True 5.1 channel surround sound from laptop

[great_guns]

What is the best way to get true 5.1 channel surround sound (not synthesised or 2 channel upconverted to 5.1 ch) from a movie that I'm playing from my laptop?

1) What format should the movie be encoded in?
2) What music player software application should I use and what settings should I enable?
3) Are there PCI express sound cards or external sound cards available that I can use on my laptop and which support real 5.1 channel audio output? My current laptop (Dell Vostro 1510) has an ExpressCard/54 slot.
4) I have a Panasonic PT75 home theater system that takes a Toslink Optical input. Is there any way I can connect using this interface?
5) Slightly different question but is commercial music ever recorded to be played on true 5.1 chamnel surround sound?

Thanks
-G

 

[noel shaju]

The best way to get raw multi channel sound is through HDMI output and process it using an A/V Receiver.There are many softwares like mpc, windows media player etc which allow pass through for multichannel audio.

 

[spirovious]

Just read this-
http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...49996-how-bitstream-hd-audio-htpc-laptop.html

 

[ashiz29]

The best way to get raw multi channel sound is through HDMI output and process it using an A/V Receiver.There are many softwares like mpc, windows media player etc which allow pass through for multichannel audio.

I Second your opinion. i have Asus laptop with Spdif out so i use optical cable(with toslink adaptor) and plug it on my receiver to get 5.1 channel output in my HT.

 

[great_guns]

Will any laptop with HDMI output have the inbuilt capability to process 5.1 channel or 7.1 channel audio? Doesn't the laptop need a soundcard that is capable of processing a 5.1 channel encoded movie file and send that sound out via HDMI?

I have an ASUS X201E (http://www.asus.com/in/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/X201E/) which has an HDMI output.

I Second your opinion. i have Asus laptop with Spdif out so i use optical cable(with toslink adaptor) and plug it on my receiver to get 5.1 channel output in my HT.

Ashiz,
You mentioned you have an ASUS laptop with SPDIF output. Could you please tell me which laptop model you have and which kind of SPDIF output it has (coaxial or Toslink optical)?

Also, could you tel me where and for how much you got the coax to optical converter?

Regards
Ganesh

 

[haisaikat]

Will any laptop with HDMI output have the inbuilt capability to process 5.1 channel or 7.1 channel audio? Doesn't the laptop need a soundcard that is capable of processing a 5.1 channel encoded movie file and send that sound out via HDMI?

I think most of the HDMI laptops already do that since they output encoded Dolby / DTS 5.1 (and some do even 7.1) over HDMI which is also called Bitstream and for doing that the audio driver should be enough and you would not need a separate sound card. For details on enabling bitstreaming check this thread http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...49996-how-bitstream-hd-audio-htpc-laptop.html

 

[great_guns]

Well I have achieved what I wanted using my television set as a pass through device, if you may call it that. I connected my laptop to the TV through an HDMI cable and used a Toslink optical cable to output the bitstream from the TV to my home theatre system.

 

[lanengons]

i have Asus laptop with Spdif out so i use optical cable and plug it on my receiver to get 5.1 channel output in my HT.