Can't get 5.1 surround working through HDMI on Aspire X3950

Hello everyone,

I have an Aspire X3950 desktop with HDMI output that is hooked up to my Panasonic Plasma TV through HDMI. The Panasonic is optically connected to my Sonos 5.1 surround sound system.

The issue is that I’m only getting 2 channel stereo out of the HDMI from my Aspire into the Panasonic and have no way of selecting 5.1 surround. Other devices such as my cable box and blue ray player are also connected through HDMI to my Panasonic TV and pass the 5.1 surround channels through without issue to my Sonos system and play on all speakers.

I have searched everywhere and don’t know if this is a hardware limitation of my Aspire or simple a driver issue. I have all the latest drivers from the Acer website but again, none give me the option to select 5.1 through the HDMI.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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IronFly

have you tried to connect directly to your Sonos?

about 5.1 settings, have you checked under playback devices - HDMI?

which windows OS version is installed?

blackdot54

Thanks for the quick response.

Connecting the Sonos directly to the Aspire is not an option as the Sonos does not have HDMI input, only optical. However, similar devices connected via HDMI to the Panasonic TV - such as the cable box and blueray work as they should passing the 5.1 signals through the HDMI to the Panasonic TV and on to the Sonos through optical.

Taking the very same HDMI from one of these other devices and connecting it to the Aspire and I get only 2 channel again.

I am running Windows 7 home premium, Acer factory image.

IronFly

ok, there are a pair of things to try:

check about BIOS update for your desktop

use Intel OEM graphic drivers instead of Intel/Acer's

blackdot54

I have verified that I am already on the most recent bios, version P01-A3 for X3950.

Currently tracking down the Intel driver. CPU in my machine is the Core i3 540 and according to intel datasheet, HD Intel Graphics. Will update once that endeavour is complete.

Was also trying to confirm that the audio associated with the Intel HD Graphics supports 5.1 HDMI but haven't been able to find any documentation.

IronFly

i just saw that your desktop came with ATI, nvidia or Intel VGA, can you check which video card is installed on your system?

HDMI audio pass though video card, so it's managed by VGA drivers.

if your system has Intel HD graphic, please uninstall previous drivers before installing the new one, you can do it on Device manager, right clicking your display adapter and choosing to uninstal and uninstall software too if prompted.

blackdot54

My particular machine came with Intel VGA and this was confirmed through the Acer hardware discovery/identifier utility. Also by the devices shown in device manager.

IronFly

good.

you can try to find a newer driver using Intel driver update software:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24345/Intel-Driver-Update-Utility

blackdot54

I removed the old graphics drivers provided by Acer and and downloaded/installed the drivers directly from Intel's website using the link you provided.

Everything installed correctly however the problem still persists.

Any other suggestions? What other information can I provide that might prove helpful?

IronFly

it can be a specific BIOS/Hardware limitation, so it can't be bypassed wit a simple driver.

i searched more informations on 5.1 support for your desktop but i can't find anything. Smiley Sad

can you post the exact VGA model?

you can double click the display adapter, click on Details tab, from the drop down menu choose hardwareID, copy and paste the first string.

RevoMaxx

Thought I might add, That it should Detect that you are connected over HDMI and in the Audio controls it should give you the info for Being 5.1....

If you look at the Icons at the bottom of the window by the Clock, If your Realtech Sound Manager is not there, Click the little Up arrow looking thing for show hidden icons, There should be a speaker in there. Then at the top it should show that your HDMI is connected and give you a Menu for that... Also on the Right side there should be a Picture of your HDMI port that should say Digital.

That is if it is detecting a Digital Uplink over your HDMI

Here is a Picture of How it could look.....

James

Screenshot (16).png

blackdot54

Intel HD Graphics

HW ID:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0042&SUBSYS_04471025&REV_18
Driver details:

Intel Corporation

1/30/2013, 8.15.10.2993

Intel Display Audio

HW ID:

HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_8086&DEV_2804&SUBSYS_80860101&REV_1000

Driver details:

Intel(R) Corporation

8/23/2011, 6.14.0.3086

I've also been searching to determine if a hardware limitation or driver related but as you know, this information is often not easy to find because the fact that it's an Intel Graphics engine, there may be supporting circuits for the physical interface that in the end dictate speeds, bandwidth, etc.

