Hey guys,
So I recently bought the Samsung HW-Q60R with the SWA-9000S rear surround speakers, so I could play 5.1 (or even 7.1 with the soundbar technology) games and movies.
I've connected the soundbar to my TV via HDMI ARC, and movies over USB worked perfectly, the same with Netflix, Amazon Prime and also the PS4 Pro.
However, I can't seem to get surround sound from my PC.
A quick summary of the hardware I have (which seem important):
Soundbar: Samsung HW-Q60R with SWA-9000S
TV: LG OLED 55B8PLA
Graphics Card: MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Gaming X Trio
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge WiFi
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Cables: Optical: The one that came with the soundbar
HDMI: 2 HDMI-cables which both support Dolby Vision/Dolby Atmos/DTS:X/4k. They're high quality XD
At first I connected everything like this: GPU -> HDMI-cable -> TV -> HDMI (ARC)-cable -> Soundbar
This setup did give me sound, however only in 2.1 Stereo. When I tried some Dolby Access-testvideos I noticed that Front-Left was played over both the Front and Rear-left speakers, and the same with the right side. Only Center would play through the soundbar. But there was no surround. And also the Windows Sound-settings wouldn't give me the option to go to 5.1 or 7.1. It only gave me the option to do 'Dolby Atmos for Home Theater', which really didn't do anything.
Then I tried another setup: Motherboard -> Optical cable -> Soundbar
GPU -> HDMI-cable -> TV
I had to detach the HDMI ARC-cable, otherwise when I selected the 'D-IN'-input on my soundbar, it would play HDMI ARC instead of the Optical, which is a stupid design choice, as in this case, if 5.1 worked, I would've had to detach the HDMI-cable every single time I wanted to play PC games.
For this, at first I had sound. Windows showed the connection as "Realtek Digital Output (Realtek Audio)". What I did first is install new drivers, as I hadn't updated them since August. However, my sound stopped working as soon as the new drivers were installed. The only other thing what changed is that the name of the output changed from "Realtek Digital Output (Realtek Audio)" to "Optical Output (S/PDIF)(Realtek Audio). As soon as I rolled back the drivers, the sound started working again, and the name of the output changed back. In both cases, however, it still only showed 2.0 Stereo (not even 2.1, even though the subwoofer did work). I also wasn't able to use the 'Configure'-option in the Windows Sound-settings.
The next thing I tried was: GPU -> HDMI-cable -> Soundbar -> HDMI (ARC)-cable -> TV
This one was the worst thus far. Not only did sound not work whatsoever, I also wasn't able to do 4k@60Hz with HDR. If I turned HDR on, it suddenly went down to 45Hz, and when I forced 60Hz with HDR, I got a black screen. Which is weird, because the soundbar does support 4k Dolby Vision passthrough.
I didn't really try anything else. I just want to be able to play 5.1 Surround sound with my PC.
Sorry for this massive text, but I wanted to be as clear and thorough as possible.
So I recently bought the Samsung HW-Q60R with the SWA-9000S rear surround speakers, so I could play 5.1 (or even 7.1 with the soundbar technology) games and movies.
I've connected the soundbar to my TV via HDMI ARC, and movies over USB worked perfectly, the same with Netflix, Amazon Prime and also the PS4 Pro.
However, I can't seem to get surround sound from my PC.
A quick summary of the hardware I have (which seem important):
Soundbar: Samsung HW-Q60R with SWA-9000S
TV: LG OLED 55B8PLA
Graphics Card: MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Gaming X Trio
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge WiFi
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Cables: Optical: The one that came with the soundbar
HDMI: 2 HDMI-cables which both support Dolby Vision/Dolby Atmos/DTS:X/4k. They're high quality XD
At first I connected everything like this: GPU -> HDMI-cable -> TV -> HDMI (ARC)-cable -> Soundbar
This setup did give me sound, however only in 2.1 Stereo. When I tried some Dolby Access-testvideos I noticed that Front-Left was played over both the Front and Rear-left speakers, and the same with the right side. Only Center would play through the soundbar. But there was no surround. And also the Windows Sound-settings wouldn't give me the option to go to 5.1 or 7.1. It only gave me the option to do 'Dolby Atmos for Home Theater', which really didn't do anything.
Then I tried another setup: Motherboard -> Optical cable -> Soundbar
GPU -> HDMI-cable -> TV
I had to detach the HDMI ARC-cable, otherwise when I selected the 'D-IN'-input on my soundbar, it would play HDMI ARC instead of the Optical, which is a stupid design choice, as in this case, if 5.1 worked, I would've had to detach the HDMI-cable every single time I wanted to play PC games.
For this, at first I had sound. Windows showed the connection as "Realtek Digital Output (Realtek Audio)". What I did first is install new drivers, as I hadn't updated them since August. However, my sound stopped working as soon as the new drivers were installed. The only other thing what changed is that the name of the output changed from "Realtek Digital Output (Realtek Audio)" to "Optical Output (S/PDIF)(Realtek Audio). As soon as I rolled back the drivers, the sound started working again, and the name of the output changed back. In both cases, however, it still only showed 2.0 Stereo (not even 2.1, even though the subwoofer did work). I also wasn't able to use the 'Configure'-option in the Windows Sound-settings.
The next thing I tried was: GPU -> HDMI-cable -> Soundbar -> HDMI (ARC)-cable -> TV
This one was the worst thus far. Not only did sound not work whatsoever, I also wasn't able to do 4k@60Hz with HDR. If I turned HDR on, it suddenly went down to 45Hz, and when I forced 60Hz with HDR, I got a black screen. Which is weird, because the soundbar does support 4k Dolby Vision passthrough.
I didn't really try anything else. I just want to be able to play 5.1 Surround sound with my PC.
Sorry for this massive text, but I wanted to be as clear and thorough as possible.
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