How to get 5.1 surround sound playback with stereo sources (SOFTWARE related)

Software & Apps
#1

hi, i was wondering if there is any software that can enhance stereo sound during playback to take better advantage of a multichannel system?.. my living room notebook is hooked up to my 5.1 system over SPDIF (optical) and i want to get better surround sound when im watching movies online (netflix). i know many receivers and some soundcards come with DTS NEO:6 feature to get surround playback on stereo inputs, but my receiver just has some basic dolby PL features which only seem to add a little bit of depth to the sound.

i was reading up on ambisonic sound, and theres a lot of methods of converting stereo sources that give out pretty good quality surround (or atleast sound better than they did in stereo)… are there any programs/drivers that will allow me to upconvert to take better advantage of DD/DTS?

#2

adobe after effects can do this, and so can encore

#3

aren’t those just video editing programs?

#4

i think i found what i was looking for in this program called SRS Audio Sandbox (SAS), with circle surround II you can play any source in 5.1 surround… thing is its saying that my video card doesnt’ support multichannel processing (which it does, i’ve tried) i think because its not detecting my spdif output… is there any way i can make it show up as its own audio device in windows?

#5

I think you will need a 5.1 sound card even though you have spdif out. Or did i read your posts wrong?

#6

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=83752

or…

Use CMSS on the Audigy

or…

use a proper Dolby surround decoder if your source is 2.0 AC3 and encoded with this information.

/MLS

#7

huh? its able to process 5.1 sound in powerdvd, add DPLIIx effects and output in 5.1 channels through spdif (even though it says it has not detected a spdif output, it outputs through it)… so far powerdvd is the only program that provides a working 5.1 output. vlc for example outputs 5.1 but it does not work properly (something like “how are you” would sound like "how- how- how- how- you- you–, seems like its repeating the same sample for some reason) for some reason my spdif isnt being detected by other programs…

on the HP site it says this soundcard is capable of multichannel output through spdif.

#8

Well then why isn’t it working?

You asked for help and i’m trying to help you.

#9

i’ve look at these before… they all seemed to be guides on how to convert audio files, not process them during playback.

i have conexant, not creative audigy… or am i missing something here?

i already have DPLII processing on my 5.1 reciever but it doesn’t do that well with files that dont have the information… i haven’t been able to try circle surround II but the trusurroundXT feature already provides better sound than DPL even though its optimized for 2 speaker surround and only outputs L-R.

#10

i dont know why its not working, thats what i’m trying to figure out… but from what it says in the hp documentation i already have a 5.1 capable card, only problem is the only program that seems to output 5.1/spdif properly is powerdvd.