5.1 Surround Sound with new Pro 13.3"

[hashpod]

Hi I converted to a Mac last week and am absolutely hooked to this new platform. Been a windows user since 1994!

Anyways, i had a 5.1 surround sound card on my old desktop with three plugs (orange green and black) going from the card to the back of the sub. I have an analogue Creative system.

MY ISSUE: I cant seem to play true surround sound when using DVD PLAYER or QUICKTIME. Hence dialogue from DVD movies comes from all speakers, not just the center. Also, it no longer recognizes dts dvds.

I looked into the Griffin FireWave and it apparently does the trick. However, I decided to try a different approach since I think it is more a software issue than a hardware issue.

1. Plugged red green and black plugs in to the Belkin Rockstar 5-Way 3.5-mm Headphone Splitter (http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-RockSt...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251237246&sr=8-1) and plugged that into the audio jack of my new macbook pro 13.3", then plugged other end of 3 jacks to subwoofer. Now when i play music, movies, ect, sound comes from all speakers (which is great).

2. Installed Perinian (http://geekwithfamily.com/2007/07/0...o-output-dolby-digital-from-quicktime-player/) for Quicktime but that did not solve my problem.

*Note: Was using media player classic and AC3 filter to play my movies in 5.1 surround and dts. So I assumed Perinian was the mac equivalent.

Some websites explain how to do a hookup to a digital receiver, which i dont have.

Any help would be great.
thanks

 

[Jolly Jimmy]

You are trying to seperate a stereo output into 5.1. It cannot be done. You will need an external sound card of some sort, either USB /firewire, or an D/A converter that uses the optical output and gives you something that your system can accept.

 

[RITZFit]

For true 5.1 on this thing you would need a set of speakers w/ optical in (the few that are out there are VERY expensive tho). Like Jolly Jimmy said, your only other option is some sort of external sound card.

 

[voyagerd]

I have a Griffin Firewave which is a 5.1 Firewire external sound card. It works great with my MBP.

 

[hashpod]

I have a Griffin Firewave which is a 5.1 Firewire external sound card. It works great with my MBP.

whats the difference between a usb and a firewire connection? ive seen a lot of external 5.1 sound cards using usb on ebay and they go for about $20.

what software do you use to play surround sound movies?

thanks man

 

[thegoldenmackid]

whats the difference between a usb and a firewire connection? ive seen a lot of external 5.1 sound cards using usb on ebay and they go for about $20.

what software do you use to play surround sound movies?

thanks man

USB is one type of connection. Firewire is another. For what you are doing it does not matter.

It depends on the sound card, but if it needs software it is usually provided.

 

[voyagerd]

whats the difference between a usb and a firewire connection? ive seen a lot of external 5.1 sound cards using usb on ebay and they go for about $20.

what software do you use to play surround sound movies?

thanks man

I use Quicktime for most things and VLC for larger 1080p movies. Have you found any USB sound cards that have Mac drivers? I got the FireWave because it was the only Mac one I could find. I wish it worked in Windows too.

 

[Leo72]

I have a Griffin Firewave which is a 5.1 Firewire external sound card. It works great with my MBP.

what about latency? can you give some information about it?

 

[voyagerd]

what about latency? can you give some information about it?

What do you want to know about latency? Here's the product page.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave

I got mine on eBay since it was discontinued.