5.1 sound over the l502x hdmi output, how?

I has been unable to do anything over stereo while using the hdmi output.

and I has been reading on everywhere this laptop supports 5.1 sound , yes, on hdmi too.

drivers are installed and up to date

but I get something like this when configuring the audio device on hdmi



just stereo? me mad

 

As a test, i plugged a speaker into the middle audio port, and a pop-up came up and i chose rear speakers.

Then in the waves control panel under speakers/headphones, i changed it to quadraphonic, so that is the mode you are in, when i tested i could hear in each speaker.

Then after right clicking on the volume control icon in the system tray, and clicking on Speakers, then i chose "speaker fill' under enhancements tab.
This apparently encodes virtual surround in the other speakers.

Then when I played a song in windows media player, i heard it in all speakers.
Note, I did not hear any in rear speakers until i enabled speaker fill.

Not sure, but i thought the source audio has to be encoded in 5.1 in order to transmit in 5.1.
So you may need to use a dvd encoded audio, or that speaker fill in order for the additional channels to be encoded and detected as channels during output over hdmi...
I don't have a 5.1 stereo system, i have 2-channel marantz analog... so couldn't test for this...
The digital optical output port should also do 5.1, but i think your source audio may need to be encoded as 5.1 format to use all the channels?

__________________
Dell Xps15, 2630qm, 1080p, 8gb Ram, nvidia 525m, 750gb HD, Blu-ray, BLit Keyboard, 1030 wifi+bt, 9cell

 

What do you have the HDMI plugged into? HDMI automatically detects the capabilities of whatever device you connect it to, so most likely, whatever device you're connecting it to only supports stereo over HDMI.

Also, digital optical does NOT do 5.1 unless it's encoded in Dolby Digital, which is pretty much only DVD movies.

Did you check to ensure that after you plugged in the HDMI, that you selected HDMI as the default audio device?

 

here is my setup



before unpluging the hdmi cable from the multimedia player and use it to the l502x i got 5.1 sound.

but now I'm unable to get anything over stereo using the l502x hdmi

I can through the 3 audio jacks, one for the center/subwofer, other for the front speakers, and other for the back side speakers.

I tested it with different headphones pluged at the propper audio jacks and it seemed to output the sound on the proper ones using the waves maxxaudio3 control panel.

but using the hdmi nvidia output I'm stuck at stereo.

I'm really interested on hdmi, since it just use 1 cable for both audio and video and the quality should be better also.

help apreciated.

notes:

the connection between the tv and home cinema is done using a optical cable

and yes,on the l502x, at the audio devices, the hd-tv I set the predeterminated/default audio device

and yes, I disabled the sound on stereo speakers at the tv to dont interfer with the 5.1 system

also,since the multimedia player is capable to output 5.1 with my setup, the tv is capable of send 5.1 sound to the homecinema system.

 

Like I mentioned, HDMI automatically detects the capabilities of the device it's plugged into. If you have your HDMI plugged in to your TV, then you can only get Stereo sound, as your TV is only capable of Stereo sound. To get 5.1 over HDMI, you need to plug the HDMI from your laptop directly into your receiver/home theater system, and that receiver needs to be HDMI audio compatible. If your reciever/home theater system doesn't have HDMI, then you'd be much better off connecting a digital optical connection from your laptop into the Receiver.

Running HDMI to your TV, then optical to your receiver will not work, as your TV doesn't have the ability to decode HDMI audio, then re-encode it in Dolby Digital to pass over optical to the receiver.

Take a look at these threads for more info:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...1340-support-5-1-surround-sound-via-hdmi.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...cant-test-full-range-speakers-hdmi-audio.html

 

thats not posible for me since the home cinema dont have any hdmi input,also hdmi inputs should be used mainly as video conections as far I know, I could be wrong about that.

isnt there any way to "force" the sound output like the multimedia player does?

it forces it to 5.1 and it go through the tv to the home cinema, and then it get finally 5.1

also, the TV supports 1080p video with 100 hz , but I'm only able to select 60 hz with the hdmi video connection, is this a nvidia card limitation? the 525m support 3d Images I think, and 3d standard image is arround 120 hz I think.

however my minidisplayport-to-vga adapter is connectied to a desktop screen wich let me select 1440x900 75 hz (the max resolution and hz from that screen)

 

Easiest way to run a HD home cinema system imo is to have it as your 'hub'. Have you thought about an optical to HD converter? I have everything plugged into my system via hdmi (tv, ps3, laptop) and then one hdmi lead which carries all the singles to my tv. I've got 5.1 on everything

 

mmm, are you talking about something like this?



or like this?



so, is this something wich separate the video and audio connections? so I can plug the vodeo directly to the tv and the audio directly to the home cinema?

sorry for my ignorance.

