[SOLVED] Movie sound not working correctly

[markdewet]

Hi all, I have a Turando 5.1 sound system connected to my PC, with a Realtek ALC883 on-board sound chip via 3 x 3.5mm jacks into respectively, green for front, black for sub-woofer/centre speaker and pink/brown for rear speakers. My TV is connected to the line-in also via 3.5MM jack. When watch TV all speakers work as they should so basically full 5.1 sound (surround sound. However, when I watch a movie the sound only comes from the front and centre speakers and the sub-woofer, using either MPC-HC or VLC. I have installed a codecs pack for MPC-HC. There is very slight sound from the rear but it is not full surround sound. Also the dialogue is very soft whereas the sound effect and music is loud. What could be the issue here please? As far as I know the movies are encoded for 5.1 sound so not sure what the issue could be. Please could someone offer some advice.
Thanking you.

 

[gamerk316]

My initial thought if that the Dolby Digital/DTS soundtracks for the movies are not being decoded/played. The ALC883 should support Dolby/DTS decoding, and I believe both MPC-HC and VLC have Dolby decoding enabled by default.

Check your audio settings, and make sure no upmixing (Dolby Pro Logic IIx) is enabled, and check to see if any Dolby/DTS decoding options exist. Also run the Windows audio test; there should be an option to test Dolby Digital content to ensure Dolby Digital signals are being decoded properly.

 

[markdewet]

My initial thought if that the Dolby Digital/DTS soundtracks for the movies are not being decoded/played. The ALC883 should support Dolby/DTS decoding, and I believe both MPC-HC and VLC have Dolby decoding enabled by default.

Check your audio settings, and make sure no upmixing (Dolby Pro Logic IIx) is enabled, and check to see if any Dolby/DTS decoding options exist. Also run the Windows audio test; there should be an option to test Dolby Digital content to ensure Dolby Digital signals are being decoded properly.

Hi thank you for your reply. First off, for some reason, my ALC883 drivers do not have the Dolby and DTS options, so those are not in play as far as I know. I have tried the various modded drivers but always pick up an issue wit those, so I've just stuck with the original motherboard drivers.
Secondly I think I have found the actual issue, it seems that the movies I have been watching were all encoded in 2-channel sound, not 6 channel sound as I was assuming. I used an app called mediainfo to obtain this information. I am now going to investigate how to re-encode the movie into 6 channel.

 

[gamerk316]

Hi thank you for your reply. First off, for some reason, my ALC883 drivers do not have the Dolby and DTS options, so those are not in play as far as I know. I have tried the various modded drivers but always pick up an issue wit those, so I've just stuck with the original motherboard drivers.
Secondly I think I have found the actual issue, it seems that the movies I have been watching were all encoded in 2-channel sound, not 6 channel sound as I was assuming. I used an app called mediainfo to obtain this information. I am now going to investigate how to re-encode the movie into 6 channel.

You can't. Typically, DVDs support up to three audio tracks; uncompressed Stereo, 5.1 Dolby Digital or 5.1 DTS, and possibly a 7.1 track encoded in Dolby True HD/DTS Master Theater.

If your motherboard drivers don't support Dolby/DTS decoding, then there isn't much you can do. MPC-HC/VLC might have a software Dolby/DTS encoder; that's probably your only option. [Note you will probably have to manually select the Dolby/DTS audio track from within the movie in either case].