Macbook is not outputting 5.1 surround through hdmi...

I have a 2011 macbook pro with a thunderbolt/hdmi adapter connected to a receiver, so I can watch movies on my tv. Video files with 5.1 dolby have always played fine through this exact setup, however, recently, only 2 channel pcm audio goes through and is recognized on the receiver.

I know that the adapter is good, and it isn't the receiver because I have tried other devices on the same ports. So it must be something on the macbook end.
8 channel is selected under hdmi in midi options, and hdmi is always selected as output in the movie player I use. There is no reason it should still only be 2 channel on my receiver.

I have tried 3 different hdmi cables and 2 different thunderbolt to hdmi adapters. All the same. Also, all the hdmi ports on my receiver have dolby with other devices (such as my ps3, cable, etc) SO I can rule out the receiver and the cables...it has to be my macbook.

I am dying to find an answer to this...asked the question multiple times in the apple community with not even one response...please help if you have any ideas!
Thank you


PS. I am on 10.7.4 using an Onkyo HT-R590 receiver. I currently have 2 different adapters that I know both work.

It is possible that whatever you're using to play movies is selecting the wrong audio stream. you might want to check the applications menus on a movie playing wrong to see which audio stream is selected and if you can select an alternate stream.

Nethfel said:

It is possible that whatever you're using to play movies is selecting the wrong audio stream. you might want to check the applications menus on a movie playing wrong to see which audio stream is selected and if you can select an alternate stream.

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Ya, hdmi is always selected.
But that doesn't matter. It should automatically be sending a 5.1 signal... regardless if I'm playing a movie or not.

It has always in the past...as soon as I plug the hdmi in it shows 5.1...just so confused and frustrated

Would a clean install of Lion help?
It has to be software related I'm guessing....thanks

HDMI connection technology, not the audio stream within the file. The receiver will decode the audio that is being sent over HDMI, if the software is sending left/right stereo, that's what it will show. Most movie files that are M4V's (iTunes compatible) have at least 2 audio streams, a stereo stream and (optionally) a surround sound stream. Your software could be pumping out the wrong stream.

Nethfel said:

HDMI connection technology, not the audio stream within the file. The receiver will decode the audio that is being sent over HDMI, if the software is sending left/right stereo, that's what it will show. Most movie files that are M4V's (iTunes compatible) have at least 2 audio streams, a stereo stream and (optionally) a surround sound stream. Your software could be pumping out the wrong stream.

Click to expand...

Yes. I've narrowed this down to be the problem.
However, I'm playing MKV files that clearly have 5.1 dolby.
Any ideas how to make the software send a different stream?

(I use VLC to play audio. It is set as hdmi output) But either way, the receiver never recognizes anything other than pcm 2 channel

MKV's have multiple streams too - have you checked what's actually in the file? Perhaps it's sending the stereo stream instead of the 5.1 stream. I know whenever I encode an MKV I have a stereo track and optionally a 5.1 (or 7.1) track. What software are you using for playback? If you're using VLC the audio track selection would be in the Audio menu. If you're using Movist, MPlayerX, Plex the settings are there but just in possibly a different menu (I'm at work atm and don't have all of those on this system)

Another option in VLC is to go into the preferences, under the audio preferences and try to force detection of dolby surround

Nethfel said:

MKV's have multiple streams too - have you checked what's actually in the file? Perhaps it's sending the stereo stream instead of the 5.1 stream. I know whenever I encode an MKV I have a stereo track and optionally a 5.1 (or 7.1) track. What software are you using for playback? If you're using VLC the audio track selection would be in the Audio menu. If you're using Movist, MPlayerX, Plex the settings are there but just in possibly a different menu (I'm at work atm and don't have all of those on this system)

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Thanks
However, the same MKV files that used to play fine in dolby on this exact setup (same macbook, same adapter, same receiver) now don't.
Also, the macbook doesn't output 5.1 for regular audio such as music from itunes either. So either way, it can't be the MKV or the player. Nothing in any format in any program goes through in anything other than 2 channel :/

I tested mine over the weekend to see if I could replicate what you were seeing.

