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.