# Need help to set up 5.1 on my PC - i know nothing about PC



## andres92 (Dec 30, 2015)

Hi. First of all, i know nothing about PCs, so go easy on me.

Basically, what i want is to be able to get my PC to have 5.1 audio...

I bought a samsung HT J5500k home theater which has 1 optical audio in and only 1 hdmi out...
Right now, im using the HDMI out to connect my tv (also used as PC monitor) and the optical oudio in to connect it to my PC... my PC's motherboard is an ASUS M5A97 EVO R 2.0, whcich has 1 optical audio out...

on the reproduction devices list, the home theater appears as audio digital S/PDIF and it won't allow me to go to configuration and set it to 5.1 audio.

Is there anything i can do to make this work?


----------



## Jetster (Dec 30, 2015)

Optical will not do HD 5.1 (Bluray) . Only DTS or DD. But check the manual if the Samsung will do 5.1 from Optical

EDIT: You would have to change the PC sound properties to Optical in the control panel. Your PC may not output 5.1 just 2.1

But try downloading CCCP and configure the DTS, DD throughput

Manual

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...03130646360/AH68-02831P-HT-J5550K-ZK-0403.pdf


----------



## Mussels (Dec 30, 2015)

optical wont do PC audio in 5.1, unless its pre-encoded (DVD, bluray media)
i'll read the manual now
edit:


So yeah, basically that system sucks for PC usage. You can get 5.1 sound, If the following criteria are met:

1. Your audio is pre-encoded, and uses a pass-through media player. This means DVD, blu ray, or rips of those with the audio left intact in its original form.

2. If your soundcard supports DDL/DTS encoding, you can get 5.1 audio that way. This is rather uncommon, and even when it does work it can behave oddly at time.



edit of an edit: hey guess what, your motherboard supports it. It's called DTS connect, just enable that in the realtek sound settings. It'll upmix stereo to fake 5.1, and let regular 5.1 through as well if your media players are set up for it.


----------



## andres92 (Dec 30, 2015)

Mussels said:


> optical wont do PC audio in 5.1, unless its pre-encoded (DVD, bluray media)
> i'll read the manual now
> edit:
> 
> ...



Can you guide me through this? i don't know what realtek sound is ( is it a program i have to download or something?) ...


----------



## Mussels (Dec 30, 2015)

andres92 said:


> Can you guide me through this? i don't know what realtek sound is ( is it a program i have to download or something?) ...



its the software for your sound card.


----------



## Filip Georgievski (Dec 30, 2015)

Many people want this. But not much love for 5.1 on PCs.
The best you can do is hook it up on a maybe external or pci sound card.
But they dont come cheap.

Edit: I did try to get this on my own machine, and i could get as close as 2.1 and nothing else. My board has 6 audio pins but it is not douable in my case. Maybe someone more experienced can comment on this.


----------



## Dent1 (Dec 30, 2015)

andres92 said:


> Can you guide me through this? i don't know what realtek sound is ( is it a program i have to download or something?) ...



Download Realtek's latest audio drivers from ASUS website.  Once installed you will be able to select DTS Connect from Realtek's audio menu. DTS 5.1 will work as Mussels described in everyday audio.  Then you can select Dolby Digital for actual DVDs and Blu Ray discs using digital out or SPDIF in your media player. That is the compromise.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_EVO_R20/HelpDesk_Download


The menu might look slightly different for you.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 30, 2015)

Its also depends what your trying to play.


----------



## xvi (Dec 30, 2015)

I did something similar with a Turtle Beach Montego DDL. I did what Muscles is suggesting. Have the card encode to fake 5.1 and set up your receiver to decode it.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 30, 2015)

Those all in one Bluray systems aren't designed to be a AVR. They have a Optical input so you can plug your TV into for cable. But most LCD TV only output 2.1 so I'm sure that's all it will do as Pro logic

If you want to know if your board will do 5.1 then go to the sound panel and check the properties/Supported formats under Optical S/PDIF . It will say 8 channel DTS DD or 2 Channel


----------



## andres92 (Dec 31, 2015)

Dent1 said:


