No 7.1 audio during movie?

caskater · Post by **caskater** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:55 am

So i'm having a weird issue. This happens regardless of if its DVD, HD DVD or Blu-Ray. When the actual movie is played in WinDVD I get only stereo channel audio coming out. What's strangest about it is that when all the preview videos and even the menu is displayed its all in 7.1 audio. After trying to switch the audio selection I get no sound and then when I switch back to the original audio track the sound does not return. I have to exit and restart WinDVD in order to get sound back. Anyone else seen this problem? I've checked, double-checked and triple checked my audio drivers and settings and they're working perfectly fine with all other circumstances.

caskater · Post by **caskater** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:03 am

For reference... my setup is
ASUS P5E-VM HDMI
Windows Vista 64-bit

Windows is set to 7.1 output at 24-bit/96Khz and tests perfectly. Audio/Video is passed via HDMI to an Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver.

caskater · Post by **caskater** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:49 am

So I tried re-installing WinDVD and its made some progress. Unfortunately I don't get full 8 channels in everything though.

Here's what i've discovered:

- Dolby Digital works and is properly identified by receiver
- DTS works and is properly identified by receiver
- Dolby Digital Plus works and is identified as as Dolby Digital (is this normal?)
- TrueHD works but only passes 2 channel audio. This is identified as multi-channel PCM on the receiver
- DTS-HD MA works but also only passes 2 channel audio. This is identified as multi-channel PCM on the receiver as well

So it would appear that TrueHD and DTS-HD MA only work as 2 channel while everything else works as it should. Does anyone have any explanation for why this would be? And how do I correct it?

caskater · Post by **caskater** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:53 am

After a few more tests i've found Dolby Digital Plus acts the same way TrueHD and DTS-HD do. 2 channel only and is identified as multi-channel PCM.

caskater · Post by **caskater** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:22 am

Update:

I've now completely reformatted my system and reinstalled Windows Vista 64-bit.

Using Intel 15.61 drivers I find the following:
- Dolby Digital works and identifies as Dolby Digital
- Dolby Digital Plus identifies as Dolby Digital (I assume being downsampled to standard DD)
- DTS works and identifies as DTS
- DTS-HD MA identifies as DTS (I assume also being downsampled to standard DTS)
- Dolby TrueHD indentifies as multi-channel PCM and only outputs 2 channels

Using Intel 15.71/15.8/15.9beta drivers I find the following:
- Dolby Digital identifies as multi-channel PCM. Only outputs 2 channels.
- Dolby Digital Plus identifies as multi-channel PCM. Only outputs 2 channels.
- DTS identifies as multi-channel PCM. Only outputs 2 channels.
- DTS-HD MA identifies as multi-channel PCM. Only outputs 2 channels.
- Dolby TrueHD identifies as multi-channel PCM. Only outputs 2 channels.