Hi I hope you all forgive me, for I probably am now going to ask help with something stupid.

I installed Fallout new vegas very recently on my recently bought notebook and played the game for a few hours with my headphones on and have no real sound problems,
I also played it with the onboard speakers and again no complaints, but now I want to play the game on my stereo/homecinema set.
So I connected my (Harman/Kardon) 5.1 Set with a optical cable to my notebook (Dell) and foila sound.

But It only in Stereo, going to the audio settings I can test the Dolby surround mode and the DSP mode and they sound fine.

But when I start Fallout NV (and Oblivion, and Skyrim) the AV Reciever shows that there is only a stereo signal present thru the optical s/pdif connection.

when I played Oblivion and Fallout3 on my xbox360 I got full Surround sound, and I aspected this also on my PC.

So my question is what do I forgot to do or what is it that I have to do to get this solved.

I bougt my Fallout NV on a disk.
Installed all DLC's thru Steam.
My Reciever is a Harman/Kardon AVR135 with Optical In (and it works fine with other divices).
My Notebook is a Dell XPS17, I7/8GB/750GB/FHD(3D)screen/GT555(3GB)/....

And dare I say it a Realtek ALC665 soundcard onboard, and yes its the optical out of the Realtek.
(I found more than one complaint about this card/chip and Fallout NV, but non with the awnser to my qouestion)

I have the latest driver (realtek) installed, the ogg audio files are assosiated with WMP.

So help me please,

Nibor Sypher


O for I forget it tested it with a DVD playing from my notebook and the full Dolby Surround sound signal works fine then

Optical connection can only play surround sound when it's in compressed form (e.g. Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital AC-3, DTS). NV (and pretty much all PC games) plays surround sound in uncompressed mode which is only available through stereo in optical, you'd need HDMI for uncompressed surround sound. XBOX 360 (and XBOX and PS2/3) output DD 5.1 signal which explains working surround. Some hardware can compress the sound and stream it as DD5.1 through optical but I'm not sure if it can be done purely by software or does it need specific hardware.
For surround sound you'd need HDMI or anolog output.

Thanks Anqquri, that explains it then, foolish of me to think that it would be so simple, as connecting a optical cable and thinking it should work.

So I have to look for a solution on the HDMI front, damn that my TV and Reciever are both just a little to old and have no HDMI standard on them.
And stupid me, I just bought a box (HDMI to Component video) but without a digital audio out only stereo anolog.

But still my thanks for the speedy and clear answer,

Nibor Sypher

Just a heads up -- technically your sound chip supports DD live which encodes the audio into compressed 5.1 signal which can travel on optical cable. The question is, it depends whether or not the manufacturer has enabled it (paid licence fees to Dolby). Google will tell more.

As far as I can find out this function is not activated by Dell so, I will have to invest in a HDMI receiver and probably also in a new tv so it can handle the HDMI cable too.
And this with little money to spare off course

But thanks for the additional info.