M1530 Digital 5.1 Audio over HDMI / SPDIF ?

Can any of the lucky M1530 recipients confirm how 5.1 audio is supported ?

Is one of the headphone ports also SPDIF, allowing an optical cable to be connected with the appropriate adapter ? Or is 5.1 audio sent out over HDMI, allowing it to be fed into an AV amp with HDMI support and processed accordingly ?

Cheers,

nwpsys

 

HDMI output only.

 

i'm in australia, and trying to get one of these - have e-mailed dell to see if they can send me one:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=310-8272

apparently it allows you to connect to the s-video output (which is 7 pins, rather than the standard 4 pins, so it can carry digital audio) and output to s/pdif. you may have to connect the video output to a device as well for the audio to work.

also, not sure if you can use both hdmi (for video) as well as the s-video out (for audio) - the laptop may only output to one, not both at the same time.

still, it's worth trying!

i'm looking since our tv has hdmi input, but won't transmit the digital audio to the receiver (which doesn't have hdmi inputs) - so i'm trying to connect the laptop to the tv (for video) and the receiver (for audio).

 

Let us know how you get on.

I am in a similar situation with my TV - HDMI connection doesn't pass on audio to the TV optical out. I would be happy to upgrade my AV amp to an Onkyo 605 or similar, that does HDMI switching for picture and processes the audio it gets on the cable.

I would be REALLY interested to hear from anyone who has plugged their 1530 HDMI into an appropriately equipped AV amp, and could report on what audio the amp thinks it is getting.

nwpsys

 

i can't even get audio to go to my tv using hdmi! am i missing something?? i would've thought it should just send the audio, but it still keeps coming through the laptop's speakers (was playing a bluray disc through dell media).

otherwise, i think it's time for both of us to upgrade our receivers to something that does hdmi switching...!

 

I would imagine there would be a setting in Vista somewhere to mute the speakers, and to direct audio output to HDMI, but seeing as I have neither the laptop nor any PC running Vista, I am guessing wildly

Alternatively, there have been some positive reviews on the Asus Xonar USB. Just Google for that. Plugs into USB and offers pukka optical SPDIF out as well as headphone amp and Dolby headphone. I would imagine Vista sees this as a completely new audio "card" and gives better control than you seem to have at the moment.

nwpsys

 

Does the 1530 have one of those tv out jacks? If it does try using the adapter from the 1720. It worked for me. It has component out and one of those rca spdif jacks on it. Worked on my 1520 to give me surround out.

 

i received my 1530 a couple of days ago and still experimenting with it!

plugged the hdmi in, and managed to get video to output to the tv (although i think i need to download that powerstrip program to get the right resolution to match the tv's).

found an option in the sound settings to set hdmi as the default - and got the sound coming through the tv using the "test" function, but still wouldn't output the audio from the bluray disc through the hdmi!

the 1530 has s-video out, with 7 pins - so that adaptor should hopefully work - except it isn't available in australia. have seen a few on ebay, but apparently there's some issues with the older ones, so i'm initially looking to source one directly from dell.

 

What are you using to play the blueray disc? Some software doesnt support all the functions.

 

i'm using the dell media player - when i first loaded the disc, it required an update - which was a 130mb download! (i would've thought any updates would already be loaded, since the laptop was only built a week ago!)

there were options in the dell media player to output sound to headphone, speakers or s/pdif. i tried all 3, which made no difference at all...

i might try it again tonight using just a normal dvd - rather than the bluray. although the whole point of it all was to use the laptop for bluray (i already have a dvd player!) so it would be good to get it working!!

 

My personal interest is for playback of files encoded with AC3 5.1 audio, so your DVD results will be helpful for me, achw.

 

I think to get audio through HDMI, you need to go to your control panel's sound settings and select the audio output to the hdmi cable or whatever.

 

i've done that - and all sounds comes through the tv when the hdmi is plugged in (eg music files) EXCEPT the audio from bluray/dvd! i've selected hdmi as the default audio, and everything goes through the tv - BUT not what i want being the dvd sound!!

what am i doing wrong??!

