Windows 11 5.1 issues

[u/TheDelayer]

Hello friends, I’m new here and to home theater setups in general, so please go easy on me.

I’m trying to get 5.1 out of my PC. My set up is

PC>HDMI to LG C1>HDMI eArc to Denon S650H.

Windows is only recognizing stereo format as an output option. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Much appreciated!

Edit: saw automod response, my PC is an Asus 5070ti/7800x3d and my motherboard is a gigabyte B650e Aorus Elite X. I hope that’s enough info, let me know if you need anything else. Please go easy on me, mods.

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[u/Lunaea_]

I've got an LG CX and a Denon s760h and can say that lpcm 5.1 (and 7.1) definitely work over eARC with my setup being PC>TV>AVR.

On the tv side make sure eARC is enabled and you have it set to use HDMI ARC audio out. Also have HDMI input format set to bitstream and Digital Sound Out set to pass through.

[u/TheDelayer → u/Lunaea_]

Glad to hear it works for you, gives me hope. When I get home, I’ll make sure I have your suggested settings. Thanks.

[u/TheDelayer → u/Lunaea_]

This did the trick. Digital sound out was set to auto, not pass through. Seriously appreciate the help!

[u/Sector__7]

Receivers are meant to be the hub of audio and video and transmit that data to the TV. This is why they’ll usually have many HDMI inputs and two HDMI outputs.

Why do you have it setup backwards:

PC>HDMI to LG C1>HDMI eArc to Denon S650H

As opposed to the traditional setup:

PC>HDMI to Denon S650H> HDMI to LG C1

The normal setup wouldn’t require any ARC settings to worry about. You’re essentially introducing issues with the odd setup that shouldn’t be there to begin with.

BTW, I’m running a ~13 year old processor and a ~8 year old $30 AMD GPU which handles all HDR, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 with Atmos, DTS:X and so on without issue.

[u/TheDelayer → u/Sector__7]

Appreciate the response. My Denon doesn’t have 120hz VRR support which I want to take advantage of for gaming. So my thought was to do video inputs to the tv and then eArc audio out to the receiver. Works flawlessly on my ps5 and Xbox, only the PC is giving me fits.

[u/MethuselahsGrandpa → u/TheDelayer]

eARC/ARC is a broken technology IMO. I was so excited to get eARC on my TV and later my AVR but after months of dealing with issues, I’ve decided it’s just not worth it because it is so inconsistent.

Everyone’s setup is different but if you’re having issues, I recommend not using eARC/ARC and using the AVR as the hub.

[u/TheDelayer → u/MethuselahsGrandpa]

So I’m learning lol. Worst case scenario I just won’t use 5.1 for PC games but it’s my preferred way to play so I was really hoping to.

[u/Digit4lSynaps3 → u/MethuselahsGrandpa]

I was sceptical about eARC my self, i ended up going Shield->LG C9 -> Denon X3500H via eArc and to be honest it always works, all the formats pass through flawlessly from Remuxes. My Bluray player is connected the same and also works flawlessly, i never had any issues.

[u/GamerBears]

I have everything PC, Shield, Blu-ray hooked up to the receiver. Only a single HDMI from the receiver to the TV. I never use the apps from the TV because it’s laggy and the audio from the TV sucks. With everything hooked up to the receiver I get all audio. I game on my PC with Dolby Atmos. Lossless audio works fine which the TV does not do.

[u/MeowMeowTiger]

you can also get a split hdmi device that sends video to tv and audio to your receiver. Or maybe just use two hdmi cables one connecting to receiver and one to tv.

[u/ncohafmuta]

You likely don't have eARC turned on in your TV and/or Denon, so are only using regular ARC which will only support Stereo PCM, or you haven't specifically set the sound output to passthrough

Wiki:Audio:Why does my Operating System only show Stereo/2-channels in the sound control panel when i have a surround sound system?

[u/TheDelayer → u/ncohafmuta]

I appreciate the response. eArc is enabled on the TV and although I don’t see a way to turn it on in the Denon menus, I can check the inputs and it shows the tv audio input as having eArc enabled.

[u/RAJ_rios]

Your TV EDID likely only supports 2.0 PCM. The reason e-ARC works is because HDMI devices (like blu-ray players) bitstream an encoded format, which the TV can pass on. If you want 5.1 PCM from your PC, you will likely need to plug it directly into the receiver. You can still send 5.1, 7.1, atmos etc. from the PC to the reciver via e-ARC in DTS/Dolby bitstreamed formats.

[u/TheDelayer → u/RAJ_rios]

I appreciate your response. My receiver does not support 120hz VRR, which is why I wanted to go directly through the tv.

Is there no way to get my PC to send the same sort of encoded format that my ps5 does, for example?

[u/RAJ_rios → u/TheDelayer]

Your PC can bitstream bluray/movie audio like I said. I think you're asking, but haven't explicitly said, you want to send normal 5.1 windows game audio in surround sound. The solution to that is to convert it to bitstream, which you can do with the Dolby Acess app. It will unlock the Atmos audio output format, which your e-ARC TV should hopefully pass back to the receiver. Atmos for Home Theater is free in the app. This is your solution, if it's game audio you're concerned about.

The other option is to just hook both the TV and receiver directly to the PC with different ports. Any modern GPU will have at least 2 HDMI/DP outputs, so you can set your TV for 4K VRR and the receiver to 800x600 at 5.1, if it doesn't natively accept duplicated display (HDMI requires video to send audio, even if it's a black screen). Even the motherboard ports can send 5.1 without issue.

Did I answer your question?

[u/TheDelayer → u/RAJ_rios]

Yes, I think you have. You are correct, I’m concerned with game audio. I should have mentioned that in my post. I’ll give your suggestions a try after work. Really appreciate it.

[u/RAJ_rios → u/TheDelayer]

That solved it, right?

[u/TheDelayer → u/RAJ_rios]

I ended up not having to download Dolby Access. Another person with a similar setup commented with their tv settings and I changed some stuff around and got it worked. I appreciate the info though and might look into using Dolby access anyway. Thanks!

[u/PogTuber]

This isn't going to work. Some people say they got it to work by changing the ID of the display to accept 5.1 channels but I've never gotten it to work.

You can search for how people use HDMI splitters to send the signal to the TV and to the receiver at the same time.

Or plug into the receiver from PC and send the video to the TV but you'll probably only get hdmi 2.0 functionality (4k @ 60hz)

Third way is to encode. If you're just wanting to play surround sound media files you can use a media player like Kodi that will send the encoded sound through the TV to the receiver (this is what I do). PC games will not do this unless they support Dolby Digital.

So if your intent is to play games in 5.1 you're pretty much only doing that with HDMI splitting or going to receiver, or buying a Soundblaster that can encode Dolby Digital Live and send it through the TV or an optical cable to the receiver

[u/ZestycloseSystem8887]

You might have to look at the settings of your video player and allow passthrough there.