5.1/7.1 Sound not working correctly

[Zachareye]

Windows 7 home premium 64bit
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 speaker system
(let me know if you need additional information)


OK my problem is somewhat difficult to explain but here we go. When watching a movie on my computer when I set up my speakers to be at 7.1 or 5.1 in the Audio Console (For sound card) I can only hear the soundtrack and score but no dialog only very low muffled mumbles (adults on Charlie Brown sound better), but at 4.1 or lower I can hear the dialog fine.

I have tried playing in Windows Media Center, VLC, Power DVD8 all with the same outcome.

I have made sure the Creative drivers are all up-to-date including specifically looking for Windows 7 64bit supported.

I have also tried a number of codecs

All with no luck, the soundcard is about 6 years old and on top of the I/O box connected by a firewire and a proprietary connection to the soundcard that came with it it says the following (THX, DTS, Dolby Digital EX, DVD audio, ASIO, EAX HD), I am kind of wondering if there is some type of newer encoding used not supported by the soundcard, but shouldn't there be some type of driver update for it or codec that would help? I first noticed it with blu-rays but wasn't in a rush to figure it out because Microsoft has horrible support for blu-ray, but now this even happens with standard DVD titles like The Green Hornet.

Thank you

 

[nismo91]

seems like the center speaker is not working properly in the setup?

what happened before this problem occurs? did you re-install your computer, install / uninstall some software, or even relocate your speakers setup?

if i were you i would check the speakers first, to rule it out if it is working perfectly. just plug your mp3 player / phone to each jack and if the all 8-channels sound are working, or even plug it to your onboard. if it's fine then your soundcard is the problem

 

[Zachareye]

Thanks for the suggestion they work now, I double checked my connections and found the center channel unplugged also un-installed the drivers and used driver sweeper to be sure it was clean then re-installed everything. The are two lingering problem is the volume buttons on both my remote control and keyboard do not work, the volume level will show up on the screen but it will not adjust up or down or mute where as before it would instead i have to use the actual nob on the external box. Any ideas on that? The second is in the audio console it used to be when I had the speakers set to 7.1 that when listen to music i could hear out of all speakers at once, it would route the stereo channels to all speaker which was cool to be surrounded by music, but now no matter what the setting I only get 2.1 with music, any ideas for that as well?

Thank you again

 

[nismo91]

Thanks for the suggestion they work now, I double checked my connections and found the center channel unplugged also un-installed the drivers and used driver sweeper to be sure it was clean then re-installed everything. The are two lingering problem is the volume buttons on both my remote control and keyboard do not work, the volume level will show up on the screen but it will not adjust up or down or mute where as before it would instead i have to use the actual nob on the external box. Any ideas on that? The second is in the audio console it used to be when I had the speakers set to 7.1 that when listen to music i could hear out of all speakers at once, it would route the stereo channels to all speaker which was cool to be surrounded by music, but now no matter what the setting I only get 2.1 with music, any ideas for that as well?

Thank you again

about the volume keys, that's commonly because previously the keyboard have set the volume for other sound device. to 'bring' it back to your current setup, i believe a system restart will solve the problem. do ensure your current setup is selected as the default in the control panel - sounds

and for the stereo sound to 7.1, it's called upmix and it can be found in your soundblaster software. the name to look for is CMSS or CMSS-3D.