HDMI Output Configured for Stereo Audio - No 5.1 Surround Sound Option!

[HowardRoark]

So I have my PC running to an Optoma HD141x projector via HDMI. I just got a surround sound system, and I am now using an HDMI Switcher to route video to the projector and audio to the surround sound system. I noticed my sound system is only receiving a stereo signal when playing 5.1 movies.

I found the problem lies in the playback devices (on Windows 7). My sound playback device is currently set to "Optoma 1080p" since the audio has to go out that HDMI cable, even though the sound is routed through the HDMI switcher to the sound system. Well when I try to configure the "Optoma 1080p" device, it says that device is only compatible with stereo sound. That obviously makes sense since the projector only has stereo speakers, but I'm not using the projector for audio. I can't find out how to configure that HDMI output for surround sound now...

I'm sorry for the lack of eloquence in explaining this issue, I'm not sure how exactly to describe it clearly, but I hope someone out there understands my dilemma!

 

[madmatt30]

Guessing you mean a splitter not a switcher.

& yea that behaviour is kind of normal .

You need to route PC directly to surround sound system & loop back out to projector.

What surround setup is it ??

 

[HowardRoark]

What surround setup is it ??

It's the Sonos surround setup with the soundbar up front. The soundbar only accepts optical in and has no output, so I don't think looping back around is possible.

I have hdmi from pc to this switcher (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LY8IXYE), and then I have hdmi from switcher to projector and optical s/pdif from switcher to sonos soundbar.

Does that make sense?

EDIT: I just tweaked the settings in VLC player to force 5.1, and now my Sonos system is recognizing a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal, so that's great! The new issue now which is different from the initial topic - my Sonos can't play DTS, so I have to use Media Player Classic for DTS sources to encode them as Dolby AC3...so far now, Media Player Classic is successfully playing DTS sources on the Sonos system, but it's still only recognized as a stereo signal.

So huge success that Dolby Sources are now recognized as Dolby Sources. Now I have to figure out how to encode DTS as Dolby Digital on the fly and retain all 5.1 channels.

 

[madmatt30]

What's your actual PC setup mate ??

You would have been better splitting the outputs at PC level in all honesty.
Shark codecs running with ac3 filter can be used to convert all audio output to ac3 but its complicated to setup properly.

Have you tried kodi which has its own audio/video engines & is easily configurable to output audio as ac3 or pcm rather than Dolby.