5.1 from a PC

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

I wonder if someone can help with getting surround sound working on a PC...
Current setup is thus:
Freeview box, Bluerayplayer and the Dell 7050 SFF PC in question with Windows 10 under the TV. All devices are connected to the TV via HDMI.
From the TV I have a SPDIF/Optical feed to my 5.1 DTS amp
The TV is quite happy to pass the DTS signal to the amp and I get proper 6 channel surround sound from the Freeview box and Blueray (via the TV to the amp).
The PC is used for YouTube mainly, but also...ahem, Popcorn time.

However - I cannot get 5.1 from the PC.
I suspect the PC is only 2 channel and that is my issue?
I was thinking about buying one of these 6 channel USB jobbies from eBay and feeding that via SPDIF directly to another input on the amp?
If it'll let me play these surround sound demo's via VLC in proper surround sound I'll be happy. I suppose for under £8 it's woth a punt?
https://www.demo-world.eu/dolby-dts-thx-wmv-distri...

[rfsteel]

Sound like you want a Chromecast or similar, so that you can stream media from your PC to your TV, plug the Chromecast into the amp, and if available the 5.1 sound will be played.

I recently had to use a Audio Extractor, as my old 5.1 amp didn't have HDMI support, and nor did my TV pass 5.1 through from HDMI, Chromecast plugged into the Audio Extract and now have 5.1/DTS audio via optical.

[GravelBen]

Do your sources actually have 5.1 soundtracks? Most stuff that I've found online onlyhas stereo audio, whether thats because of the video codecs used or what I don't know.

If the PC has a dvd drive then try testing if it outputs 5.1 from that.

[C0ffin D0dger]

My Home Theatre PC passes pretty much any audio format over HDMI up to and including DTS and Dolby HD.

I mainly use Kodi for playback, set to audio pass through mode so no attempt is made to decode the signal. Sources are usually MKV files ripped from original Blu-Rays.

The PC itself is nothing fancy, just an i3 and using the on-board / built in graphics (Intel HD whatever). Any fairly modern PC should be able to do this without the need for any extra kit.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Yeah I was surprised my PC isn't passing 5.1 via the HDMI to be honest.
Does your receiver actually switch to Dolby Digital/5.1 or whatever? Mine just stays on Prologic.
I'd be interested to hear if any of these DTS demo's actually work https://www.demo-world.eu/dolby-dts-thx-wmv-distri...
My thinking is, once these work and the amp switches to dolby digital I can work on getting popcorn to work via VLC for audio.

[Zod]

My PCs pass the multichannel formats through the HDMI output on the videocard to an AV receiver. One with an Nvidia card, another with an AMD card. Do you have it set to 5.1 or higher output in the System Settings panel?

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Thanks for all your suggestions so far...
It's a small form factor PC with a Realtek HD audio card on board (Dell 7050 SFF) - all built into the main board so it's not like a separate card.
Latest drivers/BIOS etc.
In the control panel, it shows the Audio output device as the TV (connected via HDMI) but only shows 2 channel stereo.
I know the TV can pass DTS because it definitely works with the Blueray and Freeview box.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

just to add closure...

I connected the PC directly to the amp via HDMI and bingo - it allows me to select 5.1/7.1/Atmos no problems at all.
So the PC obviously didn't see the pass through capabilities of the TV.

[rfsteel]

This will be due to the EDID information that you TV is telling the PC via HDMI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Display_Ide...

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

That's interesting - thanks.
It still makes me wonder why the set top box would see 5.1 but the PC didn't...hmmm?