 

No one has figured this out? im currently shopping around and for most laptops i can't get a difinitive answer about hooking DVD (or hi def source) out to a receiver and getting 5.1 audio. Some machines that have SPDIF have a mini jack which is an odd form of SPDIF...and even then many people arent sure if they're coax or optical.

 

FYI: according to a dell chat session they say:

5:05:42 PM one more quetion is there a way to get 5.1 audio for dvd playback (to a reciever for example...like SPDIF)?
5:07:25 PM XPS_AMB_Rep: You can upgrade the sound card to ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi® Xtreme Audio Sound Card for 5.1 playback.

 

that sound card wasn't an option when i bought mine...

i'm still waiting to hear back from dell about that s-video adaptor. my expectations aren't very high.

 

All right, I'm kind of confused by this thread, but . . .


Eventually, my plan is to purchase a 24" WUXGA monitor with HDCP support and 5.1 speakers. I have use of a PS3 for watching Blu-Ray movies (my PC does not have a Blu-Ray drive), but how will I be able to output to the 5.1 speakers and the monitor - will I need to get an AV amp to pass the video to the monitor and the sound to the speakers?

I mean, am I just crazy? I purchased the "High Definition Audio 2.0". I guess that means two speakers, no subwoofer.

However, the software Audigy whatever program claims to be HD. Can I still purchase this software/find freeware that will allow me to output 5.1 audio?

 

From what I understand the output of the audio via the hdmi cable is digital and is 5.1. As for your speaker setup I might suggest seeing if there is a 5.1 emulator software for running speakers out of the headphone jacks thought I do not know if this is possible. I'd call a dell tech and ask them, though that could go nowhere haha

 

Hmm, how many people have a receiver with an HDMI input...i know they're out now but its fairly a recent upgrade i think.

 

What do you mean? The s-video adapter is for video (lower resolution video)...

 

My receiver has 2 hdmi ports.

 

My dell 9300 has s-video. I bought the adapter to SPDIF on ebay and it is coax to the onkyo receiver. I get 5.1 with it.

 

Neat - when you plug the HDMI from your 1530 into your receiver, what sort of audio does it receive ? Most models tell you something meaningful on the display.

Cheers,

nwpsys

 

normally, s-video is for lower resolution video - and has 4 pins. but the dell laptop has 7 pins on its s-video connector. apparently the extra 3 pins are to transmit digital audio.

dell sell an adaptor which converts the 7 pin s-video to component video AND coaxial audio. it's only available on the american dell website (i'm in australia) so i can't get it!

 

Do you have a codec on your computer to decode 5.1 like ac3filter? i'm not sure if you need it or not but its worth trying if you dont already have it on your pc.

 

thanks - i sorted the issue re no audio from bluray/dvd through hdmi (but still have an issue with no audio from the tv tuner through hdmi!).

how would i find out if i have the codec you talk about?

 

Well, this is sort of related, but I think I've discovered what I'm going to do.


One thing I had purchased my XPS M1530 to be was a Media Desktop replacement. I already have an external HDD casing, and anytime I need more storage space I'll either buy a new HDD for my laptop or a new 3.5" to stick in an external casing. I'm also planning to buy a 24" WUXGA monitor, and possibly an external Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive (which, with some creativity, allows me to watch hi-definition movies on the 24" screen).

When I receive my $200 gift card, I'll purchase a Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard from Logitech, and as relates to this thread, a 5.1 Logitech Speaker Set ( http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...ductdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A0775715).

I'll also purchase this sound card from Newegg ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829126101 ).

What I'll then do is have the sound card export the sound and I'll run the 3.5mm wires from that to the subwoofer, which will run them to the satellite and center speakers (the sound card has front, back, and center/sub output).

I've read some of the reviews of the sound card on Newegg.com and some of them claim to have gotten 5.1 with DVDs, which would be my main goal, and then hopefully eventually 5.1 for games and even eventually Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies.

That's just my solution to getting Dolby Digital out.

 

cool, learn something new everyday

 

Not sure why they cant just put an optical digital output or the 3.5mm that you can use an optical (or digital coax) adapter with...for a simple 5.1 connection to most receievers or other devices. My desktop's motherboard even has an optical out i think.

