Not getting Dolby in WMC thru HDMI, but plays fine in WMP

[Ohmytvc15]

I just bought a new Denon reciever so I could get Dolby Digital in WMC. I am running a Dell computer and running an HDMI cable to the reciever which outputs is to my TV. Here is the kicker. With shows that are recorded in Dolby digital plus, I get the Dolby digital plus 5.1 surround feed just fine when running windows media player but with windows media center I don't get dolby digital. I am running the reciever on "direct" so I should get the dolby feed but I'm not. Every other program, VLC, WMP it all runs fine so it's just windows media center that is the problem. Win 7 I might add. I set up my speakers to 5.1 in WMC setup so I can't for the life of me figure ths out. Playing DVDs I can get DTS, but not Dolby. I'll play a recorded show in WMP and all is fine. Play the same show in WMC and I get sound, but not 5.1 Dolby. Just crappy 2 channel sound. Hmmm. Any ideas?

[STC]

Have you setup sound in WMC yet?

[Ohmytvc15]

Have you setup sound in WMC yet?

Yes, here's what I found out. I originally had it set up to 5 speakers and i didnt get dolby. I went back and changed it to 2 speakers. Now I get dolby. But why? Shouldnt you have it set up to 5 speakers? Also when I have it set to 2 speakers I get choices of direct or Dolby digital. What's the difference? My receiver does dolby digital plus so I'd like to use it. They both sound the same to me.

[Shackleford]

Make sure you have auto volume disabled in WMC audio settings.

[barnabas1969]

@Ohmytvc15: You may have misunderstood STC. There are two places to set the speaker configuration. One is in the Windows Control Panel (the "Sound" applet). The other is in the Media Center Settings menu... it is called "Setup your speakers".

The two are independent. If you are using a CableCARD tuner and have any copy-protected channels (ie. you are on TWC, Brighthouse, Comcast, and many others), then you should set it to "stereo 2.0" in the Windows Control Panel, and then you should set the "Setup your speakers" in Media Center to 5.1 or 7.1, whichever most closely matches your speaker setup.

EDIT: Oh, and Shackleford is correct too.

[Ohmytvc15]

Over the air antenna. Should be 5.1 Dolby .

[Ohmytvc15]

@Ohmytvc15: You may have misunderstood STC. There are two places to set the speaker configuration. One is in the Windows Control Panel (the "Sound" applet). The other is in the Media Center Settings menu... it is called "Setup your speakers".

The two are independent. If you are using a CableCARD tuner and have any copy-protected channels (ie. you are on TWC, Brighthouse, Comcast, and many others), then you should set it to "stereo 2.0" in the Windows Control Panel, and then you should set the "Setup your speakers" in Media Center to 5.1 or 7.1, whichever most closely matches your speaker setup.

EDIT: Oh, and Shackleford is correct too.

Set up like you said and its working great now. I'll use prologic for XBMC and direct (stereo) for music. Thanks all.

[barnabas1969]

That's good. However, I should have said something for people who DON'T have copy-protected channels. In that case, you can set both the Control Panel - Sound applet, and the Media Center "setup your speakers" settings to 5.1 or 7.1.

The only time you need to set the Control Panel and Media Center to opposite settings is when you have copy protected channels.

[richard1980]

That may be true for HDMI, but not for S/PDIF.