M17X - No sound on Blu Ray playback

Howdy chaps,

I am having a day of problems with my M17x, the next one on the list is Blu Ray play back....

I am trying to play a Blu Ray disc through Power DVD 8 which came with the lap top. The picure & sound plays fine on the laptop screen, but when i try to connect it to an external LCD HD display it dosent play any sound.

The sound plays fine through the LCD HD Display with everything except for Power DVD 8.

Does anyone have an idea what the issue is, am i missing something? its possible i could be being fantasticaly stupid as its quite late now.

Cheers Chaps.

 

How are you connecting the external screen? Are you using the HDMI cable? If you are using the HDMI Cable, you have to go to Control Panel - > Sound, and set it to ATI HDMI. In this picture select the top one. (Mine's not plugged in as it states, but yours should see it).

 

Hiya Marvie thanks for the suggestion,

I am connected via a HDMI cable. I already made sure that it is set to HDMI through the Control Panel, Sound menu, but still no sound through Power DVD.

Its weird because it does play sound with the HDMI cable through my LCD TV. The problem is when i try and play a Blu Ray disc through Power DVD, the sound only plays through the laptop speakers which is a bit rubbish when trying to watch a Blu Ray film.

 

This is going to sound silly, but was PowerDVD actually running when you plugged in the external LCD? Plug in the LCD before running the program and see if it grabs the right speakers to use.

 

The other thing to check is in the Configuration window of PowerDVD itself. Make sure your speaker environment is set to HDMI.

 

Hmmm, there doesnt seem to be a HDMI output to select. I can see 2 speaker, 4 speaker, S/PDIF etc. Then in the Output mode, i can only select, Stereo, Dolby Surround & True Theatre.

 

Well on the AW Support forums, the official answer was to do this (forget that it says m15x):
http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/...mNoX3RleHQ9SERNSSBBdWRpbw**&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

I connected my M17x to my TV using HDMI and when i played youtube clips on my TV i got sound and picture on my TV but when i tried to play a BLU Ray movie i got the picture on my TV but the sound was coming out the speakers on my laptop. Why does playing a Blu Ray movie cause the sound to come out of the laptop speakers instead of the TV speakers? What settings do i need to change to get the sound to come out of the TV speakers when playing a blu ray movie on the M17x?

 

I would have guess it was a TV setting but if it already worked once then it's not that. Right click the little speaker in the systray, select playback devices and see what speakers are selected.

 

HDMI is selected. Do i need to change any settings in Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 since that is the software that is playing the Blu Ray disc?

 

Not usually. Audio will play based on how the system is setup.

 

Thanks for all the help, it was much appreciated. I think the problem lies somewhere with this PowerDVD software nonsence.

Thanks again.

 

Hiya Daz, i have exactly the same problem and i have tried everything with no success. The problem only seems to happen with PowerDVD though....

When i connect through HDMI i get sound through the TV, but when i play a blu ray disc with PowerDVD the only sound i get is from the laptop speakers - no sound through TV.

 

yeah when you open powerdvd, click on the edit options/settings button (audio, video, etc.) and go to the audio tab and click the hdmi output (it will also say current vista setting).

 

in the audio tab in the powerdvd settings/option button on the player, there should be an HDMI output option (it should also say current vista setting)... not sure baout PD8, but in PD9 it's there..

 

have u tried selecting HDMI as yur playback devices ~> set default ~> ok ~> log user out?

 

Also, you need to make sure the the HDMI is set as default device BEFORE opening PowerDVD. If not, PowerDVD will still use the default device it was associated with when it opened.

 

I don't have a HDMI output option for some reason.

 

Are you using PD8 or PD9?... I have both, PD9 def has that option because I just used it the other night.... I'll have to check PD8 on my other laptop

Edit: yeah make sure you choose HDMI as the default device by clicking on the speaker icon on the systems tray before you open on PD.

 

this one easy you just right click on the Realtek HD speaker icon in right corner of the taskbar and chose audio devices then make sure that the HDMI output is the default, after that start your media player or Power DVD.

 

We need to combine this thread with this one as its the same issue:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=403086

 

Did you compare powerdvd 8 with powerdvd 9? I've got powerdvd 8 which came preinstalled with the M17x i wonder if that's causing the problem because there doesn't seem to be an option in the software to select HDMI output for audio even though it says there is in the instructions.

I clicked on the speaker icon and HDMI was selected. When i was playing you tube clips i was getting audio through HDMI but not when i was using powerdvd 8.

 

is it possible to do a free upgrade from powerdvd 8 to 9 or do you have to pay for it? Why did Alienware preinstall the old version powerdvd 8 instead of the new version powerdvd 9?

 

You should have an option in Cyberlink to "Update" somewhere. I know when I fired up my PowerDVD the first time, it asked me if I wanted to update it, and I think i did.

 

yeah i checked i can upgrade but i have to pay for it. I still don't understand why the version i have doesn't allow me to select HDMI output for audio.

 

I had this exact problem on my whitebook, reinstalling powerdvd 8 after setting hdmi as my output seemed to fix it. The problem is definitely software related (Cyberlink has a history of screwing things up)

 

see my response in the other thread about this same problem.

 

Start playing a DVD.

Right click the volume icon and click playback devices.

Which of the devices shows that the audio is being output to (by the graph, not what is selected).

And I'll ask again, are you selecting the HDMI output BEFORE or AFTER you start up PowerDVD?



Also, IIRC (I uninstalled PowerDVD, so I dunno) doesn't it have a quickstart file that loads when Windows starts up? If so, you may have to select HDMI as your default device and then reboot. The audio on this notebook is retarded. If an application is open and you change the device, the application will still use the initial device.

