Any way to pass 5.1 via Nvidia HDMI?

kinger8938 · 8 Jan 2022 at 16:42

As I understand it, Nvidia didn't want to pay for the license for Dolby etc?

Is there any easy way to somehow make it work? I did see a video explaining the installation of a modified driver to force it to work as it should but not sure if that's the way to go

I did have 5.1 working fine via an external soundcard and optical connection but I've switched to a HDMI ARC set up

Thanks for any tips

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 08:37

Bill Turnip said:
What are you connecting the hdmi to, a TV or av receiver? I spent quite a bit of time fighting this and was never able to manage it due to a lack of pass-thru on my TV.

I'll help where I can but I had to use a separate optical cable in the end - it'll depend very much on what you're plugging the hdmi into.

Tbh yeah it's a pain, HDMI CAN indeed sent the signal but pretty sure as it's coming from Nvidias GPU, it won't touch any thing Dolby thus just sents 2.0 stereo pcm

I'm pretty sure I went optical/external soundcard originally because I couldn't find a solution but that was a few years back so just wanted to see if anything had changed.

Now my set up is PC to LGCX via HDMI. then LG to SONOS Beam (+surround set up) via ARC.

all worked fine via external soundcard/optical, just had an optical switch set up but this caused a few headaches from time to time. So ditched all that and gone the ARC route.

Pretty sure I'm stuffed but can't be sure

*Reason I wanted to ditch the optical/switch method is that it has issues in that it keeps switching back to other sources when you press this random button on our TV remote.
Sometimes sound wouldn't play at all until turning pc off and on etc, I just want something that works. Didn't bother me so much but family kept pressing wrong buttons and switching audio etc

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 08:41

EsaT said:
Standard HDMI can pass through up to 8 uncompressed PCM channels.
(so good for 7.1)

You simply select HDMI as sound output playback settings of Windows and set it to 5.1 or 7.1 configuration.

Unfortunately it's not this simple (for my situation)

I'm certain it's down to nVidia not holding a license for Dolby?

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 08:55

EsaT said:
Uncompressed PCM signal specified in HDMI standard has nothing to do with Dolby.

Apologies I won't pretend I know much about any of this

I just assumed Dolby 5.1 is what I was after for games etc.

So I should get 5.1 regardless then?

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 09:22

Bill Turnip said:
https://www.trustedreviews.com/how-to/get-dts-sound-on-sonos-arc-and-beam-4040661

This has an explanation under the pcm audio section. Also bear in mind that you cannot use dts to get surround sound through sonos systems either (probably not an issue for the pc problem, but it may be if you have a blu Ray player or something you try to use in future.

That's another aspect that's become muddied, DTS. Sonos does now support it but any time you Google it, it throws up topics prepatch so gets confusing :'(

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 09:27

The beam really only offers one connection, HDMI and only 1 of them

The system does come with a HDMI to Optical adapter which is how I originally had it.

I used to go BEAM to Optical Switch. Then switch to the TV, PC (External soundcard) and a PS4 at that time.

I now have a PS5 which doesn't have optical. So current set up is

BEAM to TV VIA HDMI arc. Then TV off to PS5, PC etc.

The PS5 gets 5.1 when gaming, no problem

There's many factors that I understand could be the issue. I think I'll end up either going back to optical and maybe getting a better switch? But ARC seems better for the ps5 etc.

The LG supports EARC but the beam is only ARC so I have that toggled off on the TV

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 09:30

Bill Turnip said:
It does wirelessly connect to the other speakers, but it's remarkably limited in the sound formats it accepts. I had to use optical in the end, and change my on board sound drivers to send a dolby 5.1 signal. The bandwidth for optical isn't enough for 5.1 pcm, I belive. The sonos certainly doesn't accept 5.1 pcm via optical.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4945?language=en_US

This link shows the accepted formats. Depending on your beam, it seems multichannel pcm is possible, but will require eARC. You'll need to confirm the type of connection you have.

Thanks for the link.

Mine is ARC not EARC as it's a gen 1 Beam.

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 09:33

I think this is why I'm hung up on Dolby Digital as my 5.1 preference as it works with my kit, is probably what the ps5 is using etc.

