New
#11
There's a simple fix for this issue, assuming you have some basic sound card control available through your driver. For reference, I'm using S/PDIF through a Gigabyte motherboard, with Realtek driver (and "Realtek Digital Output" control pane).
In this setup I can go to the "advanced" tab in the Realtek Digital Output Properties, and uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device". By doing this you're forcing Media Center to mix audio (to share nicely with other apps) through software before spitting it out the S/PDIF. If I re-check this box I'll lose the ability to control volume during 5.1 playback in Media Center.
If you select the "shared mode" to be 5.1, then you can keep your nice surround sound. I can't tell any difference. Sweet.
Ughhh.... windows.
This is correct, My system hasn't changed for 3 years and it had full surround sound and volume control in Vista MCE and even some of the Win7 beta builds but once I bought RTM no control.
Thanks for your fix goantelope I will try this once I get home tonight
Tony
This is an old thread but I use sp/dif audio exclusively with Microsoft drivers (Win 7 Ultimate).
I have full volume control for all aps EXCEPT Media Center, so the issue is within the software / OS. So if the volume can be controlled for most apps it must be an issue of controlling the volume via analog, pre A to D conversion on it's path to the SP/DIF output.