Frustrating to say the least but very appreciative of your help so far.

blackdot54

Hi James,

To your post - I have looked at the realtek dashboard on my machine but I only have two tabs; speakers and digital output. No tab for HDMI. But with the HDMI connnected to the Panasonic TV, I still get video and stereo (2 channel) audio output so i would also expect to see the HDMI tab in the realtek dash.

From what I've have been researching, depending on which variant of X3950, the HDMI port may be driven by Realtek hardware or integrated audio on the Intel cpu, like what my cpu (i3-540) has. And device manager seems to confirm my is driven by the Integrated Intel driver.

I'm grasping at straws right now. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

-Sean

IronFly

i suspect that Intel drivers check which type of audio stream your TV supports, since your TV is a stereo device, you have only that option from the control panel; the other 2 devices probaly can be configured manually to any audio stream you need.

So, most of all a drivers limitation.

blackdot54

If this helps, the model of TV is: Panasonic TC-P60S30

IronFly

i have an old Panasonic G plasma, i will try with my laptop but i suspect that the main reason to have only stereo output is that Intel drivers only match TV speakers.

i saw that under Viera Tools is possible to set Home Theater but i highly doubt this will solve the issue.

IronFly

ok, i tried and....as i suspected, only stereo was available as output.

blackdot54

Just a quick update to thank everyone that provided suggestions and troubleshooting tips to try to help resolve this issue. Throughout this process, I learned a lot about HDMI, how devices interact and how computers show their supported modes of operation when connected to an HDMI device.

Here are a few helpful points for people that encounter this issue in the future;

When plugging two HDMI devices together, they do a handshake to determine the highest level of features/performance that both devices support. If one device can support 7.1 surround whereas the second device can only support stereo, then they will settle on a stereo link for sound. The same applies when selecting maximum video resolution.
Most TV's only support stereo sound through their HDMI inputs. This is largely because they only have two speakers and no need for additional channels. This is changing with newer TV's on the market since many users want to feed the optical output from the TV into a Sonos sound system or something similar. Before buying a new TV, do your homework to ensure the HDMI inputs support passthrough to the optical output so that the 5.1 or 7.1 signals are not stripped out.
Based on points 1 and 2, if connecting a computer directly to a TV through HDMI, they will handshake and only support stereo sound (unless you have a newer TV with passthrough support). Therefore, when going into 'Playback Devices' on your computer to see the supported outputs, this is why you will only see 2-channel/stereo support for your HDMI connection.
Placing an HDMI switch with optical output that supports 5.1 will in many cases solve this problem. All HDMI devices (blue-ray, computer, cable box, gaming etc) plug into the switch and the HDMI output from the switch goes into the TV. Since the switch supports 5.1 surround, it will handshake with all the connected peripherals for 5.1 sound. If connecting to a Sonos or similar sound system, use the optical output from the HDMI switch to receive the proper 5.1 surround sound signal.
Once I followed the setup as described above, under 'Playback Devices' on my computer the HDMI output now showed options for stereo, 3.1, 5.1, 7.1 and quadra-sound.
The identical behaviour was experienced using a totally different machine/make/model to confirm this is a repeatable fix.

Anyway, this is what I found and felt I should share it. I have seen so many posts online of people experiencing similar issues where this would solve their problem.

Again, thanks to those that responded to my initial question. Between these posts as well as conversations with support from Sonos, this is the conclusion to draw.

Regards,

-Sean

IronFly

good job Sean.

Chiquito3

Hi. I have one Aspire X3950 that shows the aame problem of not shoing the HDMI audio output option. I know for sure that is not a problem of the other connected hardware since it is a Pioneer 7.1 receiver. The most I can get is PCM 5.1 audio. Can someone help me please?

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