Optical Audio Out Issue

[Narked Diver]

Hi,

This is a follow on from an earlier question

I have my Mac mini connected to my tv via hdmi and to my home theatre via toslink

In system preferences I have selected digital out for output

In audio midi setup built in output has a source of digital out and a format of 44100 hz and 2ch-24bit integer

When I change the format to encoded digital audio the speaker icon and finder icon move to hdmi instead of built in output and the audio goes silent

Why is this I why can't I get encoded digital audio 5.1 out to my home theatre?

Thanks in advance

 

[igucl]

I could be completely wrong, but my understanding of the digital audio out port is that it sends a pure, unaltered signal. All the processing to convert it into various channels (5.1, etc.) is done by your receiver.

All digital audio must be converted to analog in order to be useful for our ears. The digital output port only moves the burden of conversion from the computer to the receiver.