Sound, Sound and Sound . . .

[cliffwright]

I have my cinema (Currently Vista because I didn't want to lose Webguide!) media center setup to display in both the Cinema and in the kitchen by cloning the screen.

This however appears to crop up a few annoying sound issues that I just can't seem to fathom / workaround.

The Mobo outputs to my Onkyo amp which has Zone 2 which I use to serve sound into the kitchen - Zone 1 does 5.1 for the cinema.

Now I have 2 connection combinations, each with their own drawbacks;

a) Connect the Mobo optically to the Onkyo - 5.1 sounds great when watching DVD's / Blu-Rays and when watching TV, this also sounds great coming from all speakers.

But;

If you connect to the amp optically, this doesn't pass sound through to Zone 2 so the kitchen is sound-less. Rubbish.

or

b) Connect the Mobo to the Onkyo by 5.1 RCA's. Now, Movies sound great still and I now get Zone 2 shoving sound into the kitchen :)

But;

When watching TV, as opposed to Movies, sound only comes from the front. No 5.1 of any sort.


So, is there an option C that I've missed? Can I introduce something else between the Mobo and Amp?

Cheers

Cliff

[newstuart]

I use your option B, not sure if it helps but my motherboard sound software has the facility to create a Dolby Pro Logic 2 type effect to make stereo appear in surround.

I can not remember exactly what its called at the mo as at work but it would be similar to what the amp does with the stereo signal

[elootos]

(06-14-2010 07:22 AM)newstuart Wrote:  I use your option B, not sure if it helps but my motherboard sound software has the facility to create a Dolby Pro Logic 2 type effect to make stereo appear in surround.

I can not remember exactly what its called at the mo as at work but it would be similar to what the amp does with the stereo signal

I'm the same with newstuart. My Gigabyte mobos have Realtek soundchips and their control panel (via a red speaker in the system tray) has a 'Speaker Fill' option that fills all speakers when on stereo sources.

The day I got that working in my lounge I finally reached the answer to my problems with audio formats! Now I don't touch a single setting, instead letting the Realtek drivers control what happens to the sources I play.

Not much use though for you if you don't have the 'Speaker Fill' option, eh?!

I'd check what soundchip your mobo has and see if you have the latest drivers installed for it. I would have thought it to be Realtek as they are common amongst most mobo manufacturers.

[adgwill]

Not sure if this is even still valid but im a new member and this post stood out so sorry to dig up an old thread. If you did resolve this within MCE i'd love to know what your final solution was as this is a pain that i have also endured on Win7 MCE...

Its a big switch but the current release of XBMC has an add in that lets you use both sound outputs independently or simultaneously as i understand it. Its something i am yet to try with my Yamaha amp that has the same zone 2 constraint but if it works will probably seal my own personal move over to XBMC as my primary gui. Im not 100% what webguide is but i suspect given the activity going on within the XMBC forums there could be a similar add on or perhaps mce and xbmc could run simultaniously?

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=86038

not sure if that link will post but if it doesnt - just search for Dual Audio Output support for XBMC and you should find the thread and patch by xhbl.

Hope that's of some use and id love to hear back if you try it as i am considering hopping over to an Onkyo amp in the near future.

ADG

[elootos]

(07-27-2011 05:28 PM)adgwill Wrote:  Not sure if this is even still valid but im a new member and this post stood out so sorry to dig up an old thread. If you did resolve this within MCE i'd love to know what your final solution was as this is a pain that i have also endured on Win7 MCE...

Hello and welcome!

I looked at XBMC as a bootable pendrive option on a USB stick and loved it working at a set-top box stylee unit.

It's lack of TV options is what held me back any further, but it is does have a lot of support out there for sure.

Not sure if the OP solved his audio issues, but he may come back with an answer.

FYI, an alternative to Webguide is DVBLogic's TVSource, or Remote Potato.

[newstuart]

Lack of decent tv support is what put me off to even though i have to admit the interface is great and the ongoing development seems miles ahead af wmc.

For me WMC with one interface for tv, dvr, movies,music, home videos etc is hard to beat

I have also recently added DVB Logic , Oscam & a cheap card reader to give my full sky tv package inc all the HD movie channels directly from the wmc TV interface which is great

[elootos]

(07-28-2011 08:39 PM)newstuart Wrote:  I have also recently added DVB Logic , Oscam & a cheap card reader to give my full sky tv package inc all the HD movie channels directly from the wmc TV interface which is great

Brilliant! You'll have to post your method/results

[cliffwright]

(07-27-2011 05:28 PM)adgwill Wrote:  Not sure if this is even still valid but im a new member and this post stood out so sorry to dig up an old thread. If you did resolve this within MCE i'd love to know what your final solution was as this is a pain that i have also endured on Win7 MCE...

The solution was when I eventually updated to Win7 rather than Vista and the 'Speaker fill' options became available to me.

Works a treat now

(07-28-2011 09:39 PM)elootos Wrote:  

(07-28-2011 08:39 PM)newstuart Wrote:  I have also recently added DVB Logic , Oscam & a cheap card reader to give my full sky tv package inc all the HD movie channels directly from the wmc TV interface which is great

Brilliant! You'll have to post your method/results

I too would love to know more about this - a write up would be great