can't get 5.1 in media player classic. (onkyo receiver)

snow patrol · 24 Dec 2008 at 19:15

Hi all, i'm having trouble getting proper 5.1 surround in media player classic with my new sound setup. It's working wonderfully with sky hd and my xbox but today i hooked up my sound card via 3 stereo to phono cables and it's not working properly. I'm using various mkv files to test it and in mpc the sound vocal track is coming from all the speakers, but in vcl there 'seems' to be surround sound, but there's nothing from the centre speaker. I've tried forcing 6 channels in mpc's sound options but it keeps reverting back to 2 channels. And unlike with my xbox or sky, there's no change on the amp (ie the satisfying 'click' when it changes to dolby digital from stereo etc). On the amp it's just showing as all channel stereo. The centre speaker is defintely working because i'm listening to some music in winamp now and there is sound comign from it.

Any ideas??

Dingleberry88 · 24 Dec 2008 at 19:20

Install AC3Filter.

Tick the Use SPDIF box.

Specify it as an External Filter in MPC.

Works for me anyway...

snow patrol · 24 Dec 2008 at 19:24

i've done that. I'm not using spdif i think but should i check it any way? I'm now getting all the sounds but nothing from the centre speaker. So no dialogue..media player classic is now showing 5.1 sound.

Dingleberry88 · 24 Dec 2008 at 19:28

snow patrol said:
I'm not using spdif i think but should i check it any way?

Enabling SPDIF passes the audio straight through to the amp to be decoded.

At least with my 606 via HDMI.

snow patrol · 24 Dec 2008 at 19:35

ah i see. What do you have it set to on your onkyo or does it just do it automatically? I'm having real trouble here. I don't have it connected via hdmi though, just plugged into the back via the 6 phono inputs.

Lil old me · 24 Dec 2008 at 19:38

Untick the spdif box with the AC3 filter installed? And obviously set the amp to amalogue multichannel inputs.

sparkey196 · 24 Dec 2008 at 19:45

Open up any software that comes with your sound card and make sure that everything related to dolby digital decoding is disabled or set to "pass-through". I found that with my Audigy to you could set applications to output to spdif till you're blue in the face but the Creative software would still decode the the bitstream.

snow patrol · 24 Dec 2008 at 21:00

well i installed the creative software and now strangly enough when i do the channel test (ie when i lady's voice says 'front left, front right etc') i can ONLY hear when she says the front left and right. Not the centre or the rears. This is driving me up the wall.. i'm sure the speakers are connected properly because when i'm playing music i can hear sound coming out of all of them. What am i missing. Is it something with the amp or the software? It's an onkyo 576 btw

Lil old me · 24 Dec 2008 at 21:11

In windows sound properties is it set to 5.1 or stereo?

snow patrol · 24 Dec 2008 at 21:30

it's set to 5.1

I think i may have sorted it. I didn't press the 'multi channel' button on my remote for the amp. I'm now able to hear seperation and in 5.1 films from the pc the voice only comes out of the front now which is good. I don't seem to be getting THAT much action on the rears but maybe that's just the stuff i'm watching. Also mpc keeps reverting back to 2 speakers in the audio options...

snow patrol · 24 Dec 2008 at 21:39

well, in vcl player the rears are much better and seem to be used properly, but this isn't the case in mpc which is a pain as mpc is my preference.

cokecan · 24 Dec 2008 at 22:09

would you not be better off using SPDIF instead of the 6 phono connectors and let your amp decode the 5.1 signal? for 1 you'd have less cables going to your amp and potentially better sound quality though that'd probably be negligable.

snow patrol · 24 Dec 2008 at 23:03

my sound card doesn't have the spdif input. I guess my motherboard probably does but i decided to go down the other route. Anyone got any ideas about forcing 5.1 in mpc?