topic Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND in PCs & Accessories

XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

PDinLeek — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:27:51 GMT

Hi

Just tried to set up the machine I bought a couple of months ago.

I use HDMI connector to my Philips LCD - works fine for commercial DVD playback and general computer stuff. (see seperate thread about TV tuner)

I have also connected the optical output into my Yahama amp. It is only reporting a stereo input not a Dolby Digital signal as expected.

The same DVD played through a Sony DVD recorder connected to the amp in similar way gives me full 5.1 surround sound.

Any suggestions about settings, etc would be much appreciated.

I expected this machine to be all singing and dancing!!

Thanks and regards

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

Blencogo — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:59:16 GMT

Hi PD,

If you go to CONTROL PANEL select “SOUND REALITY AUDIO” then select “ADVANCED” you will have the option to set Dolby Digital 5:1 sound.

Just a word of caution - I don't think you can have both 5:1 sound and HDMI sound selected together. Selecting 5:1 may disable your sound output to HDMI. You will have to play around with the settings.

I expected this machine to be all singing and dancing!!

More likely to give you a splitting headache and to stamp on your toes!!!

:smileygrin:

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

PDinLeek — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:40:24 GMT

Thanks again Blencogo for your advice.

I thought I had selected 5.1 in the advanced sound settings.

How do I disable HDMI sound?

Regards

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

ZOSFAS — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:46:18 GMT

Thanks again Blencogo for your advice.

I thought I had selected 5.1 in the advanced sound settings.

How do I disable HDMI sound?

Regards

this may be useful for me too...i may even put my old audigy card in to get true 5.1 digital...by the way pd in leek, im from leek also....well i live in sneyd green now but lived in leek for 28 years

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

Blencogo — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:26:11 GMT

How do I disable HDMI sound?

I think this is disabled automatically when you check the box next to Dolby Digital Live in Advanced Settings.

I don't have a X100 so I'm not sure if there is an 'Enable HDMI Sound'. If there is uncheck it.

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

PDinLeek — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:22:15 GMT

Hi Zosfas - small world. I actually live in Cheddleton near the Boat Inn.

Following Blencogo advice again (see seperate post on TV Tuner) and having updated the Sigma Tel audio driver from the Vaio update site, I went into control panel, classic view, and clicked the Sound Reality Audio icon.

Then I clicked the "advanced" tab. Here there are various options for both the digital and HDMI outputs.

I changed the SPDIF format from the default PCM to AC3. I now have a 5.1 digital signal input to my amp. The HDMI format also changed to AC3 but my Philips LCD seems to be able to decode this.

Hence I now now have digital sound from my Vaio (both the WINDVD and MCE DVD players) available on both my cinema system and TV screen.

Thanks again to Blencogo for "sound" advice.

Regards to you both

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

Blencogo — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:30:46 GMT

Thanks again to Blencogo for "sound" advice.

Very good LOL

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

marcelbrinkman — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:55:12 GMT

Hi PD in Leek, Blencogo,

I seem to be facing similar problems. However, while I am able to select 'Enable Dolby Digital' and disable 'Enable HDMI output', the settings change back the moment I leave the Sound Reality settings screen.

Do you knwo what might cause this? I assume that this is the reasons that I only get stereo sounds over my optical cable. Anyway around this?

FYI: I also posted a thread here:http://www.club-vaio.com/clubvaio/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=35205

Cheers,

Marcel

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

PDinLeek — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 10:29:00 GMT

Hi marcelbrinkman

I have just checked my machine. Mine will also not hold changes to the either enable SPDIF output or HDMI output. Both remain enabled.

However changes to Enable Dolby Digital Live are maintained.

My system works fine. I just have to mute the TV.

Seems there might be a problem in the driver. (I am running the update of 29/5/06 which must be installed manually)

Regards

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

marcelbrinkman — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 11:55:28 GMT

Dear PD,

Thanks for the reply - the settings are indeed maintained.

