No option to select Atmos for Home Theater via LG C1 NVIDIA HDMI connection

[luvmusl]

I recently got an HDMI 2.1 cable to hook up my Windows 11 PC with an RTX 3080 to my LG C1 TV. The TV is connected via ARC to a Vizio Soundbar. I'm trying to get to the PC to encode/pass Atmos to the TV, particularly so I can use surround sound in games. It seems that the if I play movie files in VLC with DD+ tracks, those do pass correctly to the soundbar. However, I cannot enable Atmos now matter what I do. I have installed the Dolby Atmos app from the Microsoft Store and followed the prompts to enable to Dolby Atmos for Home Theater, but when it prompts me to select that option under Spacial Sound Format, I do not have that choice, only Dolby Atmos for Headphones and Windows Sonic.

I've tried deleting/reinstalling Dolby Access several times, cleaning/reinstalling the Nvidia Audio Drivers, and even reinstalling Windows. I also installed the AAFOptimusDCHAudioPack before realizing that probably has nothing to do with the NVIDIA HDMI audio as opposed to the Realtek chip on my mobo. I'm at a loss as to what the problem is except for possibly something to do with accidentally activating the 7 day trial of Atmos for headphones. When I first installed Dolby Access, I *think* at one point I briefly had an option to select Atmos in the "Default Format" section of sound options (the one that has choices like DVD, Studio Quality audio, etc). I wasn't paying close attention at first and went ahead an activated the atmos headphones trial not realizing it was different than HT Atmos. Maybe this has nothing to do with the issue I'm facing, but I'm not sure.

Can anyone offer advice on further troubleshooting steps? After doing a lot of googling I've seen several other posts with people not having the Atmos for Home Theater option available with similar setups to mine, but there never seems to be a resolution to the issue posted...

 

[Dr. Dro]

Dolby is always updating Access to nuke falsified entitlements for people who have installed Alan's custom driver. I suppose they see it as piracy (which well, it is). In the end, I just paid for the license for Atmos for headphones so I could go on with my life.

Having this driver installed could be affecting Dolby Atmos for home theater enablement for your TV as well. It works fine on my G3.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

i had issues ever getting it to work with my 3080ti and a C1 TV but it works 0 problem with my 4090/LG G2 to be fair I haven't tried to get it working on my 30 series card in a while

You've already done all the steps I tried with about the same results.

 

[luvmusl]

UPDATE: I tried one final thing, and I was able to get it to work!!! I'm not sure this will work for everyone depending on what soundbar/receiver they're using, but here's what I did:

1) Hooked up my PC via HDMI 2.1 cable directly to my Vizio 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos enabled soundbar, and then connected the TV to the hdmi out of the soundbar
2) Suddenly, everything worked properly in Windows sound settings. TrueHD and DTS were listed in the supported formats under the NVidia HD Sound settings in control panel, and Dolby Atmos for Home Theater was an available option under Advanced->Default Format pulldown within the audio device properties. However, I didn't want to leave this as my setup because I have an Nvidia Shield that I use for streaming and is normally hooked up into the HDMI in of my soundbar. So...
3) Using Custom Resolution Utility (CRU) I saved the EDID with everything working (connected directly to the soundbar). Then I went back to my original connection setup of PC->TV->Soundbar, went back into CRU, and after making a backup of my factory default EDID of the LG C1, I instead imported the EDID I got from having the soundbar connected directly.
4) Profit! Everything works! I'm able to play Dolby Atmos movies and games which are correctly detected by the soundbar. One weird thing is that in the Windows speaker setup, when I try to test individual speakers, only the front L and R channels play a test sound (maybe because it's trying to send a signal via LPCM, which only supports 2 channels via ARC?). But I know I am getting discrete 7.1 channels because if I play Dobly Atmos test videos I get discrete audio out of each channel and soundbar does report a Dolby Atmos connection. I tried Jedi Fallen Order, set sound to 7.1 speakers within the game, and that also results in soundbar reporting Atmos. That said, all the Dolby Atmos is over Dolby Digital Plus (not TrueHD), but this is expected behavior because my soundbar only supports ARC, not eARC so uncompressed TrueHD won't actually passthrough from the TV to the soundbar (this is why I want to keep my NVIDIA Shield hooked up directly to my soundbar in the first place -- to be able to play TrueHD content from my Plex server). One final note, in order to get correct sound out of the rear channels, I needed to make sure to disable eARC in the sound settings of my LG C1 for the HDMI input I have the PC hooked up to. I suspect this is again because my soundbar is only ARC, not eARC.

