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5.1 Surround Sound on iMac for HL2?

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FalcorTheDog

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 17, 2005
42
0
I just got my sexy new 27" iMac and I am loving it. This is the best gaming machine I have ever owned. I also have some pretty kickass Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers, however, they don't seem to get recognized as surround sound.

The sound setting in Half-Life 2, for example, is stuck on "2 speakers." Is there any way to get true 5.1 surround sound while gaming with this iMac? Would I need an external sound card or something? Would it work if I was gaming in Windows with Boot Camp?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Jethryn Freyman

Jethryn Freyman

macrumors 68020
Aug 9, 2007
2,329
2
Australia
I have the same speakers too. How are they connected? And I'm pretty sure that OpenAL on OS X doesn't support surround sound over an optical connection, if the game uses OpenAL. That's what UT2004 can't output surround sound in OS X over the optical connection. Perhaps through surround sound though... I may get out my USB sound card and give it a go since I've got some free time.

OS X really sucks for surround sound gaming though, I wish Apple would make its' surround sound capability better.
 
voyagerd

voyagerd

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2002
1,498
251
Rancho Cordova, CA
I have the same speakers. Have you tried changing the output to 5.1 in Audio MIDI Setup under Utilities? I'm not sure if anything greater than 2 speakers is available for optical there. There is only the option for Stereo and Digital Encoded Audio on my MacBook Pro when using TOSLINK/Optical. For this reason, I only use optical for movies that are in Dolby Digital or DTS which gets you surround sound over optical when Digitally Encode Audio is selected. Otherwise, I use a Griffin FireWave to get surround sound. I haven't tried it in 10.7 yet though. It's been discontinued for awhile.
 
MacsRgr8

MacsRgr8

macrumors G3
Sep 8, 2002
8,288
1,779
The Netherlands
IIRC, dolby 5.1 in games rely on audio decoding by a compatible sound card and having the speakers connected via direct (analog) input.

I can't remember one game that supports dolby 5.1 decoding done externally which is the case when using toslink optical, even in Windows.

OTOH, it's been some time since I tried it... Boot Camp and my Soundbaster X-fi PCIe card in my Mac Pro gives me my sound in gaming. ;)
 
Last edited:
F

FalcorTheDog

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 17, 2005
42
0
voyagerd said:
I have the same speakers. Have you tried changing the output to 5.1 in Audio MIDI Setup under Utilities? I'm not sure if anything greater than 2 speakers is available for optical there. There is only the option for Stereo and Digital Encoded Audio on my MacBook Pro when using TOSLINK/Optical. For this reason, I only use optical for movies that are in Dolby Digital or DTS which gets you surround sound over optical when Digitally Encode Audio is selected. Otherwise, I use a Griffin FireWave to get surround sound. I haven't tried it in 10.7 yet though. It's been discontinued for awhile.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's stuck on the "2 speaker" configuration in MIDI Setup for me unfortunately :-(
 
B

Blake1

macrumors member
Feb 17, 2011
43
0
MacsRgr8 said:
IIRC, dolby 5.1 in games rely on audio decoding by a compatible sound card and having the speakers connected via direct (analog) input.
Click to expand...

If I am right, does the sound card have to support ENCODING, and not decoding. Most game tracks are in LPCM which requires encoding if you are trying to get a Dolby Digital signal. I could be wrong, but that is what my understanding is...
 
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