 

yeah - i was hoping that the headphone jack was one of those optical out ones (where you can plug in an adaptor) - but not to be...

 

If needed I am sure the adapter should work. I am using the adapter to get dolby digitial out of my 1520 to my surround sound receiver when playing dvds and stuff. So it Should work for blueray also.

 

except that dell are yet to get back to me about whether i can get the adaptor in australia (it's only available on the us website...)

 

i have just ordered the adaptor - for anyone else, it's part number ng410 and cost me AUD9.90 (incl delivery).

it plugs into the s-video output on the laptop, and then has component plugs (red/green/blue), as well as s/pdif output (from the picture, it looks like a coaxial output).

hopefully it works...

 

Right now there are two different parts on the Dell website (US website that is)

$12 PG383 (Dell Part: 310-8272)
$20 UJ627 (Dell Part: 310-8274)

Anyone know the difference between the two (besides price) and if they work with the m1530?

 

one is composite and one is component...says it's for M1710

 

i spoke to the dell people today - who said that the current part number is not listed on the webpage. it's pg382 - which itself is part of the ng410 part. so use these 2 numbers, not those on the website.

(note that this is for the component version, not the composite version - both have the s/pdif connector.)

 

Can you please post how you got hdmi audio to work for the bluray player? I can get audio for regular windows stuff by setting the audio device to hdmi, but not when playing a dvd.

 

what are you connecting the hdmi to?

the cause of all my troubles was that i had selected all the options for outputting sound in the hdmi settings (ie i had dolby/dts etc and all the hertz stuff ticked - which my tv wasn't capable of accepting).

so try unticking all the boxes - or testing each one with your tv/receiver/whatever you've connected to.

if you tick a box, the laptop assumes your device can accept that audio format and doesn't convert it. so if your device can't accept it, you'll get no sound. if you untick the box, the laptop will convert the audio to something (i'm guessing bog standard stereo sound) which your device can accept - and VOILA - you'll get sound!

worked for me, anyway...

 

i now have the adaptor, plugged it into the s-video out on the laptop, and connected it to my receiver with a coaxial cable.

nothing. no audio. nothing...

i noticed the m1530 manual says that there is no audio from the s-video out - even though it has 7 pins - so it might be that this doesn't work (even though it seems to work on the inspirons/xps m1710). the m1530 might just luck out.

have sent an e-mail to dell support. but so far, it's annoying.

 

How did you get audio over hdmi to work for windows sounds? Are you running vista or xp? What device do you have it hooked up to, receiver or tv? And what hdmi audio mode are you using?

I'm trying to get this to work on my Panny plasma and have tried everything but can't get it to work.

 

I have the 1530 connected to a 50 inch px77u panasonic plasma. I have the optical audio out from the tv connected to a pioneer elite 54tx receiver. The tv will only pass two channel through the optical out.

I didn't do anything except change the default sound output to HDMI to get all audio except dvd to play over hdmi.

I called dell tech support and they told me to install VLC after that, i get dvd audio over hdmi. I'm not sure if it is 5.1 or stereo because i can't connect directly to the receiver and my tv will only pass stereo.

I get audio from the dvd in windows media center, dell media direct and vlc. However Blu-ray discs won't play in any of those. I wasn't able to try a blu-ray disc before i started messing with things. I've been using powerdvd to watch blu-ray.

I also have the s-video to component video s/pdif adapter. I can get video out of it, but haven't been able to get audio.

 

If the M1530's like the M1330, then the headphone & mic jacks (ports) functions are dynamic and, for example, can be used as 5.1 out (front / Center / Rear & Sub).

Oddly enough, the M1330's User Manual doesn't supply any connection instructions for 5.1 (other than through HDMI) but you can use the same procedures as documented for the M1210:

black coax (3.5mm plug) to mic jack FIRST
green cable to left headphone jack
yellow* to right headphone jack.
*or with Creative speakers, I think it's some kind of really odd pink color...

I'm not sure if any of the jacks suppport S/PDIF, but if so, it will be an electrical port*.
*Keep in mind that it can be either optical (TOSLINK) or electrical (COAX).

