5.1 Surround Audio

[BigCatX]

Hi,

I just discovered that via a TOSLINK converter, the MBP has a combined 3.5 mm/optical audio out. WOW. 😎

What I want to know now is can it pass-through Dolby 5.1/DTS 6.1 for a home cinema system decoder???

Best regards,
BigCatX.

 

[mikes70mustang]

Hi,

I just discovered that via a TOSLINK converter, the MBP has a combined 3.5 mm/optical audio out. WOW. 😎

What I want to know now is can it pass-through Dolby 5.1/DTS 6.1 for a home cinema system decoder???

Best regards,
BigCatX.

Yes, you can get surround sound out of your mbp via optical out

 

[BigCatX]

Awesome! 😎

Thank you!!!

Best regards,
BigCatX.

 

[Cave Man]

What I want to know now is can it pass-through Dolby 5.1/DTS 6.1 for a home cinema system decoder???

You can get 5.1, but not 6.1 as the Toslink specification is limited to 5.1.

To get 5.1 digital surround you need the following in addition to your Mac and Toslink cable (miniplug on one end):

1. Content that is encoded in Dolby Digital AC3 or DTS (2.0 up to 5.1)
2. A receiver that can decode the aforementioned digital audio signals
3. An application that can send such digital audio out the audio port​

#3 is the most troublesome. DVD Player can passthorough DD, but not DTS. Quicktime cannot passthrough DD or DTS without some trickery. (No one knows why Apple has done this with Quicktime). Plex and XBMC can passthrough both DD and DTS, plus can decode the most number of codecs, including those used with Blu-ray discs (that would be 1080p with 5.1 surround).

 

[justit]

Yes, you can get surround sound out of your mbp via optical out

For the 15" uMBP not the 13" uMBP right?

 

[Cave Man]

All current Macs have optical out, except the MacBook Air.

 

[tdream]

It's cool isn't it? 😎

 

[t0mat0]

Oooh, is good. just realised my 5.1 system has a toslink optical in. thought i'd only be able to use with my pc, but should be able to use with MBP now with a toslink cable.