5.1/Center channel issue

[Wakeboarder141]

I have my SB Audigy Xgamer hooked up through my home stereo reciever. I get true 5.1 on games, but when I play music in Winamp or movies in WMP no sound comes out of the center channel. Is that just because the movies and music is not a 5.1 input or is there some setting I can change to make them utilize the center channel? Thanks.

Aaron

[franklinz]

Originally posted by Wakeboarder141
I have my SB Audigy Xgamer hooked up through my home stereo reciever. I get true 5.1 on games, but when I play music in Winamp or movies in WMP no sound comes out of the center channel. Is that just because the movies and music is not a 5.1 input or is there some setting I can change to make them utilize the center channel? Thanks.

Aaron

does the external reciever decode 5.1?? what connections are you using to the stereo??

check to make sure you have all the updated drivers, make sure everything in control panel is set to 5.1 audio, do a speaker calibrator (if you have the option) last but not least in the media player make sure the audio selection is set to 5.1 also.
i really recommend Intervideo WindDVD for watcing movies on the computer, when the audio seemed to fail with the media player everything worked perfect with windvd.
if none of the above works, you might have to enable the dreaded "cmss" option for the center channel to work.

[Wakeboarder141]

The thing is that the 5.1 works just fine in games so I know it isn't the connnections. I have the sound controls in control panel set to 5.1. The software that came with the sound card is set to 5.1 and it has an option to test each speaker and the center makes sound just fine. Is there a chance the movies and MP3's aren't encoded with sound for the center channel or should every sound input work?

[pinipig523]

so exactly how many channels does it play? 4.1 w/o center?


what if you enable prologic or 5stereospeaker on the receiver? i think the trouble lies in the fact that music (mp3 or cd) is meant to be played with only 2 channels (left and right/stereo).

therefore, if you do not use any software enhancements that UPMIX the stereo signal to a 5.1 surroundsound channel upmix - you WONT get 5.1 audio and the center wont work.

[Wakeboarder141]

Right, it plays in 4.1. One strange thing is that if I burn a video cd from a mpeg file, it plays 5.1 just fine. The reciever plays 5.1 on every other source and I know the center is hooked up right because the creative software makes sound come out of center channel when I do the speaker configure thing. What kind of software would I need to use to make the mp3s and mpegs play 5.1 if that is the problem?

[pinipig523]

well - how is the soundcard connected to the receiver? is it via the spdif? or is it just through the standard outputs?

[franklinz]

i had the same problem, on your media player make sure the audio setting is set to 5.1.
if you can get the intervideo windvd media player.

[Wakeboarder141]

The sound card is hooked up to the reciever with RCA cables with adapters for the mini plugs. I can not find any settings in Windows Media Player or Winamp that lets me choose whether it is 5.1 or not.

[pinipig523]

try this - it works on my audigy2.

go to the creative surround speaker setup - it should be under the creative program bar on the start menu.

and enable cmss (that is creative multi speaker surround) and that should enable 5.1 playback of music via any program source.

try it and see how it goes.

[franklinz]

Originally posted by pinipig523
try this - it works on my audigy2.

go to the creative surround speaker setup - it should be under the creative program bar on the start menu.

and enable cmss (that is creative multi speaker surround) and that should enable 5.1 playback of music via any program source.

try it and see how it goes.

cmss bites bad!
get intervideo windvd! it has all the settings you could ask for if you use your computer for watching movies.