First I noticed (as I expected) when outputting audio from songs (MP3's) the system shifted to stereo. This is what I'd expect since iTunes doesn't up convert a song from stereo to 5.1 even outputting over hdmi.

iTunes movies and videos that I have in iTunes that have a 5.1 track come through as 5.1 on my receiver.

VLC was a different story for me which I don't know why. Although my MKV's are all AC3 5.1 which may be part of my problem - I haven't had time to reencode a video to another 6 channel audio codec yet to see if it's just the AC3 or something else (when selecting the AC3 track it was outputting stereo) and sometimes I did notice after VLC gave me grief about the AC3 track I'd either have to power cycle my receiver or disconnect/reconnect my Mac to get the audio channels to work right back in iTunes (but this wasn't a consistent thing)

Nethfel said:

I tested mine over the weekend to see if I could replicate what you were seeing.

First I noticed (as I expected) when outputting audio from songs (MP3's) the system shifted to stereo. This is what I'd expect since iTunes doesn't up convert a song from stereo to 5.1 even outputting over hdmi.

iTunes movies and videos that I have in iTunes that have a 5.1 track come through as 5.1 on my receiver.

VLC was a different story for me which I don't know why. Although my MKV's are all AC3 5.1 which may be part of my problem - I haven't had time to reencode a video to another 6 channel audio codec yet to see if it's just the AC3 or something else (when selecting the AC3 track it was outputting stereo) and sometimes I did notice after VLC gave me grief about the AC3 track I'd either have to power cycle my receiver or disconnect/reconnect my Mac to get the audio channels to work right back in iTunes (but this wasn't a consistent thing)

Click to expand...

Thanks for doing that!
When you plug in the macbook (when you don't have anything with audio playing in any programs) does your receiver say dolby or 5.1? When I have nothing playing and the macbook is connected my receiver just says pcm (2 channel) and never changes regardless of what I have playing.

What are you audio settings at?

I really appreciate this! No one on any forum has really helped me at all with this and I am starting to get sooo frustrated!

I'll have to re-hook it up again - unfortunately, my wife is watching TV so if I interrupt her, I might not be able to help again.... ever

I do remember when I first connected it to my receiver (an Onkyo) it showed 5.1, I'm pretty sure it showed Dolby Digital on it as well. After I played a song it no longer showed that and only showed stereo sound. Sometimes it would then cycle the receiver back to 5.1 and sometimes it would stay on stereo until I actually played a 5.1 movie in iTunes (this could have been an issue with my receiver, I'm not sure) Once I get a chance to try more again later I'll let you know what I find.

Just out of curiosity, I know you have other HDMI devices (like the PS3) - have you tried connecting the PS3 to the HDMI port that you connect your Mac to and see what it states - if it sets it to 5.1 / DD?

One other question - have you tried rebooting your Mac? (just wondering if it's possible the driver is "stuck" in stereo output) And do you have anything plugged into the headset port or no?

Nethfel said:

I'll have to re-hook it up again - unfortunately, my wife is watching TV so if I interrupt her, I might not be able to help again.... ever

I do remember when I first connected it to my receiver (an Onkyo) it showed 5.1, I'm pretty sure it showed Dolby Digital on it as well. After I played a song it no longer showed that and only showed stereo sound. Sometimes it would then cycle the receiver back to 5.1 and sometimes it would stay on stereo until I actually played a 5.1 movie in iTunes (this could have been an issue with my receiver, I'm not sure) Once I get a chance to try more again later I'll let you know what I find.

Just out of curiosity, I know you have other HDMI devices (like the PS3) - have you tried connecting the PS3 to the HDMI port that you connect your Mac to and see what it states - if it sets it to 5.1 / DD?

One other question - have you tried rebooting your Mac? (just wondering if it's possible the driver is "stuck" in stereo output) And do you have anything plugged into the headset port or no?

Click to expand...