Anyway, hopefully this is helpful to someone out there who's googling this at a later date. If you don't have the ability to get a ready made EDID profile from a device that is working correctly, I'd suggest going into the Extension Block -> Audio Formats in CRU and making sure you add entries for DTS, DSD, DTS-HD, and TrueHD. These weren't there for me before when I connected directly to the LG C1, and I suspect that's the problem. See attached image for more detail.

 

[Nachmanowicz]

I just copied your CRU settings and it seems to have fixed my no Atmos for Home Theater problem. I also have a C1, with a Denon 3313CI (only ARC, no eARC)!
Now I do get a bunch of options of speaker configuration. But all of them apart from Stereo and Dolby Atmos for Home Theater don't seem to work.

 

[AAF Optimus]

Dolby is always updating Access to nuke falsified entitlements for people who have installed Alan's custom driver. I suppose they see it as piracy (which well, it is).

In fact, my driver ONLY supports Dolby Atmos processors without Spatial Sound. It is impossible to reverse engineer Dolby/DTS apps due to some specific Microsoft signatures that authorize their use of certain Windows features. I also paid for the Dolby Atmos for Headphones license.

Furthermore, my driver package has no influence on HDMI.

 

[Dr. Dro]

In fact, my driver ONLY supports Dolby Atmos processors without Spatial Sound. It is impossible to reverse engineer Dolby/DTS apps due to some specific Microsoft signatures that authorize their use of certain Windows features. I also paid for the Dolby Atmos for Headphones license.

Furthermore, my driver package has no influence on HDMI.

Merely having your driver installed tends to break Dolby Access, which disables the Atmos entitlements your driver installs whenever it's updated from the Microsoft Store.

If you don't update any of the Microsoft Store components from the ones that ship with your driver, then it will continue to work.

It's something in the licensing system rather than the driver itself, it's not your fault. As an example, my ROG motherboard offers DTS Sound Unbound for free, it's also done through driver entitlement. I have to install a special Realtek driver that ASUS provides, Sound Unbound will remain functional on other unrelated endpoints.

 

[nicegirl05]

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058314/intel-nuc.html works on any pc some pcs u have to force to see atmos and the 5.1/7.1 connection hope this helps!!!

 

[Nachmanowicz]

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058314/intel-nuc.html works on any pc some pcs u have to force to see atmos and the 5.1/7.1 connection hope this helps!!!

Do explain :| I'm confused.

 

[nicegirl05]

Do explain :| I'm confused.

• Download these third party applications:
  • Custom Resolution Utility*
  • Monitor Asset Manager*
  • Analog Way(R) EDID Editor*
• Unzip the Custom Resolution Utility* (cru-<version>.zip)
• Unzip Analog Way EDID Editor* (aw_edideditor_setup_<version>_windows.zip)
• Install Monitor Asset Manager* (me_setup.exe)
• Open MonInfo (aka Monitor Asset Manager) as Administrator, from the Start Menu
• Ensure your TV's Make/Model information is shown and choose your tv in the dropdown menu at the top
• Select File -> Save As. Set file name and save as type "DI binary file (*.bin)", to a location of your choice this is the edie information of your actual avr
• Close the Monitor Asset Management application
• Open AW EDID Editor as Administrator, from the Start Menu
• Open the EDID bin file saved in MonInfo, using File -> Open from thare u can add how many speakers u have 4.1 5.1 6.1 7.1 etc
• then save that file with all of the speakers attached and open custom resolution utility application the file u just added the surround speakers to your gonna open and this is whare u add all of your supported formats/codecs dolby dts etc and u can double check that u added the correct amount of speakers after this save this file as a exe and run the exe click install edie restart your pc and thare you go

