Well, so far so good. We've established the correct sound device to be using under Windows and it is configured now at least for basic output. As for proper multi-channel support, we can continue to work on that.
It may help to reiterate what happens in a surround or multi-channel setup.
Digital audio over SPDIF is only ever two channel. It was designed quite a long time ago, when movie theaters were still looking into multi-channel sound for themselves. Imagining we would have this kind luxury in our homes and computers was just a distant forethought for dreamers. So, for now, imagine all digital audio output solutions from a computer as stereo. Once you have gotten that far, the audio solution in your computer is for the most part, done with it's job.
How then, do we have nicer, multi-channel setups now? Well, when multi-channel became something that could be consumed outside of the theater, smart people figured out that if they encode extra information into the audio streams available over the basic 2-channel setup, they could extract or decode this information on the other end. They were still living within the limits of their 2-channel audio distribution model, but now they had a method of encoding many more audio channels into those two, simple stereo channels.
For this to work, you have to have audio that is encoded. The two most common methods I'm familiar with are Dolby and DTS. They essentially do the same thing, so whether you're stuck with one or the other is hardly reason to concern. Also, the technical specs of each, while not identical, are not different enough to make a major impact either. Let the audio snobs say otherwise (most source material that people enjoy will be of such quality, the transport mechanism is hardly any influence [besides, at which particular bit-rate do cat meme videos truly become bearable!])
There really are two scenarios most people deal with, concerning the encoding of audio. Pre-encoded or live encoding. When you watch a TV show, DVD, Blu-ray, etc., the audio you receive is of the pre-encoded type, so it has all of the multi-channel sound already in it in such a way, as soon as the pre-encoded audio is sent correctly through your 2-channel SPDIF or coaxial digital connection to your receiver, voila, it just works. It's recognized, decoded, and sent to the correctly corresponding speaker.
In the case of computer video games, however, this really doesn't work. What we want is correct, positional audio, that supports a multi-channel speaker setup, but you can't do this with pre-encoded audio. Instead, the audio is generated by the game, with it's 3D position information, and then it goes to an encoder to prepare it for the final transport over the 2-channel digital audio output. Both Dolby and DTS have live encoders, and go by the names Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect respectively. These are technologies that have to be licensed, otherwise they would likely be quite common. Because of this, instead of every game manufacturer or publisher licensing this technology, they leave it up to the consumer to instead acquire a single license, and then just apply it to all sound that is headed out of the computer. So, while your games may be generating the 3D audio, they don't encode it, so at best over digital, a game will stick you with 2-channel sound. What is needed is the encoder to act as mediator between the game and audio device in the computer, and encode the 3D positional sound for you.
That is where we're at. We need to figure out how to activate the live encoding on your system.
Back in the Properties, Sound Formats tab of your Realtek Digital Output sound device, you should test whether or not you are getting proper transport and decoding of DTS and Dolby by first clicking the DTS Audio option and clicking Test. Since this test is already encoded for you, it will help determine whether your receiver is actually decoding the signal properly. Selecting DTS Audio and clicking Test should cause your receiver's DTS light to come on, just as selecting Dolby Digital and clicking test should light the Dolby symbol on your receiver, provided it supports those formats.
If that's the case, the next thing to try would be, if you have available, DVD playback of a movie with 5.1 sound. In your DVD playback software, configure it to use SPDIF output for audio. This causes the player not to decode any audio but to instead just send the audio stream to your output, so your receiver can decode it. Playback of a movie with 5.1 audio should result in the Dolby or DTS logo on your receiver lighting up. Don't of course expect the menus or special features to be encoded. Usually only the main movie has the multi-channel encoded audio.
Hopefully you can perform a test or two and see your receiver kick into DTS or Dolby...
Nothing beats some good sound when watching movies and playing games. Makes the trouble worth while. Oh, and having a Panasonic unit myself, if you happen to have a selector button on the front labelled "DSP Sound Mode" or similar, this can force the receiver into Stereo mode instead of Surround, regardless of what the lights might be indicating. If you find your lights don't match what you're hearing, make sure the display doesn't say "Stereo" in eensie sized lettering instead of "Surround".
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