> Download Realtek's latest audio drivers from ASUS website.  Once installed you will be able to select DTS Connect from Realtek's audio menu. DTS 5.1 will work as Mussels described in everyday audio.  Then you can select Dolby Digital for actual DVDs and Blu Ray discs using digital out or SPDIF in your media player. That is the compromise.
> 
> https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_EVO_R20/HelpDesk_Download
> 
> ...


it looks very very different :s ... i can't find the way to do what ypu told me to... i downloaded the driver using the link you gave me and this how it looks like


----------



## Aquinus (Dec 31, 2015)

andres92 said:


> it looks very very different :s


Different theme, same functionality. You should see this if your driver was installed properly. I would try downloading the latest audio driver from ASUS to see if that fixes the problem with DTS Connect being missing.

Personally, I've had excellent luck with DTS Connect using analog 5.1.


----------



## Mussels (Dec 31, 2015)

under "default format" where it shows 16 bit, 48000Hz - that one should have an option to change to DTS connect.


----------



## Aquinus (Dec 31, 2015)

Mussels said:


> under "default format" where it shows 16 bit, 48000Hz - that one should have an option to change to DTS connect.


----------



## andres92 (Dec 31, 2015)

Aquinus said:


> View attachment 70552



well, then i guess my board doesnt support 5.1 at all. there's not a DTS option on the list.


----------



## Aquinus (Dec 31, 2015)

andres92 said:


> well, then i guess my board doesnt support 5.1 at all. there's not a DTS option on the list.


ASUS' site says it does. You probably need a different driver or it didn't install properly the first time around. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen this occur.


----------



## Jetster (Dec 31, 2015)

If you check the properties it will tell you if it does


----------



## Mussels (Dec 31, 2015)

just install the driver from the asus site and it should be there. make sure you're on the right output in the realtek software.


----------



## Aquinus (Dec 31, 2015)

Mussels said:


> just install the driver from the asus site and it should be there. make sure you're on the right output in the realtek software.


For what it's worth, I don't use Realtek's drivers directly because things like this feature won't be available. Audio is one of those things that has a lot of vendor-specific variation on how it's implemented and it works its way into the driver. Personally, I would uninstall the audio drivers, go on ASUS' site to get the latest ones, then see if the option is there or not. As I said earlier, it wouldn't be the first time I've seen features missing because the drivers were downloaded from Realtek directly instead of ASUS. I'm inclined to believe that the driver wasn't properly installed or the wrong driver was used.


----------



## Dent1 (Dec 31, 2015)

andres92 said:


> it looks very very different :s ... i can't find the way to do what ypu told me to... i downloaded the driver using the link you gave me and this how it looks like
> 
> View attachment 70550





andres92 said:


> well, then I guess my board doesn't support 5.1 at all. there's not a DTS option on the list.



It looks different because the software theme has changed over the years. The screenshot I gave is old.

Do as Aquinus said and uninstall your audio drivers and then download the latest from ASUS website. The feature is definitely supported as its listed on your motherboard specification.


----------



## EdInk (Dec 31, 2015)

I've got the Asus Maximus Ranger with optical out and based on my findings 5.1 isn't supported via optical.  I stand corrected if you find a solution and please let me know.

I've exhausted every potential solution


----------



## Dent1 (Jan 2, 2016)

EdInk said:


> I've got the Asus Maximus Ranger with optical out and based on my findings 5.1 isn't supported via optical.  I stand corrected if you find a solution and please let me know.
> 
> I've exhausted every potential solution



Asus Maximus Ranger *VII *supports DTS connect. So you can get DTS 5.1 to your receiver using that feature.

Chapter 4, page 27 of the manual.


----------



## EdInk (Jan 2, 2016)

that's been tried a looooong time ago..doesn't work.

i'll give it another shot.


----------



## Dent1 (Jan 2, 2016)

EdInk said:


> that's been tried a looooong time ago..doesn't work.
> 
> i'll give it another shot.



What brand and model is your AV receiver?

Make sure you're using a digital cable. It won't work if you use analogue connection.

