Realtek HD Audio 5.1 only outputs 2.1 in Windows 7

[Chainzsaw]

Curious, but what screen are you using and what kind of connection are you using? HDMI? VGA? DVI? This question may seem silly but trust me it may have an impact on how your trying to set it up.

 

[popatim]

It sounds like your audio is being routed thru the HDMI.
Have you tried running the optical cable from the receiver to the tv?

 

[ali2k5]

hey buddies
i think i found a satisfying temporary solution
just open the realtek manager and double click on the rear speakers color

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/5837/capturelyy.png

and make it front speaker
it works well with me and the sounds is not bad in 4 speakers

but i dont have realtek HD audio manager... so where it is located or where to download plz help...

 

[Guest]

I installed the 3D SOUNDBACK but it doesn't work..i click on it but nothing happens??pls help"D

 

[Guest]

I had same problem and i just put 7.1 and all 5.1 speaker work fine.
I solve that problem before on some another way but i forget how, it was some small thing, some checkbox or something like that.

 

[Ionel]

hey buddies
i think i found a satisfying temporary solution
just open the realtek manager and double click on the rear speakers color

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/5837/capturelyy.png

and make it front speaker
it works well with me and the sounds is not bad in 4 speakers

 

[mhelm1]

Strange things happen. I had the same problems so I was messing around last night. I could not make the realtek control panel play the rear speakers unless I switched to 7.1. The sound was horrible. So for the heck of it I put in a Blu ray disk
brought up my player and opened the configuration and set it to dolby 5.1. Bang everything works great, even the Realteck control panel. It may be that the device has been waiting for an external program to take control.
Still though i've never had any sound problems with Asus MB's. Just this Giga-Byte MB.

 

[Guest]

Hey Guys!!!

I THINK I FINALLY FOUND THE SOLUTION

for not being able to set 5.1 channel audio output via SPDIF-Digital OUT (with COAXIAL cable) in Realtek High Definition Audio sound card settings in Windows 7 Ultimate

(integrated on Gigabyte mobo..)


The problem was there wasn't any option to set 5.1 channel in the realtek sound manager nor in the system Sound options (Realtek Digital Output - Properties - Advanced - Default Format)
so it only played in stereo format that made me fed up with win 7.

Don't look for that option, don't care about this.. doesn't matter.

I used to use KMPlayer in Win XP with the same configuration and the sound was perfectly decoded in DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 via SPDIF Coxial output which was always indicated by my Panasonic Home theatre Receiver.
It also worked through OPTICAL CABLE.

In the last 3 days since I installed windows 7 I couldn't configure my sound settings to play correcr DTS or Dolby Digital
I tried every driver for win 7, every option but didn't work.

Finally I read somewhere on the net to install AC3FILTER free codec to the os to be able to resample the sound.

can be found here:
http://ac3filter.net/projects/ac3filter/releases

So I did and tried with KMplayer and found an option in the right click menu while it was playing some movie:

FILTERS - AC3 Filter for AC3 - and set the SPDIF output format for 3/2+SW 5.1 channels and Viola it works like a charm...

Don't know whether it was neceasarry installing the AC3FILTER but the point is it works.

TRY IT!!

REGARDS Bbrian.

 

[Matthias99]

There are (at least) two different problems being referred to in this thread.

Problem #1) The Realtek HD drivers for Windows 7 -- at least the 64-bit version -- for some reason default to a 5.1 speaker setup having "side" speakers instead of "rear" speakers, but the driver defaults to the third speaker port being mapped to the "rear" speakers. This means that if you set it to 5.1 speakers and plug 5.1 analog outputs into the default ports on the MB, the rear speakers will not be getting any sound.

To fix that, just go into the "Realtek HD Audio Manager" (under Control Panel) and change the jack where the rear surrounds are plugged in from "Rear Speaker Out" to "Side Speaker Out". Changing the speaker setting to 7.1 will also enable them as rear speakers, but this may sound weird if applications like games or DVD/Blu-Ray movies attempt to play true 7.1 audio, since then the side speakers will be missing.

Problem #2) The Realtek HD drivers for Windows 7 do not currently appear to offer a stereo upmix feature, which is what allows 2-channel stereo to be played back on more than two speakers. So even if the rear speakers are recognized in the test utility, when you play normal stereo audio sources, sound will only come out of the "front left" and "front right" speakers (unless you use a program that has its own upmix functionality). This seems likely to be a bug: some of their earlier drivers offered this, and the drivers offer many *other* modes that upmix and modify stereo audio output, just not a simple surround upmix.

To fix this:

Ideally, Realtek should add back in the "surround fill" option that was there in some of their other (non-Win7) drivers. If that option is there, just check it and you should be set. You might want to try the latest drivers from the Realtek website to see if they have fixed this. As of 7/21/2010, the latest drivers (R2.50) do not have this option, at least in Windows 7 64-bit.

