the channels you have available.

you will get "simulated" surround sound on the two speakers.

typically this just means that rear sounds will have a lower volume then front sounds and you can tell direction based on which speaker the noise is louder in. i've used it in the past and its not terrible but its not the same as 5.1

 

[knowledge2121]

if windows and the game are set to stereo then all sounds are just merged into stereo channels.

but if the game is set to 5.1, windows is set to 5.1 as well and you have stereo speakers, then what happens


and another question: what about the games that dont have such setting like Hitman Absolution, how do we know what it is outputting ?

 

[mauller07]

if a game and windows get set to surround when only stereo speakers are being used you will miss out on a lot of sounds in the environment as windows and the game will expect the other speakers to be there.

if a game has no options for surround it will use your windows settings to determine how to output sound.

 

[ssddx]

in general... just keep your windows sound settings set to the number of speakers you actually have (in this case a 2.1 system) and you will be fine.