I would like to use digital audio in media center and dvd viewing. I have connected the media center via toslink digital to my receiver (Logitech z5500). When I set Vista/media center to send Digital dolby or DTS to the receiver I get great digital sound the problem is I am not able to change the volume with the media center remote/control in media center. I really want to do this, as using the logitech remote or programing a universal remote to controll the logitech receiver is not as simple and shows no visual cues as to the status of the volume onscreen.

So the question is how do I set this up so media center controlls the volume of digital audio??

I just hooked up a receiver using toslink digital (optical) to my xps 420 yesterday. I had to setup my remote (Logitech Harmony 880) to change volume on the receiver. I assumed that since the signal is digital, there is no way for the Media Center volume to have anything to do with it. But now that I think about it... the HDMI I was using for audio before was digital. Even it is possible, I wonder if it is better from an audio quality perspective to have the receiver taking care of the volume.

Armaheadon:

I just hooked up a receiver using toslink digital (optical) to my xps 420 yesterday. I had to setup my remote (Logitech Harmony 880) to change volume on the receiver. I assumed that since the signal is digital, there is no way for the Media Center volume to have anything to do with it. But now that I think about it... the HDMI I was using for audio before was digital. Even it is possible, I wonder if it is better from an audio quality perspective to have the receiver taking care of the volume.

I could be wrong but I believe this was not an issue when I used to have a Windows Media Center 2005 rig. Digital could be controlled via the media center controlls. Is this something that can no longer be done in Vista? If so why and is there a work around?

Anytime you use an audio digital out, the volume must be controlled through the device your are connecting it to, such as your receiver.  If you are using the standard mce remote, it should be able to learn the volume & mute settings for your receiver.

 

cearly:

Anytime you use an audio digital out, the volume must be controlled through the device your are connecting it to, such as your receiver.  If you are using the standard mce remote, it should be able to learn the volume & mute settings for your receiver.

 

 

I'm not sure that is entirely true. I am pretty sure that I was able to do this with my MCE 2005 computer. Also, I can controll volume from my xbox 360 which is also connected via digital. And when I switch my current PC to not pass through digital I am able to controll the volume via Media Center even though it is ONLY connected by digital out to my receiver. When set up in this last mode my receiver says Dolby Pro Logic II decoding... not Dolby Digital or DTS. Again in this mode I can control the volume with the media center... just not DD or DTS.

So I wonder if anyone else has a solution to this? Also irritatingly, when I have connected via the digital toslink whether sending DD,DTS or Dolby PL II the sound cuts in and out. for example when there is no sound being generated by the computer my receiver says no signal received but when I move around the menu the first menu sound is not heard as the signal "ramps" up and is received subsequent sounds and clicks are heard until I stop moving around the menu. Basically there is a delay before sound is processed by the receiver. I hope this makes sense. My xbox does not do this. It always says digital signal is present whether or not the xbox is actively producing a sound or not. So when the xbox actually makes a sound the receiver actually does something with it and it is heard. I wish the computer would do this as well. I always miss the first half second of sound whenever any sound is actually generated by the computer.

 

How do others have their digital sound setup? Anyone using digital out with an xps 420? Logitech zx5500?

Again, any help would be appreciated.

PS as far as setting up the remote to controll the receiver's sound volume I can do that, however everyone in my family including my self like seeing the onscreen display of the volume level/status when adjusting the volume or muting. So our preference is to not use the receiver to controll the volume but rather the media center.

There was another recent thread on this. Same conclusions...

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/313653.aspx

Armaheadon:

There was another recent thread on this. Same conclusions...

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/313653.aspx

 

Thanks, yes looks like the same issue with different hardware. It also looks like the original poster is also hoping for a solution that does not involve reprograming the remote.

Audio out of Dolby Digital, DTS or similar is normally passed through on most sound cards, without giving the Windows volume control the chance to do anything with it.  Essentially, it goes straight from the source out to the sound card and to the receiver, unmodified.  Since adjusting volume in the mixer would require re-mixing the DD or DTS stream, it's unusual to be able to do this (in fact, I know of no sound cards that allow this).

If you open your control panel sound properties, then double click on "Digital Output Device (SPDIF)" it will open the properties window.  Under "Supported Formats" uncheck all encoded formats.  This forces the computer to decode the DD or DTS in software, handing it off to the receiver as an uncompressed bitstream.  In theory (again, sound card depndent) this should let the windows mixer (and by extension, Vista Media Center) control the volume.

ok thanks. I will try this.

jec6613:

 

If you open your control panel sound properties, then double click on "Digital Output Device (SPDIF)" it will open the properties window.  Under "Supported Formats" uncheck all encoded formats.  This forces the computer to decode the DD or DTS in software, handing it off to the receiver as an uncompressed bitstream.  In theory (again, sound card depndent) this should let the windows mixer (and by extension, Vista Media Center) control the volume.

Hi,

wouldn't this then just output a normal audio stream, so no longer providing DD or DTS signals?

Tony

I have a receiver with spdif from mce then vmc

In 2005 i used a 3rd party app called volume fixer (i think it was called that, it was a long time ago)

This allowed you to control the volume from within mce using the standard microsoft remote.

This worked fine but you had to set a max volume on the reciever first and then it would go form 0-50 on mce (hope you understand)

All fine until i went to music the volume was too a little too high so i spent half my life turning the thing up and down.

Long story short i purchased a remote that controlled the receiver and it been a much more pleasent experience.

if i rememebr it was adjusting the line out

Move on 3 years i don't see the volume, but i now have a 1 year old daughter who enjoys the large volume knob on the reciever and will turn it whilst i'm out and i come back home and nearly distroy my ear drums when i turn on VMC.  I wish receivers had a max volume you could set. Now she also likes to play with the remote and do the same thing but i getting off subject now

Does your video card have built-in audio? If so, you may be limited. My 9600GT has SPDIF input on it, so I feed the SPDIF from my MB into my video card, and it combines the video and audio onto the DVI, then use a DVI-HDMI cable to get to my TV, and I can control the volume fine through MC.

Tony_Park:

jec6613:

 

If you open your control panel sound properties, then double click on "Digital Output Device (SPDIF)" it will open the properties window.  Under "Supported Formats" uncheck all encoded formats.  This forces the computer to decode the DD or DTS in software, handing it off to the receiver as an uncompressed bitstream.  In theory (again, sound card depndent) this should let the windows mixer (and by extension, Vista Media Center) control the volume.

Hi,

wouldn't this then just output a normal audio stream, so no longer providing DD or DTS signals?

Tony

Yes, but the audio should remain 5.1 (or 7.1 or whatever).  Essentially, this is moving the decoding from the receiver into the PC.  This also allows you to do some fancy processing, like downmixing 7.1 to 5.1, at the computer (which has far more processing power) rather than the receiver.  This more or less turns the receiver into a dumb 5.1/7.1 amp with digital input.  If the sound card is half decent (HDAudio onboard works fine for this) there should be no loss in audio quality, and the receiver can still apply any effects you like, such as room corrections and so on.

Did you have any luck?

Update - after a clean install of Win7 B7000, I can no longer control volume with the remote, only mute it. I will try unchecking all supported formats to see if that will give me back my control.

mmatheny:

Does your video card have built-in audio? If so, you may be limited. My 9600GT has SPDIF input on it, so I feed the SPDIF from my MB into my video card, and it combines the video and audio onto the DVI, then use a DVI-HDMI cable to get to my TV, and I can control the volume fine through MC.