Haha..ya, don't interrupt her
I have plugged both my ps3 and my cable box into the same port as I'm using for macbook and they both got surround sound. ( I have also tried plugging in the macbook into all 5 of the hdmi ports on the receiver...same thing on all of them).

When I connect a simple aux cable from my headphone jack to the receiver (playing in itunes) the music comes through as dolby 5.1

Is there a way to play the audio through aux while playing the video through the hdmi? I don't know if there would be any way to do that...but it would solve my problem for now.

I have tried rebooting the mac, as well as re-installing Lion, resetting the pram and smc, doing every possible combination of channels/hz under midi settings and just about everything else...

I actually do always have a pair of bose speakers plugged into the headphone jack. However, I just unplugged them and it didn't make a difference.

It just makes no sense whatsoever...

Thanks again!

PS. If I test the speakers under midi settings, no matter which of my 7 speakers I test it all comes out of the front 2...not sure if that's helpful or not

did you ever get it to work

I'm having the same problem with my mbp, I checked the serial number and it is capable of outputting 8 channels. The difference is that I am using the mini dvi-hdmi. I have an Onkyo also (txsr313).

The receiver is also stating that I'm also getting 2 channel pcm.

Just wondering if you ever figured it out?

spready1 said:

I'm having the same problem with my mbp, I checked the serial number and it is capable of outputting 8 channels. The difference is that I am using the mini dvi-hdmi. I have an Onkyo also (txsr313).

The receiver is also stating that I'm also getting 2 channel pcm.

Just wondering if you ever figured it out?

Click to expand...

Nope. Never figured it out.
Did everything humanly possible.
The only solution is that now I'm running audio through an optical cable and only video through the hdmi.
It's a bunch of crap...and Onkyo has horrible customer service.

Oh well.... that sux. I'm really trying to reduce wire clutter, so I'll probably play around some more, then I'll probably just deal with the pcm. No plans to call Onkyo.

thanks for the reply.

If I get it.. I'll post it.

spready1 said:

Oh well.... that sux. I'm really trying to reduce wire clutter, so I'll probably play around some more, then I'll probably just deal with the pcm. No plans to call Onkyo.

thanks for the reply.

If I get it.. I'll post it.

Click to expand...

Ya, definitely let me know.
Thanks!

got it... for now

Well... I've spent the whole day at work reading forums trying to maybe get a hint as to what might help.

On some forum (possibly macrumours) someone mentioned it... (make sure you have the HDMI plugged in first)

go into Applications --> scroll down to Utilities --> look for Audio MIDI setup --> open that and change the setting to 6 channel (I'm not sure about hz.. i got mine at 96).

It worked, not sure if it will work tomorrow... from what I read... these things seem pretty iffy.

spready1 said:

Well... I've spent the whole day at work reading forums trying to maybe get a hint as to what might help.

On some forum (possibly macrumours) someone mentioned it... (make sure you have the HDMI plugged in first)

go into Applications --> scroll down to Utilities --> look for Audio MIDI setup --> open that and change the setting to 6 channel (I'm not sure about hz.. i got mine at 96).

It worked, not sure if it will work tomorrow... from what I read... these things seem pretty iffy.

Click to expand...

Ya..I've tried that too...to no avail.
It has to be some setting on my receiver I'm screwing up...I dunno.
Thanks for the update!
Glad you got it working

Need to look at the listening mode you have set on the Onkyo.

Your Owner's Manual - link - direct download.

Look at page 32 - Displaying Source information
See what is coming into the receiver...
This will let you know if the issue is what's coming in or a setting on the receiver.

Become familiar with Item 2 - page 8 on your receiver
while reading over pages 27 thru 30.

After you've read over those pages a few times, you'll more than likely still be confused.
Need to just start playing with the listening mode buttons - see what they say - how the mode changes, etc.


See if that helps you out some.
There are so many options and the buttons on my Onkyo are quite a bit different, it's hard to say exactly what may need to be adjusted.
Or at least right now - long day already.

But, let us know.