And as Nvidia doesn't hold a license, it doesn't pass through in that supported format.

My external soundcard was picked as it supported that, sound blaster Omni or something like that.

Excuse my ignorance, but is there any way to somehow still utilise the soundcard by like looping it back to the pc then out together via HDMI ( I'm guessing not

)

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 09:49

I saw this potential Virus method which might work

https://youtu.be/VAC_vRly5sk

Not sure what happens when you go to install a new Nvidia driver though

kinger8938 · 9 Jan 2022 at 11:27

Bill Turnip said:
It's my understanding that whilst the gpu SUPPORTS that format, it does not PRODUCE it. It will only pass what is generated. That's why it is important to know the format of sound being produced. As @EsaT says, pc games do not natively produce dolby digital (for sonos compatability), only pcm. This pcm will be sent by the gpu, but is not usable by the sonos. You will need a sound card or hacked inboard drivers to get the output of dolby digital. However, I think you need to connect from this sound card to the speakers, which is an additional cable.

Yep this lines up with how I had it set up before with he optical switch etc, thanks for clearing up the Dolby/PCM stuff I must say I'm not clued up on it all

kinger8938 · 10 Jan 2022 at 16:45

I'm lost as to why it worked via the optical to hdmi adapter though?

Actually no I guess that worked because the external soundcard put it through as Dolby, a format which Sonos accepted.

I was hoping for a simple fix but I think that fix is to just return it to optical with the splitter etc

kinger8938 · 10 Jan 2022 at 18:24

Yep some of their decisions are archaic

Thanks all for the replies. I have a better understanding of what I'm dealing with now, I'll most likely leave it as is and just plug in an optical as and when I want to play a game on pc in surround

kinger8938 · 1 Feb 2022 at 11:48

Just digging this thread back up.

I now have a Beam Gen 2, and that does support LPCM as does my TV.

So should I now be able to get LPCM 5.1 For pc?

I get it for Switch now as that's LPCM too.

I had a quick go on pc and still getting pcm stereo but wondering if there's something I need to tweak somewhere

kinger8938 · 1 Feb 2022 at 16:37

Bill Turnip said:
How is it connected? I'm presuming HDMI from PC to TV, then HDMI from TV to Beam? You will need to check that the TV HDMI that the Beam is connected to is an e-ARC connection, I think, as that's stated on the Sonos website under the audio tech specs. Check your TV manual, as it's probable that not all slots are e-ARC. There may be e-ARC settings on your TV to adjust as well.

Does the switch work as expected? I'm going to be guessing a little here I'm afraid, not set it up as an LPCM before, but it seems like it certainly should work.

Thanks for the reply!

Yep Nintendo switch now works in surround

Beam connects to the eArc (hdmi2) of the TV. EArc is on and audio is set to Passthrough on the TV end

kinger8938 · 1 Feb 2022 at 17:09

Bill Turnip said:
If the Switch works properly, try connecting your PC to the HDMI input that you use for the switch. If that doesn't work, then we know it is the sound being outputted by the PC.

You may be able to find a specific LPCM sound file to download as a test?

I'll have a go at that, good idea.

Is there a setting on the pc side to toggle to actually allow the 5.1 juices to flow so to speak?

*Edit

Found this, not sure if it's a legitimate thing to try. Will have a proper look later tonight

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ga...o-get-pc-surround-sound-to-work-with-earc?amp

kinger8938 · 1 Feb 2022 at 20:20

james.miller said:
Basics first - make sure your sound device is configured for multi channel output. how you get to this screen changes depending on what version of windows you are running, but in windows 11 it's settings >> system >> sound >> more sound settings OR you can search for "mmsys.cpl". find your device, click on configure, choose your setup.

You can also check the supported formats by clicking on the Properties button instead.

Thanks for the post.. however.. I turned the pc on today and now it's working for no reason!

Weird! Will check the settings above anyway but currently trying a game and it's coming through in surround

*Checked the settings given above and yep I can now select 5.1 there and run a sound test.

All that wasnt there when I looked the other day, strange! These options were greyed out too but now I can pick 5.1 when right clicking the speaker icon in the tray

Sonos app reads it as outputting Multichannel PCM. Sorted.

Hopefully it stays like this from here on out. Thanks for the advice