Need a hand with getting true surround sound...

[Pemberton_]

Basically, I'm looking for the best way to get surround sound from games to the set up in the lounge.

I've been looking at this for quite a while and could do with some help because I'm still not entirely sure what the best way to go is.

The set up (usually) is as follows:

Desktop > HDMI (GTX 670) > TV > HDMI > Receiver

The receiver is a Sony BDV E370. For reference, here's what's on the back:

Using this set up in games, I only ever get 2 channel audio. Never 5.1.

Now, I understand that the majority of all games output sound in uncompressed LPCM and rarely any come with a pre encoded DD or DTS soundtrack.

Now, I'm a little confused as to what my receiver actually supports. Here's what the manual says:

As you can see LPCM 5.1 is listed as supported for "BD/DVD". I assume that this refers to all optical media inserted into the unit itself.

For "SAT/CABLE" and "TV" it isn't. Now, it lists "(Optical)" in brackets.

I understand this as optical doesn't have enough bandwith for all the channels of uncompressed audio.

but I'm not connecting over Digital - I'm not using the optical port on the back at all. So I don't know whether this is saying 5.1 LPCM unsupported for "TV" when connected using digital, or 5.1 LPCM unsupported even if being pass through HDMI. Or is this a problem with the PC only detecting the TV speakers and therefore not sending through all channels?

If this issue all boils down to my receiver simply not supporting LPCM through the way I connect, then I guess I will have to go the route of buying a soundcard that encodes to DD/DTS and then hook it up via an optical cable to the back of the receiver?

Thanks if anyone can help clear this up. If I had the money, I'd just get a complete new receiver...

 

[melmac]

Sorry, How are you connecting the computer to the receiver? The only analog inputs that I can see are the left and right, so you won't get 5.1 from them. So that means you have to be connecting digitally.

Going by your post, I presume you are connecting the computer to the TV and then connecting to the sony using an optical cable? I don't know what TV you have, but most TV's only output 2 channel audio over the digital connection when you passthrough the sound like that.

Unfortunately, I think the only way to get 5.1 out of your graphics card is to connect it using HDMI directly to the receiver and in your case, you can't do that because there is no HDMI input.

For some sony equipment, you can buy add-ons and optional extras, is there add on for your box that gives you a HDMI input?

Other than that, I think what you said about getting a sound card might be your cheapest solution.

 

[Marsman]

As your receiver has no HDMI input, your best option is to buy a sound card that has either DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live. Cheapest is a Xonar DS/X, which has DTS 5.1 encoding.