Surround Sound not working

[Kenacious_D 10]

Hello all,

hoping the community can help me figure this out. After my C drive died I replaced it with an SSD and did a complete re-install earlier this year. 

This included Emby server and Emby theater for windows 10. I also use Sharks portable 64 bit Codecs.

If I'm in the netflix for windows app, I get surround sound. If I open an MKV or MP4 etc. via Windows Explorer with Windows Media Player, I get surround sound. But, if I'm in Emby theater, I get no surround sound. I know it has to be a setting but I have yet to be able to find it and I would love your help.

Thanks!

[Luke 42077]

HI, how have you configured audio settings within the app?

[Kenacious_D 10]

My understanding is that if you are using pass through, it's enabling audio via the hdmi cable. My audio is via fiber optic cabel from my media server to my receiver. 

[Luke 42077]

Over optical you should still be able to check AC3 and EAC3. Did you try that?

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Over optical you should still be able to check AC3 and EAC3. Did you try that?

AC3 and DTS, not eac3, unless it's stereo,  which isn't likely. 

For EAC3, DTS-HD and TrueHD, you'd need to use an AC3 filter. 

External codecs like shark have no effect. 

[Kenacious_D 10]

On 7/19/2023 at 4:38 PM, Luke said:

Over optical you should still be able to check AC3 and EAC3. Did you try that?

I have tried checking them all 1 at a time. When I do that and then go into Emby to play a show or movie, it just starts to load and hangs on 0% played. If I uncheck all of these, everything plays fine but I get no surround sound.

[Luke 42077]

51 minutes ago, Kenacious_D said:

I have tried checking them all 1 at a time. When I do that and then go into Emby to play a show or movie, it just starts to load and hangs on 0% played. If I uncheck all of these, everything plays fine but I get no surround sound.

Try unchecking the exclusive audio mode option.

[Kenacious_D 10]

22 hours ago, Luke said:

Try unchecking the exclusive audio mode option.

I tried that and same thing. If the others are checked, video won't play. If they are all unchecked, video plays but no surround sound.

[Guest]

Please post the the details of the audio you are trying to play.  Also, make sure Windows audio is configured to stereo. 

[pmac 143]

On 20/08/2023 at 22:30, generiq said:

Please post the the details of the audio you are trying to play.  Also, make sure Windows audio is configured to stereo. 

Can I ask why Windows audio should be set to stereo? I only have 5.1 titles in my collection, and had Windows set to 5.1, which seemed fine until today I noticed a few files don't play the vocal track correctly (very quiet and muffled vocals) unless I switch windows to stereo. 

Most titles play fine with Windows set to 5.1 though. 

Why would this be? 

[Luke 42077]

On 3/3/2024 at 9:21 AM, pmac said:

Can I ask why Windows audio should be set to stereo? I only have 5.1 titles in my collection, and had Windows set to 5.1, which seemed fine until today I noticed a few files don't play the vocal track correctly (very quiet and muffled vocals) unless I switch windows to stereo. 

Most titles play fine with Windows set to 5.1 though. 

Why would this be? 

I think he's just asking you to try it. Has that helped?

[pmac 143]

9 hours ago, Luke said:

I think he's just asking you to try it. Has that helped?

The voice tracks aren't muffled when Windows sound is configured to stereo, but it seems to not be playing 5.1 titles correctly this way, as I can hear vocals out of the surround speakers that should be coming from the center speaker instead. It seems like it's not playing "true" 5.1 sound this way (which would make sense to me, if Windows thinks I have a stereo receiver, since it's configured to play stereo sound).

[pmac 143]

21 hours ago, Luke said:

I think he's just asking you to try it. Has that helped?

I think I've narrowed down the issue. A while back I lost my GPU, so just switched to using the onboard Intel graphics, which in turn changed my audio output from using Realtek HD Audio to Intel Display Audio.

Now when I go to speaker configuration in Win10 settings, the 5.1 channel layout is all mixed up...

- Center comes out of my subwoofers

- LF comes out of RF

- RF comes out of Center

- SL comes out of SR

- SR comes out of LF

The muffled vocal tracks were due to the fact that they were coming out of my subwoofers instead of the center speaker.

I've been Googling all over the place and can't seem to find a way to fix this; any idea where I might be able to start? Sorry, I know it's not an Emby issue, it's just ET is basically all I use this PC for.

I've got HDMI off of my motherboard connected directly to my A/V receiver, which is set to output 5.1

All drivers are up-to-date.

 

EDIT: I ended up uninstalling the drivers then rebooting/updating and now it seems to be working fine. 

I'm not really sure what the issue was, but all is well now. 

Edited March 7, 2024 by pmac

[Guest]

On 3/3/2024 at 6:21 AM, pmac said:

Can I ask why Windows audio should be set to stereo? I only have 5.1 titles in my collection, and had Windows set to 5.1, which seemed fine until today I noticed a few files don't play the vocal track correctly (very quiet and muffled vocals) unless I switch windows to stereo. 

Most titles play fine with Windows set to 5.1 though. 

Why would this be? 

What is the issue you're having? The same as above with a fiber optic cable? Fiber doesn't have the same bandwidth as HDMI. That's why I need to see the stats when you're playing a file with this issue.