 

Cyberlink has a version 8 update that released on 7-14-09 that says it added an audio option to sych with Vista. Have you tried downloading and installing the update? This is not an "Upgrade" which you would pay for, but a build update to what you have already. It would be the Standard Version, not Ultra.

 

Yeah i tried that. Standard didn't work but Ultra did however it still hasn't helped there is still no option for HDMI audio output. This software is stupid in the instructions it clearly says there is an HDMI option so what is going on with this stupid software is Cyberlink so useless that they haven't realised they have left out that option.

 

Hi Daz, i have exactly the same problem. I tried the cyberlink update but that didnt work. I have tried everything in this thread and still no success.

Ovrclck350,
When i right click the volume icon and click playback devices it shows that sound is coming through my speakers (when using PowerDVD), but i have all my settings set for HDMI (before PowerDVD starts up)

I really cant beleive something as simple as playing a BluRay disc is this difficult, ive wasted about 4 days on this (and so have the helpful guys in here trying to help). I have come to the conclusion that PowerDVD is better burnt and thrown into space.

Is there any limitation for BluRay on PowerDVD that anybody is aware of?
I know the trial version says you are unable to play sound through an external screen using BluRay (this sounds more than just a coincidence).

There must be some other software outhere that plays BluRay ??? Surley??

 

Does AW give you a full license or a trial version preinstalled?

It isn't uncommon for new systems to ship with a $hitload of trial software on it

 

I think i have the full license, it says i have installed Cyberlink PowerDVD BD - OEM 8Ch version.....Whatever that means.

 

Go to task manager.

Is there a PowerDVDtray.exe or anything like that? I'm pretty sure PowerDVD preloads into the OS.

 

Yeah there is a funpacked PDVD8Serv.Exe *32 process in Task Manager.

 

I have all the cyberlink startup stuff disabled (at startup tab in msconfig). I only want the program opening when i want to use it. With that done, i can say i never have these problems (that is on whitebook though)

 

That's probably the problem. When it "Pre-loads" it's gonna lock into whatever device is being used.

Try one of 2 options.

Either manually end all processes related to PowerDVD, and then try to open it up OR set HDMI as default, and then reboot. Make sure when you boot back up that HDMI is still selected and THEN try to play a DVD.

 

Ive tried disabling all the cyberlink startup stuff in MSConfig and still nothing. Its looking like my options are pretty much near zero.
Everything is defaulted to HDMI on startup as well. Its weird, it plays sound in everything except this PowerDVD rubbish.

 

did you restart?

 

Then I dunno. I didn't use the POS program anyways. It was one of the first things to get uninstalled.

 

Yeah Scook, i restarted.

 

Just checking. Call Alienware and/or Cyberlink. As long as you got a legit copy Cyberlink can be very helpful (like send you powerdvd9 for free)

 

Sorry it took a while to check PD8 on my other laptop.... but, it does have an HDMI setting on the audio tab in the PD8 options/settings menu. My PD8 BD suit was packaged with my external Plextor blu ray drive... I was asked to update once (i did it through my player's menu, rather than going to their website). I'm not sure if the "use HDMI" was there before or after the update.... but it's there.

I personally think Alienware used PD8 instead of PD9 because it was cheaper for them to get volume licensing? plus PD9 had a lot of problems when it initially launched (about a month or so before the M17x??).... most people wished they hadn't upgraded from 8 to 9. But mine works fine

 

my main reason for being interested in 9 is that i have an LG drive in my htpc that cant play any of the diehard movies (but my bc-5500s in laptop plays them fine using same software) and both drives got most current firmware already. Other than that ya, PowerDVD8 is much better than PowerDVD7 was

 

Thanks for all your help chaps, i will just have to speak to Cyberlink although they dont fill me with confidence (there website dosnt even work properly, i cant get in any of there forum's or customer service stuff - it says im not registered when i am blah blah blah).

Buckits again thanks for trying that out, its quite interesting to see you have a HDMI option. I do not have the option to select HDMI, so this must be the reason its not working.

Over & Out chaps

 

Just a quick update on this...
Ive been going through Cyberlinks tech support to resolve my problem and they gave me a free upgrade to PowerDVD 9, which is very kind of them.

Just one minor point though - Nothings changed I still cant get sound on it. I will post a solution to this here (if i ever get one).

 

I got it to work just fine:

Change HDMI sound output to default in Windows. Then open PowerDVD. Right click inside the program and open Settings or Configuration, I can't remember which. Then under the Audio tab, change the setup from 2 Channels to SPDIF. I did this and the sound worked through my TV.

 

I tried that mate, i didnt have any sucess with that either. Its not exactly the best peice of softare in the world. If Cyberlink cant even help me what chance do i stand.

 

I have just noticed that when i go into the 'control panel', 'sound' and then select the properties to my 'HDMI device', and then select the 'supported formats tabs', i have a list of 'encoded formats' that i can test.

The only option that is selected is Dolby Digital, however when i run a test on any 3 of the options (including Dolby Digital) it dosnt play any sounds.

Could this be a clue what the problem is?

Again i have to state that it plays sounds through all the other tests, and it also plays sound on my external display through HDMI on everthing except PowerDVD.

 

OP, any updates here? I have the EXACT same issue. Upgrading to version 9 did nothing to solve the issue.

One note from my experience that I haven't seen you post. When using the SPDIF output option, my TV displays a box that says something along the lines of "unsupported Audio signal detected".

That has to be a clue, similar to your point about the Dolby Digital option.