It actually seems like the Dolby Digital Live setting is the issue for my problem (not getting 5.1 over optical), as things work fine the moment I have (re-)installed the driver. I do get 5.1 sound from both MCE and the DVD without enabling Dolby Digital Live. to get DVD 5.1 I has to change WinDVD setting in Windows (not under MCE).

However, sound quality is still not great for DVD, so I may want to buy a separate sound card a moment in the future.

Cheers,

M.

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

LAMitchell — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 20:37:57 GMT

Hi guys I have a similar problem in that the amp is comming up with 5.1 but it is not. Its is Dolby Digital Live, which is basically beefed up prologic. It seems that the drivers downgrade the Dolby CODEC from the DVD to Digital live then output it as 5.1. The sound quality is worse for this.

Ideally I would expect the PC to pass through the signal directly to the amp via SPDIF so there is no filtering. In fact it should be possible to get DTS.

I a ticket open with Sony now for three weeks and as yet I have not spoken to an engineer.

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

Ditcheh — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 09:32:19 GMT

Hi guys I have a similar problem in that the amp is comming up with 5.1 but it is not. Its is Dolby Digital Live, which is basically beefed up prologic. It seems that the drivers downgrade the Dolby CODEC from the DVD to Digital live then output it as 5.1.  The sound quality is worse for this. 

Ideally I would expect the PC to pass through the signal directly to the amp via SPDIF so there is no filtering. In fact it should be possible to get DTS.

I a ticket open with Sony now for three weeks and as yet I have not spoken to an engineer.

I can save you some time then, the XL-100 *is NOT capable of a simple straight digital pass through*!! unbeleivable but true! I had a support ticket in regarding this and the answer was short and simple, the XL-100 cannot do passthrough, end of story. it decodes the stream from the DVD, converts it to Dolby Digital Live! and bungs that out through the spdif. Totally bizarre and really stupid.

My whole experience with the Xl-100 has put me right off Sony, anyone wanna buy a nearly new xl-100 for £500? Cant wait to get rid of the POS.

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

buffalo92 — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:51:58 GMT

Hi guys I have a similar problem in that the amp is comming up with 5.1 but it is not. Its is Dolby Digital Live, which is basically beefed up prologic. It seems that the drivers downgrade the Dolby CODEC from the DVD to Digital live then output it as 5.1.  The sound quality is worse for this. 

Ideally I would expect the PC to pass through the signal directly to the amp via SPDIF so there is no filtering. In fact it should be possible to get DTS.

I a ticket open with Sony now for three weeks and as yet I have not spoken to an engineer.


I can save you some time then, the XL-100 *is NOT capable of a simple straight digital pass through*!! unbeleivable but true!  I had a support ticket in regarding this and the answer was short and simple, the XL-100 cannot do passthrough, end of story.  it decodes the stream from the DVD, converts it to Dolby Digital Live! and bungs that out through the spdif. Totally bizarre and really stupid.

My whole experience with the Xl-100 has put me right off Sony, anyone wanna buy a nearly new xl-100 for £500?  Cant wait to get rid of the POS.

Hi,

Same thing : the XL-201 (and XL-202 too I guess) I bought is not capable of digital pass thru and the "Dolby Digital Live!" is very bad. Its a pity that such an expensive PC can't do better...

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

mcfair — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:01:14 GMT

Re: XL 100 DIGITAL SOUND

Ditcheh — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:55:46 GMT

I had the same problem yesterday.The sound card must be set to ac3 not pcm with dolby digital live on,then go to media centre setup an make sure that the speakers are set to 5.1 or 7.1 then it should work in full DD.

No it does not, it can only ouput DD live, it cannot do a straight passthrough, you will get sound from all of your speakers but its DD live, NOt proper Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound chip is not capable of passing an unadulterated signal through to an external decoder. That is the official word from Sony support and also my findings from months of trawling through various forums...remember DD live IS NOT proper Dolby Digital, its much lower sound quality. Also, no pass through means that even if your external decoder can handle a DTS sound track, you can never listen to one since the Vaio cannot decode DTS. Cannot understand why Sont have designed it this way, its just stupid.