I've used DTS Connect feature on a few different soundcards in the past and in conjunction with a couple models of receivers. DTS Connect always worked and the DTS light always came on to verify it. Never tried it using integrated audio but it shouldn't make any difference.

Noticed you're in the UK. You can get the Xonar DSX 7.1 for £35 in PCWorld, Curry's or Amazon. I've got the same card and can 100% verify it does work on my receiver. DTS lights up every time - Although your motherboard does support the technology already so no reason why you should buy anything else.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007PTJNBQ/?tag=tec053-21
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compu...7-1-channel-pcie-sound-card-21857438-pdt.html


----------



## EdInk (Jan 2, 2016)

I've got an LG home theatre system with all the bell and whistles including DTS. I use an optical cable from the optical port on the back of the motherboard to the optical port behind the AV receiver.

Once DTS is selected the DTS light comes on on the receiver. There are only a few options to try to get this to work but no sound.

I can do without 5.1 tbh. I promised the missus no more PC components till the end of the year. Check my specs out, I've done it all. Lol

There's got to be some driver issue with it. I've got the latest 6.0.1 7525

Anything above 16Bits, 48000Hz(DVD Quality won't work using the optical link


Found this however https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?72873-Windows-10-and-DTS-Connect!


----------



## flmatter (Jan 2, 2016)

Filip Georgievski said:


> But they dont come cheap.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4V63985581
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132093
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102067

I think u need to do better research before you say something is expensive fillip    yes there are very expensive cards out there but there are more cheaper options to be had less than $30 and I am not going to ebay either......

OP just needs to follow @Aquinus @Jetster @Dent1  and @Mussels  advice


----------



## Aquinus (Jan 2, 2016)

EdInk said:


> I've got an LG home theatre system with all the bell and whistles including DTS. I use an optical cable from the optical port on the back of the motherboard to the optical port behind the AV receiver.
> 
> Once DTS is selected the DTS light comes on on the receiver. There are only a few options to try to get this to work but no sound.
> 
> ...


Toslink is a uni-directional connection. As in, the receiver doesn't tell the audio device about its capabilities so it's entirely possible that it's trying to do something that's unsupported. That is why you have to select what formats and sampling rates are supported.


----------



## EdInk (Jan 2, 2016)

Aquinus said:


> Toslink is a uni-directional connection. As in, the receiver doesn't tell the audio device about its capabilities so it's entirely possible that it's trying to do something that's unsupported. That is why you have to select what formats and sampling rates are supported.
> View attachment 70690



Current settings

Once DTS 5.1 is selected in the advanced tab...sound doesn't come back on. 

I've exhausted hours trying to get this fixed when I first got my motherboard.... so if someone out there has theirs working with Windows 10...let me know. To my knowledge the issue is with Windows 10. A quick web search will reveal all

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?72873-Windows-10-and-DTS-Connect!


----------



## Jetster (Jan 2, 2016)

Download and install CCCP.    http://www.cccp-project.net/

Go into LAV audio settings and check the appropriate boxes (start / all apps / CCCP )

But if your source file is not 5.1 it will not play 5.1


----------



## Aquinus (Jan 2, 2016)

EdInk said:


> Current settingsView attachment 70693
> 
> Once DTS 5.1 is selected in the advanced tab...sound doesn't come back on.
> 
> ...


Optical isn't set to default, are you manually selecting the audio device in whatever application you're using? I would try dropping down to 44.2Khz and unselecting 48Khz.

Could you provide the model number of your receiver? Documentation should say what the receiver supports because it might not be able to drive DTS at 48Khz but might at 44.2.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 2, 2016)

Is your source file DD or DTS? If not you wont get 5.1 end of story 

And if its encoded with FFDshow then your native ASUS drivers will not do it. Which is why I suggested CCCP


----------



## Aquinus (Jan 2, 2016)

Jetster said:


> Is your source file DD or DTS? If not you wont get 5.1 end of story


It should if DTS Connect is turned on because it should be re-encoding the audio as a 5.1 DTS format. You need to enable 5.1 DTS in order to be able to enable DTS Connect via optical which should do that for you. Granted, I don't actively have access to a receiver with optical audio for an input so, I can't experiment to ensure that's the case however, I don't think it would give you the option to enable DTS Connect if it can't work that way.

