M17 R1 Optical 5.1 out how?

Hello,

I've recently switched from a Dell Studio 17 to an Alienware M17 R1. I have Windows 7 (64bit) on it, and have installed the chipset, audio, graphics and other drivers. I've actually removed and re-installed the audio drivers multiple times. I've downloaded the Vista and Windows 7 versions.

My problem is, no matter what I do I can't seem to get 5.1 out of the Optical port. All I get is stereo. Does anyone know what the cause of this may be? Am I missing something silly? I've tried opening the realtek drivers to find an option to change the amount of speakers, but to no avail.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Start-Control Panel-Sound-Realtek Digital Output-Properties-Supported Formats Tab-Check All the formats which your external receiver/decoder can decode.
Doing that should make it output the formats directly out of the optical port.

 

Ive enabled and disabled all of those options, yet still, it only allows stereo. I've used 5.1 with this speaker system (cant remember the model name, but its a high end logitech), and with this same wire. On a notebook and 2 PC's before. I even hook up my Digital Cable box to it now and then.

I've been tinkering with it since I've posted, so far still no luck. I'll keep at it and report anything if I solve it. Otherwise, any other ideas?

Thanks

 

Sounds to me like you've got some kind of configuration problem with your media player if the options are checked in the control panel.

 

The M17 R1 does not have an optical port. Here is what an optical port looks like.

http://www.pcbg.co.za/attachment.php?attachmentid=10291

Are you using HDMI or Analog speaker ports. What type of speakers, amplifier, are you using as what you are connecting to also makes a difference. There is such a think as a mini toslink connection that looks like it connects to a headphone jack but I don't think the R1 has that feature. Anyways

http://www.pcbg.co.za/attachment.php?attachmentid=10291

 

The m17 DOES have an optical port.
Alienware M17 Back Facing High-Res Image
It's on the left in the picture one of the first ports along.

 

Hi Simon

I am a new Alienware customer and thought he was talking about the M17x R1. Thanks for the picture. I definately see the optical on the picture you sent. I prefer the look of that model over the new look.

Is the model with the skull cap called a M17 R1?

 

I dont neccessarily think it is called R1 as there was only one revision but it's common practice to write R1 even when there was only one revision of a product. If it aint got an X in the model number it isnt the new one by dell/alienware.

 

We can thank AW for the confusion... LOL - Here is how I choose to view it, R=Release. In any event, its generally accepted that a lowercase 'm' is the Area-51/Aurora (legacy) system and a uppercase 'M' is for the Dell/AW systems. At least that is how we organize it here on NBR.

 

It's just called the M17. There's no R1 or R2 as there was only one model ever produced.

It is the predecessor to the M17x, which is why it looks completely different. It uses different internal components as well, most notable difference being the use of MXM 2.1 graphics connectors rather than the MXM 3.0b used on the M17x.

There was no skullcap on any of the latest "Allpowerful" models sold by Dell. So, any Alienware laptop with a skullcap is a past model. It might be the M17 but there are a lot of similar looking models out there (particularly the M9750) that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between at a first glance at the lid.

 

It's a shame they cut off optical out and ridiculously put 4 analog outs on M17x. It's really really really annoying for a laptop that is considered the top of the line desktop replacement not to have digital out

That's said, I want to be able to plug other stuff than headphones or 5.1 PC speakers (aka Logitech) to M17x.

Wish they do the hybrid 1/8" like that of Macbook Pro. So neat, stylish and convenient.

 

The hybrid ports on the macbook have an annoying habit of breaking and requiring motherboard replacements though

 

i have the same issue as the op no mater what i try on the panel i can't seem to have a 5.1 output the best i can acheve is having my sound system upscale the output to 5.1

 

Probably your codecs, I spent about an hour yesterday fiddling around with my media computer trying to get it to output 5.1 Dolby or DTS to my receiver. I used Shark's codec pack in the end and used FFDShow's Audio SPDIF output to get it working.

 

i'll look deeper into it cause atm i can only get pcm

i also got dts workin (again only in 2.0 mode) for a short amount of time with setting on ffdshow but again when i tryed to expand to 5.1 it failed