I got a home cinema system for my birthday. I have a regular sound card, the home cinema is already plugged into my pc and it sounds good. But is there a way I can make my computer actually use dolby surround, so it knows it's hooked up to a 5.1 system instead of stereo?

To support Dolby 5.1, the source has to be recorded in Dolby Digital format. This format is then decoded by the sound processor, and output to the speakers.

Most movies support Dolby 5.1, so you would hear full Dolby 5.1. Games, on the other hand, aren't really a Dolby format, since sounds are generated on the fly, and some games don't support 5.1 at all; it all depends on the source.

The problem with onboard sound cards on a pc is that most older ones only have a single output (headphone) jack, so it can only output stereo. If you have a newer board or a sound card (like a Sound Blaster) with 3 output jacks, or an optical jack, you can output 5.1.

Now, my Logitech speakers have a built in processor, so it will take a stereo signal and output it to the speakers as 5.1. It's not the same quality as if it was originally recorded in 5.1, but it still gives a surround effect. It basically takes the original stereo sound and outputs it at maybe 2/3 volume to the front sattelites, 1/3rd volume to the rear satellites, and full volume to the center and sub...not optimal, but somewhat effective.

You can try setting your reciever to do the same thing. Usually, if you just set it to a movie mode, it will. Otherwise, invest in a Sound Blaster card...you definitely won't be disappointed...

Well, my dvd player has a stereo in (for like playstation, so it outputs 5.1), an HDMI that isn't used because my tv doesn't support it, and a SCART that's used by my tv, and my playstation. I have my pc on the stereo in, and indeed, my soundcard has a simple headphone jack. I don't even think it has an optical input, not sure though.

Thanks for the answer, I set my dvd to stereo for pc output, because it sounds better than 5.1 (where half of the sound gets lost in the rear speakers).

Nevermind my question Not planning on buying a sound card, never had one, never missed one.

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Thanks for the answer, I set my dvd to stereo for pc output, because it sounds better than 5.1 (where half of the sound gets lost in the rear speakers).

Yeah, that's a problem when you convert from stereo to 5.1... My logitech's also have a "Stereo x2" mode, where it sends the same volume to both the front and rear speakers...I don't know if yours has a similar mode, but it's great for times when I only have a stereo output...

The settings I can change on the fly: Dolby, Multich and Stereo. Most of the time it's on Dolby, and it always resets to there, that just means I have to crank the sound up to 20 instead of 10 to get some decent sound out of it.

It's a philips, very cheap thingy, but totally sweet, never enjoyed a movie this much before except in the cinema. My dad is totally jeaulous with his lame Bose 1-2-3 system Which is totally crap and everyone who tries to tell me it works nicely gets laughed at. Worst thing is, that Bose system costs more than 3 times as my philips..

Are you, by chance, US military over there?

Quote from spdracer22 :

Are you, by chance, US military over there?

Closest thing to US military is the game America's Army and that's been over a year

Why you ask if I might ask?

Just wondering...I used to live in Germany and I sold Bose stuff in the base store...that was the only place I've heard of the 321 in Europe...at least when I was there, anyway...

Oh, and it sucked then, as it does now, at least for what they try to sell it to be... I used to listen to the thing for hours a day... It's good for a small sitting/tv room, but not as a home theatre system...it's way underpowered, and you can't really tell me you can get true surround from 2 speakers...not gonna happen... I actually talked a couple people out of buying it...I wasn't on commission, so no big deal...and they wouldn't have been happy with it anyway...

My dad is one of those people that sets their mind on something, believe the commercials, and if it sucks, he ain't gonna admit it.

Now I'm thinking about it, we got one of the last of the previous generation. The guy told us: it's a bit cheaper, and frankly, it has everything the new one has. So we took it.

Have you ever seen war of the worlds? Me and my gf loved the sound the machines made when we saw it in the theatre, now we have the dvd, so we wanted to know what it sounded like on the Bose. All went well, but that particular sound was a BIG letdown. We tried again on my philips now, and it might not have been perfect, it still frightened me a bit, while on the bose I said: "That was it?".

P.S. They have the Bose system EVERYWHERE now, and the dumbest thing is, more and more brands are hopping on the hype train to crap hardware. So I'm very glad I picked this cheap system up, with a bunch of cables running through my room, BUT, perfect sound guarenteed.

I was watching a show the other day...and the guy (an editor of an audiophile magazine) made a great comment... He said that people's taste in audio quality is going downhill because they don't know what good audio sounds like. I agree with that. I had always been into CDs and MP3s, because I thought they were the best...I hadn't heard anything else (that I could remember). Then, last Christmas, I was listening to my brother's record collection...I couldn't believe how much I was missing by listening to (lossy, not lossless) MP3s...I haven't been the same since.

The same goes for hardware...I was shopping for car speakers with a friend of mine. We'd listen to the 'under $200/pair' section, then go into the room with the $500/pair and above section. The room was much more suitable for audio testing, and you were able to hear the little differences between the different brands, and even models of the same brand. It was amazing. I had always just gone up to the wall in the store, demo'd a little, then grabbed the ones I wanted and left...just like anyone else...not anymore!

I'm no expert by any means, but there's so much out there, and such vast differences in quality, that you can't just take what you're told...I guess just like anything else

Well, I must admit, I know nothing about sound quality, if it has good bass and clear speech I'm mostly happy about it. I mean, I'm no professional at all on this stuff, it just have to sound right, and I'm not listeny enough to hear the difference