 

If your receiver has HDMI input, it may do a couple of things for audio depending on what your receiver supports. If the receiver supports Audio/Video processing, then it will split the video and audio signal where video goes to the TV and audio goes to the speakers. Otherwise, if it doesn't support processing, the entire signal passes through and your TV will get both audio and video. If this is the case, you will need a separate method to get audio from the laptop to the receiver.

 

i also have the panasonic plasma, with the optical out to my receiver, and have hdmi connected to the tv. again, only stereo sound to the receiver from the tv - not 5.1 sound from the laptop.

i also have the s-video to s/pdif adaptor - again, cannot get digital audio at all - and am following this up with dell (and following up and following up - they're terrible at returning calls...). they told me to reinstall the sigmatel audio driver, which i did, and still no luck.

i've also tried the headphone/mic jack option to connect directly to my receiver using rca cables. i can get sound through all 5 speakers, but nothing coming from the subwoofer - which i can't figure out why. quite annoying.

so i'm just about to give up trying to get 5.1 sound from the laptop to my receiver... (my receiver does not have hdmi inputs)

 

I tried using the front jacks to connect directly to my receiver. It worked fine for me. I get sound to all channels. I changed the jacks to the speaker outputs in the sigmatel control panel. I changed my speaker setup to 5.1 in the speaker configuration in the sound control panel. all test tones came out of the appropriate speaker including sub. I didn't have to do anything special.

I connected the right (red) rca cable from the center/lfe output to the subwoofer in and the left (white) rca cable to the center channel in. I set the receiver to multi-channel in and it worked immediately.

I don't think that s/pdif is enabled on the 1530 out of the svideo port. I loaded the 1520/1730 sound drivers and it didn't make a difference. the driver rev is the same as the current 1530 driver. I reverted back to the 1530 version, just in case there is a difference i missed. maybe it is something that will work with a new BIOS rev.

good luck

 

thanks for that - the 5 speakers work for me, but not the subwoofer - and also set my receiver to direct channel inputs...

what makes you think s/pdif is not enabled on the 1530 using svideo? every person i've spoken to at dell says that it should work, and surprised it's not working. they're now sending an engineer to my house to investigate!

if i could get the front headphone/mic jacks to work, that would be enough for me - i just want to be able to get 5.1 sound from the laptop to my receiver...

 

The only two output devices i see in the sound control panel are speakers and hdmi. The hdmi shows the output as left panel digital jack. I would think that if the s/pdif out actually worked, it would show up as another device or it would show as something like right panel digital jack. The only mention of s/pdif I see is in the hdmi configuration panel where it can be muted or unmuted. It's just a hunch.

As for your 5.1 analog problem, try connecting one of the working speaker outs to your sub in and see if you get sound from the test tone. For example, plug the left front rca cable in to the sub in and run the left front test tone. You should get sound out of the sub. If not the issue may be with your receiver.

Good luck and keep us posted on the dell technician.

 

thanks

apparently for spdif to work, there should be a third option in the sound control panel - which everyone with the m1530 seem to be missing, but dell still thinks it should be there. which is why the dell man is coming to check it out.

i've managed to get sound from the subwoofer now using analog audio - i used different cables last night, which worked. the annoying thing is that the 5.1 sound cannot be set as the default from the headphone/mic jacks, so you always have to manually select 5.1 sound as the output each time you plug in.

how well do you think the laptop decodes the digital audio (eg from bluray/dvd disc) to then output the analog signal to the receiver? do you think it would do a good job, or the receiver would be better? i'm asking to see whether it's worth getting spdif digital audio from the laptop (for the receiver to then decode the digital signal) or just to live with 5.1 analog audio coming from the laptop...

 

Digital Output is over HDMI only. This should pass both two-channel PCM and Dolby Digital/DTS bitstream.

The decode quality is based on what DVD player you are using, the analog output jacks are of good enough quality for most people.

 

all the people i've spoken to at dell seem to think that digital audio is capable of being output through the 7-pin s-video port! so i'm persisting while they think it's possible (and probable).