I admit, I could be wrong but, I thought that it took care of that for you when you use DTS Connect via optical.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 2, 2016)

Aquinus said:


> It should if DTS Connect is turned on because it should be re-encoding the audio as a 5.1 DTS format. You need to enable 5.1 DTS in order to be able to enable DTS Connect via optical which should do that for you. Granted, I don't actively have access to a receiver with optical audio for an input so, I can't experiment to ensure that's the case however, I don't think it would give you the option to enable DTS Connect if it can't work that way.
> 
> I admit, I could be wrong but, I thought that it took care of that for you when you use DTS Connect via optical.




Optical is just throughput. If its not 5.1 it wont make it 5.1. That would be Dolby Pro Logic and the receiver will do that

FFDShow at the pc can also do that

The other thing it could be is ifs its a DD True HD or Master Audio it wont work ether. Optical does not have the bandwidth


----------



## Aquinus (Jan 2, 2016)

Jetster said:


> Optical is just throughput. If its not 5.1 it wont make it 5.1


That's what DTS Connect is for, it turns stereo into 5.1.


			
				Wikipedia said:
			
		

> *DTS Connect* is a blanket name for a two-part system used on the computer platform only, in order to convert PC audio into the DTS format, transported via a single S/PDIF cable.[10] The two components of the system are DTS Interactive and DTS Neo: PC. It is found on various CMedia soundcards and onboard audio with Realtek ALC883DTS/ALC889A/ALC888DD-GR/ALC892-DTS-CG and SoundMAX AD1988 chips, as well as several cards based on the X-Fi chipset, such as the SoundBlaster Titanium series andAuzentech's X-Fi Forte, X-Fi Prelude, X-Fi Home Theater HD and X-Fi Bravura cards.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS_(sound_system)#DTS_Connect


----------



## Jetster (Jan 2, 2016)

Yeah  Ive never heard of it so ... I doesn't say it turns 2.1 into DTS it says it turns multi channel into DTS which is a compression so it will work on Optical. But let me look at it

Okay I guess your right. Stereo into DTS 5.1 weird. Did not know that

But DTS is not DTS connect. DTS Connect is a Creative Labs  software


----------



## Aquinus (Jan 3, 2016)

Jetster said:


> Yeah  Ive never heard of it so ... I doesn't say it turns 2.1 into DTS it says it turns multi channel into DTS which is a compression so it will work on Optical. But let me look at it
> 
> Okay I guess your right. Stereo into DTS 5.1 weird. Did not know that
> 
> But DTS is not DTS connect. DTS Connect is a Creative Labs  software


I use the DTS Neo: PC part to do stereo to 5.1 analog on my old and cheap setup on my tower. It's basically the equivalent of "Speaker fill". I think there is a configuration issue with @EdInk's setup.


----------



## Dent1 (Jan 3, 2016)

Jetster said:


> Is your source file DD or DTS? If not you wont get 5.1 end of story



Not true. This is why Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect was invented.

Had many soundcards with both technologies and never had an issue.



Jetster said:


> Yeah  Ive never heard of it so ... I doesn't say it turns 2.1 into DTS it says it turns multi channel into DTS which is a compression so it will work on Optical. But let me look at it
> 
> Okay I guess your right. Stereo into DTS 5.1 weird. Did not know that
> 
> But DTS is not DTS connect. DTS Connect is a Creative Labs  software



DTS Connect is not Creative software. The DTS Connect technology  is licenced by DTS, Inc.

DTS, Inc has licenced-out their technology a bunch of soundcard vendors. Creative just happens to be one of the many licence holders. Along with ASUS, C-media, Realtek etc.

DTS Connect is typically used in conjunction with DTS interactive. Its not just about converting 2.0 to 5.1,  it can also convert 5.0 PCM to DTS 5.1. If there is enough channels it doesn't have to do an upmix.