 

Has your home cinema system not got an HDMI out? I was proposing to turn your video and audio signal into one via those convertors as HDMI can carry both.

 

oh, sorry for the late answer, Idk why the mail notification failed at this time.


well my home cinema dont have any kind of hdmi input/output, just optical connectors and some other common audio connectors.

anyway, if my laptop is capable to output 5.1 sound over hdmi, I'm not sure why I have to spend money on extra hardware when the multimedia player using the same hdmi connection is able to output propper 5.1 sound with the same setup.

at least for me, it sounds a little more like a software issue, I read similar topics when ppl with other laptops managed to play 5.1 sound over hdmi, and when they upgreaded to windows 7 they found similar issues.

 

Some TV's audio output connection are stereo only when connected via HDMI. My TV is like that. It has Optical output, but it won't work when HDMI is source. Is it possible that maybe only one HDMI input will work with your digital audio output? And that's why it only works with your HD player? Or are you using the same HDMI input?

Anyways ,this is might be worth a look:

For only $39.15 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 4X1 HDMI 1.3b Certified Switcher w/ Toslink & Digital Coaxial Port (Rev.2) w/ 3D support. | Auto & Powered HDMI Switches

You can plug in up to 4 HDMIs, and it will split the audio and video signals. You can get your 5.1 through TosLink or Coax to your stereo, and HDMI to your TV.

It's what I had to buy. Relatively cheap solution.

 

wow, i may need to pick up one of those.. what's the difference between hdmi 1.3b and hdmi 1.4?

ninja edit: jk, i remember

 

yes, I'm using the same TV hdmi port and cable the multimedia player uses, I basically unpluged the multimedia player and pluged in the laptop since I dont have any other hdmi cable at home.

that is why I dont get why it works fine for the multimedia player wich use the same hdmi cable and port, but it dont works fine for a laptop with hdmi and suposed to output 5.1 on it.

I mean, if the multimedia player is capable of emit 5.1 without any other extra hardware than a hdmi cable connected , why would I need to get extra hardware for the laptop wich also suposed to output the 5.1 using the hdmi?

I know the extra hardware may make things easier, but just still dont understand why it works fine for the multimedia player and it doesnt for the laptop.

the setup is exactly the same for both, I unplug the hdmi cable from the multimedia player and plug it and the laptop, and what I get? just stereo , when the multimedia player was outputting 5.1 like 1 minute ago with the same setup.

 

I don't think its a cable issue. It appears to me to be a dolby prologic II issue encoding.

I guess your multimedia player does have the prologic II processor built in to be able to read the 5.1 audio channel, our XPS sound card does not.

Still, I am not sure about it, it's just a suggestion.

 

**bumping** because I have some related questions, and may have some new info on this.

Arrived here while looking for more info on Dell XPS l502x HDMI audio. My setup looks something* like this

Laptop -> HDMI -> Samsung TV -> Samsung Soundbar.
(TV -> optical -> Samsung soundbar, which has a sub)

So the amazing XPS l502x has a digital audio optical out (s/p dif), but you need the right cable, ie

View attachment 117464

No biggy, I can use the TV as an HDMI audio device (refresh the playback devices list, if necessary {nvsvc is manual/disabled} by briefly starting the NVIDIA Display Driver Service)



On this build I have HDMI 2-5 (where is 1?!), and most are not plugged in.

Is this to do with surround sound 5.x? Ie, if I had more devices, would they each be set to an independent channel? I've never grasped this (there's only 1 port. Is this some theoretical maximum?!)
Does anyone have a screenshot to illustrate?

Re the hardware mentioned above, while I was checking my HDMI inputs I noticed HDMI 3 (in use) is labelled ARC. I googled it, and found some good info