Sir Topham Hatt Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Not too sure what's happened here. Something corrupted so I had to set up a new profile to log on with and delete the old one. That meant loosing programs and settings. After a lengthy sort out, I've discovered Windows doesn't seem to recognise I have an optical cable connected to some Logitech Z906 speakers. In the Sound settings, I have an HDMI option, which pushes sound out through the HDMI cable through the TV speakers (along with the picture). The S/PDIF knows it's an optical cable. But when I select it to "test", no sound. It also thinks there's just 2 speakers, no full 5.1. To make things more complicated, I have the TV connected via optical cable to the speakers too. All drivers are up to date. There's no software or drivers for the speakers. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike232 Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 S/PDIF Optical only does 5.1 if its in a compressed format like Dolby Digital or DTS, other than that it only does 2 channels. If you had it working before then you must have had something doing the encoding of the audio to Dolby/DTS The Evil Overlord 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 are you using Microsoft supplied soundcard drivers or the vendors? Ive seen similar issues with 5.1 optical when using MS supplied drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted January 2, 2018 Author Share Posted January 2, 2018 Probably Microsoft. I'm certain I don't have a dedicated sound card in the machine (hard to see) so should I look for motherboard drivers? Perhaps I should also find a video I KNOW has 5.1 encoded sound and see what happens. It just concerns me that when I go to test the speakers, it doesn't recognise them as 5.1 and nor can I tell it they are, neither does it test all speakers individually - it just has the two front ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 On 1/2/2018 at 2:33 PM, Sir Topham Hatt said: Probably Microsoft. I'm certain I don't have a dedicated sound card in the machine (hard to see) so should I look for motherboard drivers? Perhaps I should also find a video I KNOW has 5.1 encoded sound and see what happens. It just concerns me that when I go to test the speakers, it doesn't recognise them as 5.1 and nor can I tell it they are, neither does it test all speakers individually - it just has the two front ones. yes, go to the motherboard manufacturer and grab latest sound card drivers from them, failing that go to the sound codec maker (probably Realtek) even try W7/8 (x86 or x64 flavour) and try them, they will work in 10. if you pull the TOSlink cable out of the connector on the soundcard, can you see red light? (if it has a trapdoor seal, carefully open it with a tip of a pen or similar, just dont look directly into it Easy way to tell what driver you are using. device manager sound card in question right click , select properties and check driver details in General tab ^my onboard sound but using Realtek drivers direct from Asus, if i use MS WDMs i dont get 5.1 as an option. under manufacturer if it says Microsoft, bingo! Im assuming you have Realtek audio codec chip (very very common as integrated audio) and youve stated logitech output. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware-winpc/realtek-51-not-working-in-windows-10/56eeed34-fbb2-4c92-9ab0-3ed1f42706ef?auth=1 Sir Topham Hatt 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevTech Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 On 1/2/2018 at 9:33 AM, Sir Topham Hatt said: Probably Microsoft. I'm certain I don't have a dedicated sound card in the machine (hard to see) so should I look for motherboard drivers? Perhaps I should also find a video I KNOW has 5.1 encoded sound and see what happens. It just concerns me that when I go to test the speakers, it doesn't recognise them as 5.1 and nor can I tell it they are, neither does it test all speakers individually - it just has the two front ones. 1. You have to consider the possibility that you never had 5.1 working properly in the first place. This is usually the most confusing part of these issues. 2. Due to the usual insane industry stupidity, there are intentional restrictions on the usage of digital audio. 3. If you send 5.1 audio over HDMI then it usually works since it is a new standard that does not need Dolby or DTS. 3. If you play a video file or stream source that is already encoded with 5.1 it works because there is a path that does a straight "pass through" which is allowed. 4. If you want to test speakers as you describe, or encode 5.1 game audio or even use the computer to generate 5.1 synthesized from a stereo input then you need to digitally encode a 5.1 audio stream with Dolby Digital or DTS. 5. You need a Dolby License to encode Dolby Digital. 6. The license comes for free to you if the manufacturer of the motherboard or sound card paid some sort of fee to Dolby Labs. 7. That fee only gets included if you purchase a premium motherboard or a premium sound card and it is hidden in the premium price you pay. 8. The motherboard or sound card manufacturer will not be shy about advertising this. It is called "Dolby Digital Live" - if you don't see that mentioned on the web site for your exact model then most likely you don't have it. 9. Most people don't have it while at the same time they think they have it because at some point they heard surround sound and they must be dummies for not configuring it right but in reality they played a video file once with 5.1 already embedded and therefore it must be working right? 10. There is no 10.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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