Question PC Atmos setup

[jester70]

I just bought an 5.1.2 Atmos soundbar for my PC setup. No TV involved. I'm currently using an optical cable for sound and an Ultragear 45 with a 244hz refresh rate. I would like to use the upfiring atmos speakers when I watch movies on it.

When I run an HDMI from my video card to the soundbar, the computer detects another monitor (which isn't there). If I turn off the extra monitor, the sound goes off as well. If I mirror or duplicate the main display to the non-existent HDMI detected monitor, the main display reverts to 60hz. I want Atmos and the 244hz refresh rate and I cannot find a way to have both.

Is there a way to send just the sound signal from the video card on the HDMI so that I can get Atmos, and not have it detect the monitor that doesn't really exist?

 

[boju]

What model soundbar is it? And what video cable are you running to graphics card?

That's the nature of AVRs and soundbars, you get phantom monitors if not using passthrough feature which im hoping your SB has, a HDMI out that is HDMI 2.1 spec so you'd connect your monitor from.

Using Displayport cable from graphics might help, not sure. If you're using one already or another HDMI cable then perhaps try Custom Resolution Utility, see if you can better change refresh rates with that. If your SB has HDMI out, try that.

 

[jester70]

What model soundbar is it? And what video cable are you running to graphics card?

That's the nature of AVRs and soundbars, you get phantom monitors if not using passthrough feature which im hoping your SB has, a HDMI out that is HDMI 2.1 spec so you'd connect your monitor from.

Using Displayport cable from graphics might help, not sure. If you're using one already or another HDMI cable then perhaps try Custom Resolution Utility, see if you can better change refresh rates with that. If your SB has HDMI out, try that.

Vizio M-series 5.1.2. I'm running everything off of a 3070 ti with two DP cables to my two gaming monitors and a 2.1 HDMI to the bar.

I've messed just about every sound/video combo and I kinda have it working. The phantom monitor is still there as the #3 monitor, but I put it way off to the side of my second monitor, made the resolution small, and now I'd have to try and get the mouse over there.

I'd still like to be able to just shut that display down altogether. But after hours of tweaking, I got it working.

 

[boju]

Be interesting to see what you get if you run HDMI out to your monitor, since SB has eARC out should be HDMI 2.1 which should also mean same Hz capabilities looking at your monitor manual.

 

[dwd999]

You could try the free trial period for the Dolby Access software in the Microsoft Store. It converts everything to atmos but you'll have to see how it interacts with your gpu software.

 

[jester70]

Be interesting to see what you get if you run HDMI out to your monitor

I only get 60 frames per second. My monitor does 244 so it's noticable drop.

You could try the free trial period for the Dolby Access software in the Microsoft Store.

I installed it. They only charge you to use it for headphones. Using Atmos for the speakers if free. It works well.

 

[jester70]

Update in case anyone was interested. I used the HDMI connected to the video card for audio and it pumped out atmos. However, my main monitor turned buggy and it would shut off during sleep mode and I'd have to plug and unplug it to get it working again. I would constantly have to change the audio source to get the HDMI sound, and I would frequently have to reboot to get sound working. Lastly, and most importantly, my video card started crashing.

I pulled the plug and went back to the optical out. All of the problems that popped up during my atmos experiment went away. So you can get Atmos speakers working on a PC, but it's buggy. Very, very buggy.