If that option is not there:

They *do* have another mode that will do this, but it may slightly affect the sound output. If you go under the "Sound Effects" tab in the audio manager, changing the "Environment" setting to "Room" will effectively cause a stereo surround upmix. (All of the modes will do a stereo upmix, but most of the other ones apply various effects that will make your music sound terrible. This one is close to neutral.)

Another option -- if your motherboard's chipset supports it -- is to use Dolby upmixing. This *also* may slightly affect the sound quality, although probably less than using their effects panel. To do this, go to Control Panel->Sound, select the "Speakers" output device, and hit the "Properties" button. This should open up a tabbed window with a bunch of settings. If you have a "Dolby" tab, go to it and check the "Dolby Prologic IIx" checkbox (or whatever option is there). This will remix stereo sound into 5.1 or 7.1. If there is no "Dolby" tab, then your motherboard does not support Dolby upmixing.

Another possible solution is to set all the jacks where your speakers are plugged in to "Front Speaker Output". This will cause the driver to send the same 2-channel output to all the speakers. However, this will break anything that tries to play real 5.1 or 7.1 audio, since the side and rear audio is then not going anywhere!

Realtek also offers a utility on their website called "3D Soundback". This may be helpful, although it has to be configured on a per-application basis. It is also designed for Windows Vista, so it may not work properly under Win7.

 

[JONboy59]

Thank you Matthias.

You have described and explained my problem perfectly. Nothing wrong with my kit just that Realtek haven't sorted out their 64 bit drivers yet. I live with the hope that eventually they will!

I have fixed it with the Dolby surround button but i'd like to know how to set the jacks to different output settings. Double clicking on the Realtek HD Manager mimic panel doesn't do anything?

Regards
JONboy

 

[Matthias99]

I have fixed it with the Dolby surround button but i'd like to know how to set the jacks to different output settings. Double clicking on the Realtek HD Manager mimic panel doesn't do anything?

On my system, when I open up Control Panel->Realtek HD Audio Manager, on the right side of the window is a graphical display showing all the rear and front input jacks. The ones that have nothing connected are greyed out. For the ones that have something connected, double-clicking the jack's icon brings up a modal dialog where you can select which output you would like mapped to that jack.

If you are using a digital output, I don't think you'll be able to remap the channels this way. With a digital output, your system sends out each channel to the receiver, and the receiver decides what to play on which speaker. If your receiver cannot upmix a stero output, you'll need to use one of the 'upmixing' solutions to get music to be played out of all the speakers.

As an update, I emailed Realtek's support about this, but did not get any response.

 

[JONboy59]

Thanks Matthias

Good to let Realtek know that the job hasn't been finished yet!

I confirm I have the Realtek HD Manager panel with the greyed out plugs and the bright ones where the jacks are. Nevertheless double clicking doesn't bring up any further options.

I believe I am running the latest driver pack R251 from Realtek. Ny computer is an Acer Aspire X3810 PC running Windows 7 - 64 bit.

I'm not using digital. To get my Quad Sound (Cambridge Soundworks) system working I have plugged into the side speakers jack instead of the rear speakers jack as you suggested and enabled the dolby surrond sound.

Many thanks again -- it was driving me mad and as this new PC is a refurb I wasn't sure whether it was working properly. You have restored my faith.

Come on Realktek finish the good work you've done so far!

 

[gamerk316]

There are (at least) two different problems being referred to in this thread.

Problem #1) The Realtek HD drivers for Windows 7 -- at least the 64-bit version -- for some reason default to a 5.1 speaker setup having "side" speakers instead of "rear" speakers, but the driver defaults to the third speaker port being mapped to the "rear" speakers. This means that if you set it to 5.1 speakers and plug 5.1 analog outputs into the default ports on the MB, the rear speakers will not be getting any sound.

To fix that, just go into the "Realtek HD Audio Manager" (under Control Panel) and change the jack where the rear surrounds are plugged in from "Rear Speaker Out" to "Side Speaker Out". Changing the speaker setting to 7.1 will also enable them as rear speakers, but this may sound weird if applications like games or DVD/Blu-Ray movies attempt to play true 7.1 audio, since then the side speakers will be missing.
[/quote]

To be fair, the AC97 audio standard that PC's use defines the first extra pair of speakers as side speakers, not rear speakers. HT setups that use Dolby/DTS audio define those same speakers as rear speakers, however, which can really mess up playback when trying to play decoded DD/DTS audio on a PC...As said, you CAN enable 7.1 and toy with the speaker settings, which ""fixes" the problem.

As for the second problem, if you play 2.0 audio files, it will output only to the first two speakers. This is normal, and I find most upmixing on 2.0 audio to be subpar, to say the least.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey