Question No Surround Sound using Samsung S95B TV on PC ?

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jdwclemson

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Sep 3, 2014
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I am trying to use my Samsung S95B TV with my PC for gaming and I'm not getting surround sound when I connect my PC directly to the TV and use ARC . Unfortunately Samsung support is not equipped to tell me why this isn't working since they are just working off scripts. When I connect directly to my receiver, I can get the surround sound, but the receiver is only HDMI 2.0 without 120hz/VRR. In the S95B TV's audio settings I only see PCM as an option, with pass through greyed out. I can get audio from my surround sound, but not from all of the speakers, so its more like 3.1 audio channels despite selecting 5.1 or 7.1 on my PC. I could get a new HDMI 2.1 receiver, but I'm concerned that putting video through a receiver may cause some form of response time or other quality reductions with video. Another solution would be to send video and audio through distinct channels to the receiver and TV separately, but graphics cards don't seem to be designed to do that, and I read the motherboard audio isn't as good as what's built into GPUs such as the nvidia 40 series.

-Is there a trick to getting full surround passthrough to go into my receiver?
-Would I lose any form of display/VRR/120hz performance by putting video through the receiver?
-Noting that my GPU only has one HDMI out and the S95B only has HDMI, is there a way to send optimal audio and video outputs to the receiver and TV separately? I haven't used a sound card or motherboard audio in over a decade, but I'm open to options as long as I'm not sacrificing audio quality.
 
Arc is limited to 2.1ch. I know it's Hdmi but still, it's the same limitation as optical. eArc does the full hog. Obviously you'll need a new Tv for that, just gotta make do with what you got.
 
dwd999 said:
Read the specs; HDMI 3 is an eARC output. The tv's fine, its more likely a settings problem.
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HDMI 3? You mean HDMI 2.1?
dwd999 said:
Read the specs; HDMI 3 is an eARC output. The tv's fine, its more likely a settings problem.
Click to expand...

boju said:
Your Avr also supports eArc yeah?

www.avsforum.com

If my TV has eARC, do I need to have eARC on my AVR too?

www.avsforum.com www.avsforum.com
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The receiver is just hdmi 2.0 ARC, which appears to be the problem. Samsung in their infinitely poor interface design use a phrase when you try to select pass through that suggests the issue is the source rather than highlighting that the problem with the source is that its trying to send 7.1 while the receiver's ARC only supports 2.1 as you stated. There are several ways they could have phrased this to have made the issue and solution more clear. Its unfortunate since if the TV truly passed through the signal it received from my PC, my receiver is capable of taking in 7.1 inputs, but unfortunately ARC isn't that simple. I just purchased a hdmi 2.1/eARC receiver and I'll post here to confirm that solves the problem - thanks for your help!
 
The only thing that actually is surround using PC as the source is Netflix. When the Netflix player is open no other app will produce sound. The whole audio realm is basically being held captive by RIAA and its shenanigans alongside licensing....

Just my .02
 
punkncat said:
The only thing that actually is surround using PC as the source is Netflix. When the Netflix player is open no other app will produce sound. The whole audio realm is basically being held captive by RIAA and its shenanigans alongside licensing....

Just my .02
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Wait.... you're saying the only PC app that uses surround is.... Netflix? Games use surround on a PC as well as other apps, so I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
 
jdwclemson said:
Wait.... you're saying the only PC app that uses surround is.... Netflix? Games use surround on a PC as well as other apps, so I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
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I am saying that with my HTPC the only single thing that works in real detectable (Dolby Digital) surround sound is the Netflix app. I can turn on any number of "fake" modes the receiver has, but no other game, anything inside a browser, Amazon app, none of those work in surround, like from an outside (streaming) source. I can get surround from a disk still, but not really what I am talking about.
 
punkncat said:
I am saying that with my HTPC the only single thing that works in real detectable (Dolby Digital) surround sound is the Netflix app. I can turn on any number of "fake" modes the receiver has, but no other game, anything inside a browser, Amazon app, none of those work in surround, like from an outside (streaming) source. I can get surround from a disk still, but not really what I am talking about.
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I think I hear you. You're just saying that none of the PC games you play use true surround sound. I certainly wish more games utilized full surround sound better, but there are plenty of games that will take advantage of an appropriately configured surround sound system.
 