 

[Nachmanowicz]

Oh I've kinda fixed my problem already with the CRU. Kinda wonky, but it worked, I just manually inserted more audio formats and it did the trick.
Ty tho

might still try this but I've been kinda obsessed over whether Im getting audio delay or not.

 

[nicegirl05]

Oh I've kinda fixed my problem already with the CRU. Kinda wonky, but it worked, I just manually inserted more audio formats and it did the trick.
Ty tho

might still try this but I've been kinda obsessed over whether Im getting audio delay or not.

as long as you got 5.1 and 7.1 selectable and they are actually useing all of your speakers you did it correctly now all u need is dolby accsess u can download it for free in microsofts store and enable dolby atmos home theater im happy i could at least kinda help you

Oh I've kinda fixed my problem already with the CRU. Kinda wonky, but it worked, I just manually inserted more audio formats and it did the trick.
Ty tho

might still try this but I've been kinda obsessed over whether Im getting audio delay or not.

Oh I've kinda fixed my problem already with the CRU. Kinda wonky, but it worked, I just manually inserted more audio formats and it did the trick.
Ty tho

might still try this but I've been kinda obsessed over whether Im getting audio delay or not.

now i must warn u u well have to redo this any time u change your tv or avr or soundbar thats due to the surround sound inforamtion being in the edie file of the actual devices so windows well only see surround sound on that tv if u plug your pc in any other display u well have to do this again

 

[Nachmanowicz]

ayayay I dont expect to change my AVR anytime soon. It sounds amazing and as long as I got the 5.1 working, it's doing everything I want it to!

 

[Ferather]

I was going to say you only need the format to be read from the device in order for Atmos to show. Even with SPDIF (not HDMI).
If I had Windows 11, then even 'DTS:X Home Theatre' would show as a format, quite funny really.



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@Dr. Dro, the dll files included in a driver normally will read-validate a license, this can be bypassed via file patching.
The latest store apps do the same, but can not be patched, so you need an actual valid license.

This license can be installed, and validated by device serial, or on your Microsoft account.
The older apps would use the dll files to validate a license.

If you don't install your own license, and installed Alans, it wont be your actual license probably another devices.

 

[nicegirl05]

I was going to say you only need the format to be read from the device in order for Atmos to show. Even with SPDIF (not HDMI).
If I had Windows 11, then even 'DTS:X Home Theatre' would show as a format, quite funny really.

View attachment 368132

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@Dr. Dro, the dll files included in a driver normally will read-validate a license, this can be bypassed via file patching.
The latest store apps do the same, but can not be patched, so you need an actual valid license.

This license can be installed, and validated by device serial, or on your Microsoft account.
The older apps would use the dll files to validate a license.

If you don't install your own license, and installed Alans, it wont be your actual license probably another devices.

right but he also needs multichannel lpcm 5.1/7.1 so my methiod would be best here

 

[Ferather]

Indeed, the PCM side of the device needs to accept the stream specification used to bitstream (passthrough), which for the newer formats I believe that's, 16 bit 8 channels 192k?

 

[Nachmanowicz]

Hey Ferather!!!! Long time =)

I'm just not sure 5.1 will work with another HDMI cable, cause I had an HDMI 2.1 cable going from my TV to the AVR. But shouldnt be a problem, the AVR isnt even HDMI 2.1 compatible. I kinda made a friend of mine get a oled TV too so I had to give him a HDMI 2.1 cable so he could proper use it.