Dolby Digital 5.1 volume control

[hdjunkie]

Does anyone know how to fix volume control in b7000?

 

[Dragonfly]

Dolby Digital (AC3), DTS, etc is passed directly through Media Center unprocessed to be decoded by your receiver. This is by design, and is not limited to Win 7. You'll need to control the volume on these types of signals via your decoding hardware device.

I set my Harmony remote to control volume from my HTPC with my Onkyo 606 receiver.

 

[hdjunkie]

Dolby Digital (AC3), DTS, etc is passed directly through Media Center unprocessed to be decoded by your receiver. This is by design, and is not limited to Win 7. You'll need to control the volume on these types of signals via your decoding hardware device.

I set my Harmony remote to control volume from my HTPC with my Onkyo 606 receiver.

Sorry, but that's just not true. DTS is passed-through, but dd5.1 has always had volume control.

 

[Dragonfly]

Any digital signal output via S/PDIF or HDMI by Win XP/Vista/Win7 cannot be controlled by the volume control in Media Center and must, instead, be controlled by the equipment receiving the digital signal.

See Microsoft kb904408:
You cannot control the volume in Media Center when you output digital audio to an external receiver or to speakers on a Windows Vista-based or Windows XP-based Media Center computer for an explanation.

 

[igloo]

That's weird. I remember mine did change the volume from my s/pdif output.

Any digital signal output via S/PDIF or HDMI by Win XP/Vista/Win7 cannot be controlled by the volume control in Media Center and must, instead, be controlled by the equipment receiving the digital signal.

See Microsoft kb904408:
You cannot control the volume in Media Center when you output digital audio to an external receiver or to speakers on a Windows Vista-based or Windows XP-based Media Center computer for an explanation.

 

[Dragonfly]

That's weird. I remember mine did change the volume from my s/pdif output.

Non-digital via S/PDIF CAN be controlled by Media Center:

You can use Media Center to control the volume of non-digital (analog) audio, even over S/PDIF. Therefore, your Media Center Edition audio setting will affect the volume on the AV receiver or on the digital speakers for analog audio. All TV broadcasts that are routed through National Television System Committee (NTSC) or Phase Alternating Line (PAL) TV tuner cards will have analog audio.

 

[hdjunkie]

Hmmm. I had volume control on all channels with my cablecards in vista as well as .mkvs with nothing but dd5.1 tracks
I'm also positive someone had a fix for this by replacing a file from build 6801 to 6956. If the search feature on thegreenbutton wasn't such garbage I could find it.

On a computer that is running Windows Media Center, you may be using any of the following configurations to output digital audio from your computer to external speakers:

• An AV receiver or TV that is connected to the computer by the Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF) input.
• An AV receiver or TV that is connected to the computer by the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
• A set of digital speakers

In this scenario, you cannot control volume levels to the external devices by using the volume controls in the Media Center user interface (UI). For example, when you press the MUTE button on the remote, the volume does not mute. When you press the volume control buttons that have the plus sign and the minus sign, the volume remains the same. Although the mute UI displays on the screen, the volume does not adjust.

So, this is saying that you can't mute or control anything over s/pdif which is obviously not true. The whole article is pretty inaccurate imo.

I'm positive I had dd5.1 volume control pre-7

And dragonfly, you're saying dolby digital (ac3) doesn't have volume control but it does. 2.0 has volume control, and 5.1 doesn't.

 

[Dragonfly]

Wouldn't be the first time that Microsoft has been wrong about the capabilities of their software, but the KB I referenced mirrors my experience.

Keep digging around. I'm interested in any conflicting info you might find.

 

[mhealy]

I'm not sure if AC3filter works in Windows 7 or not but in Vista I was able to get volume control on my digital signals by allowing ac3filter to change the gain on the speakers before sending out the signal. This was also using MediaPortal instead of Media Center so take with salt.

 

[igloo]

Dragonfly was right. Just tested it with a hdtv signal. MC couldn't change the volume of the DD5.1 output.
Oh, just figured out what the number "50" is. It's the one that shows up on the top right corner everytime you run MC. It's the bloody volume.

 

[hdjunkie]

MC couldn't change the volume of the DD5.1 output.
Oh, just figured out what the number "50" is. It's the bloody volume.

You sound like an expert.

 

[Dragonfly]

I'm not sure if AC3filter works in Windows 7 or not but in Vista I was able to get volume control on my digital signals by allowing ac3filter to change the gain on the speakers before sending out the signal. This was also using MediaPortal instead of Media Center so take with salt.

Found a hack that reportedly works with AC3filter and Win7, if anyone's still interested.

Part 2 Here.

 

[goantelope]

fix

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.

 

[blaize]

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

 

[thomnet]

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.