Outputting 5.1 Channel Surround Sound from your Mac

This is great thread, thanks to everyone for all the help.

I'm having the same probem as many users here and was hoping someone might still be able to help. I have a Macbook PRO Retina here and I'm literally just using it to test to see if the new 2012 Mac Mini I purchased will work properly for outputting multichannel audio (5.1) .

My setup is:

RMBP HDMI OUT --> HDMI IN for Samsung LED TV --> TV Optical OUT to Receiver Optical IN

This setup works perfectly for 5.1 with all my other devices (cable box, ps3, xbox, etc.) but I am unable to get any other options besides "Stereo" to appear for multichannel under Audio MIDI Setup.

What I'm wondering is, when the (2012) Mac Mini arrives next week, how will I get it to output 5.1? I only have 1 Optical IN port on my receiver and it is connected directly to Optical OUT of my TV.

Anyone know the best way I can set this up and ensure I'm able to get multi-channel output with VLC and the Mac Mini?

Thanks so much in advance!

I've been using an optical cable from my macbook (2009) to play files (mkv, avi, mp4) with Dolby Digital or DTS encoding with no problems for a long time.

Until today.

Now, every time I start one of these files, my output device in the sound prefs panel switches automatically from "Optical Digital-Out Port" to whatver else is avaialble. I've actually gone as far as removing ALL other options except airplay, which I can't delete since that is my receiver, but if the file has encoded output, it just outputs silence since it switches output devices. If I change the output device in VLC to "Built in output" then it plays, but it just uses Pro Logic. I had no troubles with this until today. I just don't get it. I changed nothing.

I tried restoring a Time Machine Backup to the day before this problem started and it worked insofar as I am now hearing sound when the encoding is DTS or Dolby Digital. Oddly, the sound device selection still is jumping to something other than Digital Out...for example, it jumps to "soundflower" but still works.

Hi, I have a Sony STR-K1500 A/V Receiver that has 2HDMI in and 1HDMI out, and a Panasonic LCD, I want to connect to my Mid 2012 MacBook Pro to both my Tv and receiver so i can get true 5.1 surround sound when I watch a movie that has 5.1 sound. I've been searching, and I found that this receiver doesn't handle audio via HDMI. So how do I have to make the connections to my laptop, receiver and tv? Do I have to connect the MacBook Pro to the receiver via hdmi and toslik, and then my Tv to the hdmi out of the receiver? I don't know waht to do, please help me! 😀😀

Hi, I have a Sony STR-K1500 A/V Receiver that has 2HDMI in and 1HDMI out, and a Panasonic LCD, I want to connect to my Mid 2012 MacBook Pro to both my Tv and receiver so i can get true 5.1 surround sound when I watch a movie that has 5.1 sound. I've been searching, and I found that this receiver doesn't handle audio via HDMI. So how do I have to make the connections to my laptop, receiver and tv? Do I have to connect the MacBook Pro to the receiver via hdmi and toslik, and then my Tv to the hdmi out of the receiver? I don't know waht to do, please help me! 😀😀

Per original post,

First step is done.

But i could not see any other device than built-in when I check preferences>sound>output.

How can i fix it?

Dear Parker,

I will apologize in advance as I am not tech savvy as most of the people here. I currently have the imac 27 inch (late 2012) version. I just ordered a logitech z906 5.1 speakers. I'm a very simple person...just want to listen to music, watch movies online, tv shows online, and etc. through my speakers.

I do not video edit, hook up through dvd player and what not. As such, all i want to know is...what cable do i need to enjoy true 5.1 surround sound through my imac? Is it (1) Thunderbolt to HDMI or (2) 3.5 jack and optical cable or (3) BOTH!

Sorry fo the confusion and I'm just starting get familiar with all these technical terms. Also, i read all the previous post...where AUDIO MIDI all the other sections are grayed out besides stereo...what is the purpose of testing all the individual speakers when you mentioned that through 3.5 jack and opitcal, although it shows stereo, it will produce surround sound?

Thakns again and look forward to everyone's input.

I have a 2011 Macbook Pro and im using a thunderbolt/displayport to hdmi cable

You have to choose 44.100hz and 2 channel 16bit audio in Audio Midi setup to get full srrround support.

And what if, like me, you don't have an HDMI port and both your mini display ports (thunderbolt ports) are taken up by displays? I am fully aware you can have a 3.5mm optical adapter and use that however then when you change the settings in the Audio MIDI Setup to Encoded Digital Audio it jumps to another output device. Why is this and how do I stop it?

Thanks, Jacob.

I have exactly the same issue. Although I already have the optical cable and audio jack adapter by problem is as described previously.

Hello Lance - Glad to learn Logic Pro X can output surround sound via HDMI - I read elsewhere that it couldn't, but I guess that was for pre 2009 Macs. I went through all the preference menus in both Logic & Apple OS and saw how this would work.

But where do you get to choose PCM 5.1 (or LPCM) as opposed to Dolby or other 5.1 protocol ? Is that in the AV amp options ?

And what about coordinating sampling rate & bit depth parameters ? I saw there are some issues here. What do you do your mixing in ?

I usually am working in 48/24.

Finally, what specific specs should I be looking for in the AV amp ?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Phil

PS - you can listen to what I do at https://soundcloud.com/phil-dahlen

Hello Parker612

Thanks for providing all that helpful info to so many users - I'm sure it has helped a lot of other users such as myself.

I still have one question, and forgive for asking, but I've searched hi & lo for the answer, and it's usually by-passed because, I guess, it's too simple.

But here goes : If you've got an AV amp properly connected to an iMac via HDMI, will the AV menus automatically display on your iMac ??

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Phil

QUICK Q,,,,,,

when you are in 'Audio MIDI setup' and you click on your HDMI device,, on the left of the screen there are 2 options. Input and Output. Are BOTH clickable ??

On mine only the output is clickable.However, when i press configure speakers all 5.1 are working perfectly but none are actually visible in the section below source / format etc. My pioneer receiver is connected to my mac mini via HDMI. The HDMI cable is connected to the IN HDMI on the receiver. Do i need another HDMI cable from the OUT ?? if so, where would it plug to ?? as theres no more jack on the mac mini.

Apple really don't make things easy with this stuff 😟

Any ideas ??

After A long time struggling with this, I found a solution that worked for me that may be the scorce of many other's similar problem.

The mac ----> receiver -----> TV connection is possibly ignoring the receiver and treating it as being connected to the TV that is only capable of stereo output.

A quick way to test if that is the case is to leave the TV either off or disconnected and go to audio midi controller with the use of your Laptop's screen. If all the channels then become present then the TV was the culprit.

Fear not, The solution to the issue with the TV connected is to Set the Recviever's speaker output setting to "amp" or "amp only". For the TV to be interfering, it's likely the receiver was set to "TV&AMP".

Hope this helps somebody.

Came across this thread as I was googling for a solution to my problem. I have a Vizio SB-3851-C0M soundbar and a 2012 Mac Mini. I can't seem to get 5.1 passthrough on my TV so as a test I connected the mac (via HDMI - I'm screensharing so can still see the Mac Mini). No matter what I do, all I can select is stereo.

Any ideas?