Earc shouldn't be limited to streaming, the whole point of earc is to increase audio bandwidth between devices that support it and expand TV Hdmi ports as if they were part of an avr. PC connected directly to TV should be able to take advantage of the displays bit colour, refresh rate/Vrr, whilst passing Hdmi surround sound. It's why earc exists.
 
jdwclemson said:
I think I hear you. You're just saying that none of the PC games you play use true surround sound. I certainly wish more games utilized full surround sound better, but there are plenty of games that will take advantage of an appropriately configured surround sound system.
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No, most games, for quite some time, support surround when Windows audio is set to surround. Heck Half Life 2 supports 5.1. There probably be some games not supporting surround but most would.
 
boju said:
No, most games, for quite some time, support surround when Windows audio is set to surround. Heck Half Life 2 supports 5.1. There probably be some games not supporting surround but most would.
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I would have to quadruple check...but so far as I can recall every game I play on that system comes up as multi channel stereo, something akin to Quadrophonic by Denon. My receiver will automatically select Dolby (5.1) and THX, also some Sony format that I cannot think of when available. Pretty much anything on the cable box or native apps within the smart TV work fine, but as above for the PC. It would seem if anything else was capable it would act as the Netflix app does?
 
jdwclemson said:
HDMI 3? You mean HDMI 2.1?



The receiver is just hdmi 2.0 ARC, which appears to be the problem. Samsung in their infinitely poor interface design use a phrase when you try to select pass through that suggests the issue is the source rather than highlighting that the problem with the source is that its trying to send 7.1 while the receiver's ARC only supports 2.1 as you stated. There are several ways they could have phrased this to have made the issue and solution more clear. Its unfortunate since if the TV truly passed through the signal it received from my PC, my receiver is capable of taking in 7.1 inputs, but unfortunately ARC isn't that simple. I just purchased a hdmi 2.1/eARC receiver and I'll post here to confirm that solves the problem - thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
I was referring to the HDMI 3 port on the back of the TV that outputs the eARC signal to the input on the external audio device (receiver in your case, soundbar in mine). If there is still a problem, toslink optical cable output from the TV to the receiver might still be a viable alternative.
 
punkncat said:
I am saying that with my HTPC the only single thing that works in real detectable (Dolby Digital) surround sound is the Netflix app. I can turn on any number of "fake" modes the receiver has, but no other game, anything inside a browser, Amazon app, none of those work in surround, like from an outside (streaming) source. I can get surround from a disk still, but not really what I am talking about.
Click to expand...
The Amazon app does output surround sound if its up to date; you might see if your TV needs updated firmware. In addition, if you use the TV's usb/hdd inputs the TV will output any 6 channel dolby signals but not 8 channels. If you have a network server the TV will any Dolby 6 signals from files there. Unfortunately 8 channel dolby signals won't work and obviously dts is not supported which is clear from the specs.
 
punkncat said:
I would have to quadruple check...but so far as I can recall every game I play on that system comes up as multi channel stereo, something akin to Quadrophonic by Denon. My receiver will automatically select Dolby (5.1) and THX, also some Sony format that I cannot think of when available. Pretty much anything on the cable box or native apps within the smart TV work fine, but as above for the PC. It would seem if anything else was capable it would act as the Netflix app does?
Click to expand...

I had a Gtx 780 connected to Yamaha Rx1800, could select 7.1 in Windows. Windows wouldn't allow it if multi channel wasn't supported, afaik. Games i played at the time, Far cry 4 and Wolfenstein New Order played in surround. Indicator on amp 7.1 pcm, same input indicator playing bluray movies from Ps3.

Not sure what the difference is. Is your box connected to amp or Tv? If connected to Tv there could be some encoding going on that games won't do but think Netflix can compress.
 
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