New 5.1 system, not 5.1???

[bmxfreakrider]

I just swooped up a (yes I know, low quality, but its better than what I had) 1000w RCA HTiB from WalMart, looked great in the store, sounded pretty good to. But there lies a problem within....

Heres the link for info: RCA RT2870

After getting it home and reveiwing the reciever, I find that it only has two RCA inputs in the rear (left/right only). Not what I wanted... it says 5.1, its got 6 speakers, i expect to be able to have the sound that is supposed to go to the back left speaker, come out of the back left speaker, not the whole left side, center and sub. So irritated with the results from my 3.5mm to RCA adapter, I run to the living room and get the TosLink cable from our HD set and run it from my onboard optical out to the optical in on the back of my reciever, set it to use the optical as its input, set my optical out as the default out in vista, and go into my realtek control panel.

Only to find the SPDIF section is stripped out of the new drivers. So i go to the standard audio/speaker config section (I have the AC'97, ALC850), and click the front left. The whole left side sounds up, including the center and sub. confused i click the front right, same result. whole right side sounds up, including center and sub. curious i click the sub. nothing. same with center, rear left, and rear right.

why is this stupid reciever not taking the 5.1 signal and sending it to its respective speakers? it sounds like its only ****ing taking the front left and right speaker signals from the TosLink signal and upmixing it to every **** speaker. Help?

Here is the audio modes that I have in optical mode.

STEREO, 3 STEREO, DOLBY PL EMULATION, DOLBY PL II MUSIC, DOLBY PL II MOVIE

The Dolby Digital mode lets you enjoy full
digital surround from software processed in the
Dolby Digital format. Dolby Digital provides
better sound quality and more powerful
presence than conventional Dolby Surround.
This unit is equipped with Dolby Digital 5.1-
channel so that you can enjoy enhanced full
digital surround sound. Being different from
Dolby Pro Logic in which only four channels
(Front Left, Front Right, Center and Rear) are
used, the new system provides stereo
separation of the rear speakers (Rear-Right,
Rear-Left). These 5 channels, together with the
subwoofer channel for bass sounds (counted as
0.1 channel), constitute as 5.1-Channel (or 6
Channels) Input for Dolby Digital that brings
you the most sophisticated sound enjoyment.
Dolby Pro Logic II
The Pro Logic II mode uses the built-in circuit to
steer the Left, Center, Right and Surround left
and right channel audio signals and uses all five
speakers to play both stereo and Dolby Pro
Logic program source, such as TV and VCR.
Dolby Pro Logic II includes Dolby Pro Logic II
Movie, Dolby Pro Logic

It claims 6 channel, WHY IS IT NOT DECODING MY 6 CHANNELS!!! its really irritating, i did not just bust 170 on a reciever to have a 6spkr 2ch stereo.

I am using the DVD/DVR input and have tried both the COAX and OPTICAL S/PDIF connections.

In test mode, when i can change the levels of all the speakers, each speaker acts independiently. is it just a problem with my audio drivers? or is it the reciever. It has a USB connection, if that helps in diagnosing this. Maybe get a 5.1ch encoded mp3 or wma and load it on my flash drive and have it run a test tone to each speaker. is that possible?

 

[SparkMonkeyHellion]

digital receivers are annoying and will often do whatever they feel like doing (in my experience)

It really depends on the type of signal being sent in. For our 360's we have fiber optic and of course the receiver doesn't allow anything but full 6.1 digital then. But then we have to use a different input for the DVD/cable so it runs on a different profile. For whatever reason it just doesn't believe that the DVD player is actually giving it 5.1 so we just have it set to 2-channel replicated to both front and rear speakers.

Personally, I like the little Harmon Kardon 5.1 PC setups... they have 1/8" jacks for each "pair" - which adds up to 3 plugs, green, tan and black. Green is front two, tan is back two, and black is center and sub I believe... anyways, I've got an intricate set of 1/8" splitters being used backwards so that way a 2 channel signal becomes 5 channel... it's really odd I know but it sounds awesome.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

i would do that too but i dont have the connections. the only option to get me 5.1 is using the digital connections (optica/coax)

http://www.1800customersupport.com/productdocuments/RT2870_RCA.pdf

theres the manual

 

[Oreo]

digital receivers are annoying and will often do whatever they feel like doing (in my experience)

It really depends on the type of signal being sent in. For our 360's we have fiber optic and of course the receiver doesn't allow anything but full 6.1 digital then. But then we have to use a different input for the DVD/cable so it runs on a different profile. For whatever reason it just doesn't believe that the DVD player is actually giving it 5.1 so we just have it set to 2-channel replicated to both front and rear speakers.

Personally, I like the little Harmon Kardon 5.1 PC setups... they have 1/8" jacks for each "pair" - which adds up to 3 plugs, green, tan and black. Green is front two, tan is back two, and black is center and sub I believe... anyways, I've got an intricate set of 1/8" splitters being used backwards so that way a 2 channel signal becomes 5 channel... it's really odd I know but it sounds awesome.

Really ?

Maybe i'm just lucky, but our receiver/amplifier is great. Just select your input and then it outputs in whatever signal it's being sent, or you use the control to force different sound modes, like DTS, DD Pro Logic II, Direct 7.1 etc.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

ok I tried some different drivers, I managed to steer the audio to the front left, front right, rear left, and rear right independently.

PROBLEM:

sub didnt sound when it showed it playing
center came out on all speakers
front audio came out the back

PERFECTION

rear audio works great, when it works.

HELP:

I need to find Realtek drivers for the AC97 platform (alc850) that has the S/PDIF section

every set of drivers that I have tried using does not have it.



Should I try to uninstall all of the drivers, and use windows update to find the microsoft version?

It appears to be a driver problem. If i uninstall my ac97 in the device manager and exit soundman.exe then use device manager to reinstall the drivers, and use vista's audio config, i get perfect results, minus the sub. As soon as soundman starts the audio downmixes to two channels then upmixes back to 5, therefore sound only comes out the front two.

 

[EricB]

what's the mobo's name?

 

[bmxfreakrider]

check the sig lol

DFI Infinity Ultraii-M2 skt AM2 nforce 4 ultra (non sli)

Audio chipset: Realtek ALC850

I have gone thru about 5 different sets of vista drivers and 2 sets of xp drivers (compatibility mode). In XP I had the s/pdif section in the realtek control panel, but in vista its POOF gone. Im currently trying the microsoft drivers from windows update.

 

[EricB]

your problem is vista. realtek and vista had a few issues. let me see if I can find my vista driver for it (which i don't use)

I think that my workaround was to manually install the software even though the driver was already loaded. even then i could only use one sound setup be it analog or digital or the other one not both

edit. sorry the was my 3rd computer ago. I've sold it. I have 2 gigabytes now

 

[bmxfreakrider]

First issue. There is no configure button on the dropdown to select 5.1 channel audio or anything.

This is where I can get full control at. If i click test, a sound comes out of each speaker independently. the sound system works flawless, its a problem with the pc.

AND THIS IS WHERE I FOUND THE ****ING PROBLEM. srry for the language, but here is the thing.

that little drop down list? thats shaded out? that I can't use? says 2 CHANNEL.... wtf do i have to do to get that to 6 channel? heck even 4 would be nice, i got surround sound for the rear speakers lol....

Thats my current situation.

 

[EricB]

set the digital output to bypass or passthrough so that the source determines it.