---



EdInk said:


> Current settingsView attachment 70693
> 
> Once DTS 5.1 is selected in the advanced tab...sound doesn't come back on.
> 
> ...



The DTS 5.1 selection in the advanced tab is for something else irrelevant to what we are trying to achieve. That selection is so the driver give permission to DVDs and Bluray content which typically has DTS pre-encoded to access the audio board.

The DTS Connect or DTS Interactive (however they've labelled it) setting you are after is located within ASUS's audio driver suit. This controls how DTS is handled in non pre-encoded audios such as games, mp3s and audio in general.


----------



## Jetster (Jan 3, 2016)

Ive just never ran into DTS connect. Its a DTS variant. I just didn't see where the ASUS software can do this. I just though he was trying to make a silk purse out of a sow ear. We still don't know what the source is. If its any of the HD audio it wont work

OP just try multipal audio files


----------



## Mussels (Jan 3, 2016)

its a realtek feature and fairly common on high end boards of that age. We've got two people asking for help which is confusing the issue.


With the right drivers you just turn on the setting, 5.1 audio gets passed through and stereo gets upmixed to 5.1. If the receiver doesnt support DTS, you'll simply get no sound.


----------



## EdInk (Jan 3, 2016)

Jetster said:


> Ive just never ran into DTS connect. Its a DTS variant. I just didn't see where the ASUS software can do this. I just though he was trying to make a silk purse out of a sow ear. We still don't know what the source is. If its any of the HD audio it wont work



I've tried it with Bluray ISO files. MP3 files, YouTube videos using the Asus suite settings or Windows 10 setting with the same result. No sound. 

I appreciate all the responses but can anyone confirm they actually tried it and it's worked without 3rd party software, using the onboard soundcard that ships with an Asus Motherboard?


----------



## Mussels (Jan 3, 2016)

EdInk said:


> I've tried it with Bluray ISO files. MP3 files, YouTube videos using the Asus suite settings or Windows 10 setting with the same result. No sound.
> 
> I appreciate all the responses but can anyone confirm they actually tried it and it's worked without 3rd party software, using the onboard soundcard that ships with an Asus Motherboard?
> View attachment 70708



i have in the past. its a simple on-off setting - if its not working, then you've got a fault with your setup and that goes beyond this threads scope, especially since you're hijacking someone elses help thread.


----------



## EdInk (Jan 3, 2016)

Mussels said:


> especially since you're hijacking someone elses help thread.



My bad then. I fear he might end up in the same situation. 

I shall henceforth create a new thread if needed. 


Thanks all


----------



## andres92 (Jan 3, 2016)

Aquinus said:


> For what it's worth, I don't use Realtek's drivers directly because things like this feature won't be available. Audio is one of those things that has a lot of vendor-specific variation on how it's implemented and it works its way into the driver. Personally, I would uninstall the audio drivers, go on ASUS' site to get the latest ones, then see if the option is there or not. As I said earlier, it wouldn't be the first time I've seen features missing because the drivers were downloaded from Realtek directly instead of ASUS. I'm inclined to believe that the driver wasn't properly installed or the wrong driver was used.



Ok, i did what you said and went to ASUS site and downloaded the latest drivers i found (from here https://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/24/46/7/QsleSfiMgdBr9241/30/) and it didn't work. this is frustrating.


----------



## Aquinus (Jan 3, 2016)

Aquinus said:


> Could you provide the model number of your receiver? Documentation should say what the receiver supports because it might not be able to drive DTS at 48Khz but might at 44.2.


@andres92 & @EdInk: Could we get the make and model of both of your receivers? I suspect documentation will shed some light on the matter.


----------



## andres92 (Jan 4, 2016)

Aquinus said:


> @andres92 & @EdInk: Could we get the make and model of both of your receivers? I suspect documentation will shed some light on the matter.



well, as i said in the tittle i know nothing about PC and stuff haha... i am guessing the reciver would be, in my case, my home theater?

ok so my board is an AMD M5A97 EVO R 2.0 - i have the PC connected to my home theater (Samsung HT J5500K) trough optical audio cable


----------

